Chappaquiddick Bridge

Poison Girls are considered pioneers of the late 1970s anarcho-punk scene in England alongside fellow DIY icons Crass, seeking nothing less than to radicalize us with their music. Functioning outside the sphere of Punk™ and its mohawked media circus, Poison Girls and Crass resisted that era's mainstream commodification of anarchy and rebellion. They released albums, shared over 100 gigs and collaborated musically; Crass drummer Penny Rimbaud produced 1979's Hex and 1980's Chappaquiddick Bridge. As sneered with piercing sarcasm on Bridge's uncredited opening track: "State control and rock and roll/ Are run by clever men!/ Politics are ultra-chic/ And wars are in again!"

At the throbbing heart of Poison Girls' crude rock experiments was singer-guitarist Vi Subversa, who brought a fiercely original perspective as a 44-year-old mother of two. Subversa's lyrics were radical feminist poetry in the most literal sense and her raw voice was pure fire, magic, passion and soul, unleashing a tender, sing-song expression of alienation at one turn and a post-apocalyptic witch spell the next. Sans mere sloganeering, her intellect burned stereotypes to the ground with explicit goals: changing how we think about capitalism and anarchy, feminism and racism, gender and sexuality, war and peace, age and motherhood. "I was energized by the punk stuff and the opportunities it gave us to talk about things that were important to me as a mother," Subversa said in an interview with Maximum Rocknroll. "The press was like, 'Punk mom in the suburbs, blah blah,' and I hated that. I wanted to be there as a person in my own right joining in the fun and making music and exchanging ideas and being where the action was."

Their music itself pushed boundaries; with songs often breaking the four-minute mark, it wasn't "punk" in sound as much as politicized art-rock, incorporating piano, violin and odd, cassette-spun effects. Owing to their sense of exploration, Poison Girls even recorded an "orchestral" version of their all-caps manifesto track, "Statement", a version of which is included with Chappaquiddick Bridge. Subversa roars, "I DENOUNCE THE SYSTEM THAT DENIES MY EXISTENCE/ I CURSE THE SYSTEM THAT MAKES MACHINES OF MY CHILDREN." Language didn't fuel their power as much as create it on a level that many of the eras more acclaimed bands couldn't have. Their music is far less accessible, but Poison Girls should be remembered as British predecessors of riot grrrl along with the Raincoats, the Slits, and X-Ray Spex.

Ripped from the expanded CD edition from the box set Statement to MP3 @ 320kbps

Poison Girls; Chappaquiddick Bridge

1.      Promenade Immortelle

2.      State Control

3.      Another Hero

4.      Hole In The Wall

5.      Underbitch

6.      Alienation

7.      Pretty Polly

8.      Good Time

9.      Other

10.   Daughters & Sons

11.   Tender Love

12.   Dirty Work

13.   Statement

14.   Don't Go Home Tonight

15.   Fuckin' Mother