#398 The Raincoats, 'The Raincoats' (1979)

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I’m so surprised I’d never ever heard of this band. Post-punk all-female band, The Raincoats, along with bands like The Slits, were pioneers in punk and post punk music. Showing females, old & young (and men too, of course), that punk music is not reserved for men exclusively. While not commercially successful, The Raincoats not only paved the way for little girls to form punk bands, but also one Kurt Cobain, an artist who was so affected and inspired by their music. In 1992, Cobain went to Rough Trade in London to find a copy of this album. He didn’t find the album, but it did lead to a chance meeting with vocalist, Ana da Silva. He wrote about this meeting in the liner notes for ‘Incesticide,’ and the next year, as his insistence, he managed to get all three of their albums reissued. He even wrote the liner notes for the reissues.

The album includes a cover of The Kinks’ ‘Lola,’ as well as a song called ‘Void,’ which was later covered by Hole (Kurt Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love, would have been one of those inspired little girls). The first song, ‘Fairytale in the Supermarket,’ really reminds me of The Velvet Underground.

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