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Wargasm
Scrap
Pretend We're Dead
Diet Pill
Everglade
Slide
One More Thing
Mr Integrity
Monster
Shitlist
This Ain't Pleasure
Were L7 a grunge band? Were they a riot grrl group? Frankly, we couldn’t care less, as what these LA girls certainly were was canny songwriters.
Named after the 1950s slang word for ‘square’, L7 were anything but dull. Sporting flannel shirts, rainbow-coloured hair and combat boots, guitarist and vocalist Donita Sparks was prone to loose-cannon-style high jinks that, on occasion, threatened to overshadow the music itself (tampons at Reading and The Word nudity, anyone?).
L7 were labelmates of Nirvana at Sub Pop before hooking up with Warner Bros subsidiary Slash, who hired Butch Vig of Nevermind fame for their third album, Bricks Are Heavy, in 1992. Pretend We’re Dead might be the album's best-known and stand-out track, but Shitlist, Everglade and Wargasm are no slouches either.
"We were just, like, sluggin' it out in the underground in LA for many years," said Sparks. "By the time it hit, it was just like: 'About fucking time.' We had peers that were getting signed and stuff too. So it felt like we were sort of pranksters from the underground. The underdog band."
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in April 1992
- Safari - The Breeder
- Anything Can Happen - Leon Russell
- Pure - Godflesh
- Bloodline - Recoil
- Soul Rotation - The Dead Milkmen
- This Is My Life - Carly Simon
- Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement
- Check Your Head - Beastie Boys
- The Wild Life - Slaughter
- Wish - The Cure
- The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
- Nonsuch - XTC
- Night of the Stormrider - Iced Earth
- I Was Warned - Robert Cray
What they said...
"L7 never loses the joyous noisiness of having a big dumb sound. Although the band’s positive-plus stances on liberal issues may not instantly endear it to fuzzy-minded teen America, L7 does manage to be simultaneously fun and furious, an intensely appealing combination. In short, Violets are blue and roses are red. Go get L7 for a shot of street cred. (Entertainment Weekly)
"Great albums need great songs, and that's exactly what you have here. Mosh-pit anthem Everglade (sung by bassist Jennifer Finch) will simply knock you on your ass, and big single Pretend We're Dead is so good that its tough swagger harks back to seminal bad girl anthems like Joan Jett's I Love Rock'n'Roll, Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and even the Go-Go's – well, maybe not the Go-Go's." (AllMusic)
"Once again Butch Vig's mission is to smelt speed-sludge into grunge-metal alloy, which with this band involves intense admixtures of ditty and power chord. Although the passion of their major-label stab may not match Nirvana's, it's just as catchy and a touch nastier." (Robert Christgau)
What you said...
Mark Herrington: This was new to me, and not something I would usually listen to. Punk was best for me when it first took off in the 70’s, when it was radical and genuinely exciting. Past that, it lost its appeal for me.
First off, the Sabbathy riffs were welcome, and I liked a lot of the guitar work . The standout track for me was Diet Pill’, which had a great brooding atmosphere, the best vocal style and sinuous, hypnotic guitar. Pretend We’re Dead was pretty catchy and I could hear why it's popular. Other than that, the rest was fairly samey, with the vocals generally rougher than on Diet Pill, and nothing really stood out for me.
Overall, I didn’t ‘feel’ the attitude or the aggression I associate with this style of music. If I wanted an album with that feel by the bucketload, from the year this was released (1992 ), I’d go with the Industrial Juggernaut of Ministry’s Psalm 69.
Adam Ranger: Heard of L7 but not really listened to them. So it was great to put that right. It's always good to hear a kick-ass female band.
I wouldn't say they are grunge, more metal-influenced punk. They probably have more in common with Throwing Muses and the Pixies than the grunge scene.
First impression? I like what I hear. Crunching guitars, with some nice licks, backed up by solid driving bass and drums. Some great lyrics too.
One small criticism: maybe there's not much variety, but then again this is the same for so many bands. Find a formula that works well for you and stay with it! At any rate, the album is only 37 minutes, so no time to get bored.
Wargasm and Shitlist are probably my favourite tracks. Would definitely listen to this again and will investigate their other albums.
Nigel Mawdsley: A number of my friends followed L7 at their height, but they seemed more interested in the band's 'antics' and what they were going to do next, rather than the music.
So, from my own personal musical taste, I just found L7 a little samey, and whilst listening to this album I found the tracks blending into one. A number of reviews on this post have made similar comments.
Fair play to L7 though, whether it was a marketing ploy or they just went all out to be as controversial as possible, they have cemented their place in the history of rock even if it was for all the wrong reasons (I can't imagine the band complaining too much).
Gary Claydon: Fun, feisty, fast and furious. Grunge with a punk-metal heart. A breath of fresh air in a scene that quite quickly became stale.
By Bricks Are Heavy, L7 had honed their songwriting, and even though Butch Vig threw a giant plaid shirt all over their sound (and smoothed the edges a tad too much in my opinion), their trademark wit and energy still shine through. And it's heavy, with plenty of sub-Sabbathian (is there such a word?) meets frantic Pixies riffage. A lot of grunge things can become a little one-paced, even slightly repetitive, but the album isn't overlong so that never becomes a problem.
Best tracks? The heavyweights Wargasm and Everglade' the grind 'n' groove of Diet Pill, Shitlist and, of course, the insanely catchy Pretend We're Dead.
And yeah, attitude by the bucket load. Oh, and anybody who thinks L7 simply courted controversy as a means of career advancement really needs to give their head a little wobble, 'cos, man, are you missing the point!
Chris Elliott: It's an album that very much brings memories of a time and place in my life – shouting along to this driving around South Wales and Cardiff on a Saturday night (and Sunday morning).
It's a pit punk, a bit metal, and Butch Vig gives it just enough polish, and that polish really helps. Without the polish, they were fine but not in the same league as Babes in Toyland or early Hole. Add the polish, and you can shout along – you can even walk the dog shouting along – and you sure ain't singing/shouting along to Babes' Swamp Pussy.
Yes, it's a one-trick pony (with one exception). Yes, there's the inevitable Sabbath riffs (at least it's Paranoid era), but it's short enough to be over before it gets irritating, and for 40 minutes it's bouncy enough you don't care.
It's good. Not as good as I thought at the time, admittedly, although it's aged better than many albums of this period. And whilst I'd argue Babes in Toyland or early Hole are far better, you can't shout along to Swamp Pussy or Hole's Turpentine etc. Sometimes shouting along is more important.
Mike Canoe: I actually only started listening to L7 about five years ago when songs like Everglade or Shitlist would show up on lists like "The ten best [whatever] songs you've never heard." Those songs were both pretty great, but then I heard Wargasm for the first time – holeee shit! – it was instantly the best anti-war song I'd ever heard and with lyrics that hit hard and cracked me up at the same time.
And so it goes from one song to another on the very heavy Bricks Are Heavy. Scrap, Diet Pill, Slide, Mr Integrity. Some of the songs bleed together, but the mission remains the same: great stories spat out with great attitude, backed up with a great big sound. L7 sounded like they were having fun, as opposed to many of their hairshirt-wearing contemporaries (both male and female) and weren't afraid to throw a little humour in the mix.
L7 were too funny to be grunge, more likely to cause a riot than Riot Grrrl, more likely to beat someone's ass than any other band in LA (or Seattle). Godspeed, Jennifer Finch.
Brian Hart: I remember hearing Pretend We’re Dead back in 1992 and instantly loving it. Back then, if you loved a song, you had to go out and buy the CD (kids will never know the hardship!). I bought Bricks Are Heavy and the only other song that stood out to me at the time was Wargasm.
Last night I replayed the CD for the first time in decades and have to admit I slept on this album. The anti-war anthem Wargasm kicks off the album and still hits hard. Sadly, it’s as relevant as ever. Pretend We’re Dead is punk/pop genius and a grunge era song that should be on everyone’s playlist. Diet Pill slowly plods hard. The middle section of the album – Everglade, Slide, One More Thing and Mr Integrity – is good but not as memorable. The album ends strong with Monster and Shitlist. This Ain’t Pleasure brings an intensity that is the perfect closer. It’s a good bookend to Wargasm.
I have to admit, my CD collection does not include a lot of female rock. It just doesn’t speak to me. Recently, I have come to appreciate Dorothy and Lzzy Hale (check out the videos of her fronting Skid Row – incredible!). L7 is a different breed. These ladies kicked the door down during the grunge era. Actually, they’re probably more of a punk band. Bricks Are Heavy is a hidden gem that rocks hard, has intelligent and sassy lyrics, and brings the punk attitude with just the right amount of pop. This album will definitely be spinning more in my rotation. 3.5 out of 5.
Greg Schwepe: I never explored much of the whole grunge scene past the bands you’d put on the Mount Rushmore of Grunge (or should that be “Mount Rainier” since that’s in Washington?). And in my bit of research done while listening to L7’s Bricks Are Heavy, I found that many may think they’re a bit more punk, but seem to agree their popularity increased during the geologic era known as the Flannel Period, which emerged out of the Pacific Northwest. L7 always appeared in the roll call of grunge band lists.
L7 is yet another “heard of them, have not heard them” band for me. So let’s begin. Heavy distorted guitar to my liking? Bingo. Fast 150 mph songs with a beat to headbang to? You got it. Slower sludge-y songs (but with a wicked beat) as a counterpoint to the fast ones? Bingo again.
My initial “so so” reaction to L7 and this album slowly began to fade away the more I listened. And you know what caught me? The lyrics. There were enough witty, snarky lines that got me really listening to each song. Diet Pill contained the line “Calgon can’t take me away.” And maybe I only laughed because I’m old enough to have seen the Calgon commercial here in the U.S. growing up. For those not aware, they are a brand of bath beads/soaps, and the classic commercial showed a frazzled woman getting into the bath saying “Calgon, take me away!”
Then there’s Everglade, which I have to believe is based on an encounter with some redneck. Seemed to perfectly describe that loser person. And finally there’s Shitlist, which describes perfectly where you end up if you piss off the songwriter. And again, I can relate. Who hasn’t said at one time or another, “man, you’re on my shitlist.”
7 out of 10 on this one for me. Overall, this wasn’t a bad way to spend 37 minutes..
John Davidson: My only exposure to L7 before this week was their infamous appearance on The Word, a Channel 4 (UK) music program aimed at drunk students and twenty-somethings who'd made it back from the pub before the clubs opened.
Musically, L7 are more indie rock/punk than grunge, though they obviously rode the Seattle soundwave to get more attention.
At 37 minutes, it would be churlish to say it is too long, but there isn't much variety to the music. Although L7 developed the sound first, I prefer Hole's Celebrity Skin over this and the more pop/punk songs from Elastica, Sleeper and such.
Philip Qvist: L7 is another one of those bands who I have heard a lot about without listening to many of their songs. Pretend We're Dead was a constant on South African radio stations throughout 1992, but apart from that track and maybe a couple of other minor hits, I don't recall hearing anything else from L7.
Bricks Are Heavy starts off on a strong note with Wargasm, Scrap and Pretend We're Dead, with lots of hard-rocking guitars and thumping beats, and songs like Everglade and Monster maintain that trend. However, considering that Donita Sparks, Jenny Finch and Suzi Gardner all contributed to the songwriting and singing, the songs all sound remarkably similar, which is a bit of a downside to Bricks Are Heavy. I also think Butch Vig has produced better albums than this.
That said, the album is solid enough, with good songs and decent musicianship and songwriting, while at 37 minutes long it doesn't overstay its welcome. A respectable 7 from me this week.
Final score: 7.32 (28 votes cast, total score 205)
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