Bitch (Band)
Bitch is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles. At the beginning they took the beginnings of speed metal anticipated and made use of an S / M images, which can be seen as a precursor of similar bands like The Plasmatics and The Great Kat and opened doors for bands like L7 and Babes in Toyland.
Band History
Betsy Weiss drew in her youth from New Jersey to Los Angeles. After a brief stint at a ska band she co-founded with David Carruth (guitar ), Mark Anthony Webb ( bass) and Robby Settles (drums), the group Bitch. They even called himself " Betsy Bitch". In order to attract attention in the Los Angeler club scene, the group gave a S / M image that worked visually with leather, rivets bracelets and whips.
After Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records attended a live concert Bitch and the Demo Live for the Whip heard, he decided to take the group under contract. 1982 Bitch was therefore represented on the first Metal Massacre compilation on the Metallica debuted. Shortly after the EP Damnation Alley, which has been described with Motorhead, Alice Cooper and the singing style with Pat Benatar only appeared inadequate. Too new was the hard speed metal style of the early years. It was the second publication of the Metal Blade label to the sampler. In 1983 the debut album Be My Slave. Both albums were heavily inspired by the cover artwork and lyrics to the S / M image.
Then it was quiet around four years Bitch. Your management tried to transform the group into a commercially appealing band and it took a long time until the musicians were out of my contract. In 1987 their second album The Bitch Is Back, which showed the group from another site. Much more melodic and with an almost total abandonment of their old image. Rather, the group was now playing catchy power metal with lyrics that common metal clichés corresponded. The title track was also an Elton John cover. Despite the long break the line-up was constant, only Mark Anthony Webb had left the group in favor of Ron Cordy. In the same year White also sang a duet with Lizzy Borden Terror Rising on the album.
Subsequently, Bitch renamed in " Betsy " and played commercial hair metal, the eponymous album from 1988 but remained unsuccessful. Finally, the group renamed itself back into Bitch and published the 1989 compilation A Rose by Any Other Name of unreleased songs. In 1990, the group split up.
2003, the group played on the Bang Your Head in Balingen.
Controversy
In the public eye, the group came under the PMRC Tipper Gore campaign, which showed the first two albums regularly in U.S. television. Unlike other artists such as 2 Live Crew and Ice-T at that time relatively unknown group, the campaign of the PMRC made known nationwide.