The Slits

The late 1970s counted the Slits among the most important all-female punk ensembles, alongside the Raincoats and Liliput. They entered the scene with scant technical skill, whether one views the move as daring or reckless, yet their raw passion produced memorable songs, especially after teaming with longtime reggae producer Dennis Bovell, whose guidance helped pave the way for later riot grrrls. Despite frequent criticism during their brief run, the band’s accomplishments and lasting influence on successive waves of young women in rock remain undeniable.

In 1976, fourteen-year-old Ari Up, occasionally credited as Air Upp, encountered her acquaintance Palmolive at a Patti Smith concert in London. Palmolive immediately proposed that Up front a new all-girl punk group. Up accepted at once, and the Slits materialized, relying on borrowed gear and mastery of two or possibly three chords. They cut rudimentary demos, so rudimentary that early Mekons tracks sound polished by contrast, though these early attempts never reached wide audiences. Their profile rose sharply once they secured the support slot on the Clash’s White Riot tour across England in 1977, embedding them in the punk canon.

Early documentation stayed minimal beyond a pair of John Peel BBC radio sessions. Those broadcasts captured the Slits squarely within punk’s signature sound of piercing guitars and raw shouts. Yet the results avoided rote aggression: Ari Up’s vocals skipped and surged over rigid beats, while the lyrics examined isolation with a wry, playful edge rather than didactic fervor.

The group’s first official album arrived in 1979 under Dennis Bovell’s attentive production. By the release of Cut the original slashing guitars had given way to understated reggae riddims, the lineup had shrunk to a trio after Palmolive’s departure and the arrival of drummer Budgie, soon bound for Siouxsie and the Banshees, and a newfound flexibility marked the performances. Ari Up’s singing remained tonally loose, yet for musicians with barely two years of experience the record displayed striking assurance.

Another two years passed before Return of the Giant Slits surfaced, a denser, more shadowy collection brimming with unexpected turns. By then the Slits’ growing incorporation of diverse ethnic traditions had carried them past conventional punk boundaries, stripping them of their punk-band identity. Far from troubling them, this shift aligned with their aim to stretch punk’s possibilities instead of obeying unwritten dictates that required every punk act to hammer out basic guitar-driven rants.

As 1981 drew to a close, Ari Up contributed vocals to Adrian Sherwood’s dub and funk collective the New Age Steppers, while the Slits themselves had already attained legendary if somewhat controversial status. Following her solo album Dread More Dan Dead in 2005, Up reassembled the Slits with original bassist Tessa Pollitt and fresh recruits, resuming live performances. The band issued the three-song EP Revenge of the Killer Slits in 2006. Twenty-eight years after their previous long-player, the full-length Trapped Animal appeared in 2009.