I cannot and do not profess to be an authority on The Slits. What I do know however that it is an opinion universally held that they, as much as any other band associated with the early London punk scene, embodied the true spirit of punk. Nobody looked like The Slits, nobody sounded like The Slits. Ari Up and Co were as brash and as shocking as the Pistols, perhaps more so in conservative 1977 since they were WOMEN! In terms of where women stand in music and beyond that band's contribution to the breaking down of gender barriers is immeasurable, they were game changers.
I never got to see The band when they reformed (along with Hollie Cook, Paul Cook's daughter) but a recording of that bad can be found here.
Also a recording of the BBC Radio 4 documentary 'Reunion' on the women of punk in which Tessa Pollitt and others discuss the influence of The Slits and others is here.
Ari died of breast cancer in October 2010 at the age of just 48. She and her fellow musicians in The Slits were pioneers who changed many people's lives.
Here are The Slits performing at London's Music Machine in Camden on a night when they shared the stage with the inimitable Johnny Moped. Thanks to Dimer Grner1 for the original upload.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ErtSmkTuhX
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-xNxH5sLgxD
In fact the line up was STEVE GIBBONS BAND + THE SLITS + THE AUTOGRAPHS + JOHN COOPER CLARGE
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