Girlschool - Music and Style

Music and Style

Revolver magazine editor Christopher Scapelliti aptly described Girlschool's music as a "punk-metal mix tough, but poppy enough for radio". The influences of classic hard rock and heavy metal are present in the musical background of all the original band members and they are particularly evident in the clean and sometimes bluesy solo guitar work of Kelly Johnson. On the other end, punk rock had a direct influence in the birth of New Wave and New Wave of British Heavy Metal and that music was still very popular when the band was born. Moreover, both Denise Dufort and Gil Weston had played in punk bands before joining Girlschool. "We're both too heavy to be New Wave and too punk to be a heavy metal band", McAuliffe explained to Robbi Millar of Sounds in 1980. The raw and almost live recording sound of their first two Vic Maile produced albums represents perfectly the core music of the band in the years from 1979 to 1982, which were the most successful for Girlschool. The combination of metal and punk was a large part of the sound which also propelled Motörhead to notoriety and chart success in the early 80s in the United Kingdom. This sound, the tours and recordings made together with Lemmy’s band, the girls’ denim and leather look, as much as their rowdy and alcohol driven off-stage behaviour soon gained Girlschool the moniker of 'sisters of Motörhead', which they are often still identified with today. Their close association with Motörhead at the beginning of Girlschool's career was anyway a useful springboard for their early success.

The mounting pressure to appeal to a mainstream audience, the quick change of tastes in British rock fans with the decline of the NWOBHM phenomenon and the chance to have a breakthrough in the US market prompted Girlschool to change their music, starting with the album Screaming Blue Murder in 1982. Their sound, following the success of Def Leppard's album Pyromania, became more polished with the introduction of keyboards on Play Dirty and veered toward hard rock and glam metal, losing the raw edge of their early works. "We were signed to an American label (...) there was a certain amount of pressure exerted on us to sound more American" was McAuliffe explanation, speaking about the tame sound of the album Running Wild. The band appearance also changed to a more feminine and sophisticated style, imitating the successful American glam metal bands of the time and generally following the direction of the market. However, the failed attempt to create a niche for Girlschool in the USA and the rapidly changing record market behaviour made the band change their mind and go back to their original sound, which they retain to this day. Girlschool's members themselves described their music in different ways, from "slapstick rock" to "raucous (...) heavy metal rock 'n' roll", and, even acknowledging the common origin of their music in the NWOBHM, they sometimes found it difficult to associate their songs to a single genre or sub-genre of rock music.

Just like most punk songs, Girlschool’s lyrics usually have short and direct texts, often reflecting the wild rock 'n' roll lifestyle and treating sex and romance as seen from a feminine point of view, with the use of reverse sexism and tongue-in-cheek sense of humour. Some of their songs deal also with more serious matters, such as exploitation and abuse of women, murder, addiction, the destruction of the environment, social and political issues.