Silverfish

Silverfish stood among the United Kingdom’s most defiant acts during the closing years of the 1980s and the opening stretch of the 1990s. The lineup consisted of vocalist Lesley Rankine, guitarist Andrew “Fuzz” Duprey, bassist Chris Powforth, and drummer Stuart Watson. Prior to her arrival in the band, Rankine had fronted the Grizzelders, a punk outfit styled after 1960s groups. Duprey, Powforth, and Watson attended one of those shows, after which they convinced her to become Silverfish’s singer. Her piercing, authoritative delivery and unapologetically feminist stance—particularly the repeated lines in “Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal” and “Hips Tits Lips Power”—supplied an anthem for furious young women and both anticipated and paralleled the emerging riot grrrl ethos. Sonically, however, the quartet drew more heavily from metal and industrial sources. Several late-’80s EPs were later gathered into the 1990 compilation Cockeye. In 1991 the band issued its first proper album, Fat Axl, and joined Pigface on the road. Wider recognition arrived the next year with the release of Organ Fan and a series of concerts opening for the kindred 7 Year Bitch. Not long afterward Silverfish dissolved, and Rankine began working with Mark Walk under the name Ruby.