The Catholic Girls

Long before Madonna turned religious iconography into pop currency, the group—originally known as Double Cross—experimented with such imagery, and they were already sporting plaid skirts while Britney Spears remained in diapers. This all-female new wave act, however, never reached a level of success that would have granted them recognition for their prescient style.

Roxy Andersen handled guitar and vocals, Gail Petersen played synthesizer along with guitar and vocals, Joanne Holland covered bass and guitar, and Kyd Ellsworth sat behind the drums. The members were in fact practicing Catholics rather than adopting the identity as a pose.

Even so, the Archdiocese of Rhode Island barred them from local stages over the song “God Made You for Me,” which floated the notion that God might be female.

While the band routinely packed houses along the East Coast, listeners at large proved unready for such defiant young women.

MCA Records released their self-titled debut LP in 1982.

Although they opened shows for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and the Kinks, mainstream acceptance never materialized, prompting the original lineup to dissolve.

Petersen later turned to fiction and published the novel The Making of a Monster in 1993.

A CD reissue of their sole album appeared in 1999, finally drawing attention to the band’s role in introducing female angst to rock & roll.

Petersen and Andersen subsequently reassembled the Catholic Girls, recruiting Jen Bond on drums and Stephanie Koles on bass, and issued Make Me Believe in 2002.