Silverfish

One of the U.K.’s most iconoclastic bands of the late ’80s and early ’90s, Silverfish featured singer Lesley Rankine, guitarist Andrew "Fuzz" Duprey, bassist Chris Powforth, and drummer Stuart Watson. Before joining the group, Rankine sang with the Grizzelders, a ’60s-style punk band; Duprey, Powforth and Watson caught one of the group’s performances and persuaded her to join Silverfish. Rankine’s fierce, commanding vocals and aggressively feminist outlook — the chorus of “Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal” and “Hips Tits Lips Power,” became a mantra of sorts for angry young women — foreshadowed and echoed the sentiments of the burgeoning riot grrrl movement, but musically the group was more indebted to metal and industrial influences. Silverfish released several EPs in the late ’80s which were collected into the 1990 compilation Cockeye; the following year they released their debut album, Fat Axl, and toured with Pigface. 1992 saw the group earn more widespread acclaim thanks to a second full-length, Organ Fan, and tour dates supporting the like-minded 7 Year Bitch. Soon after, however, Silverfish disbanded; Rankine went on to collaborate with Mark Walk as Ruby. ~ Heather Phares