Classic Albums: Bricks Are Heavy by L7

Is L7 just a bit much for Monday avo post? Nope, I decide not!

So it’s like four and half days left in March this year and I’m going see if I can do five more of my Classic Albums posts for all those days but I might get side tracked or something, I guess we will see? I might focus on five female artists/bands that I haven’t yet written about here on my blog because it’s Women’s History Month in the USA but not all of these artists are going to be Americans, I’m an Aussie anyway. I did say something about this at the start of the month, so far I’ve done In My Own Time by Karen Dalton and Body Language by Kylie Minogue plus Stay Sick! by The Cramps was kind-of counted because I was talking more about Poison Ivy. Before then I think I’ve not done a bad job so far but five more would be even better, don’t you think?

L7 did get thrown in with punk or indie rock and grunge at the time of release in 1992 but it’s just one of the best old school heavy metal, hard rock album ever full stop. If it was recorded by an all-male band it would be called one of the best metal album ever but because you know what I’m going to say? Or you should? People don’t even say all-male metal because that’s all there is and when L7 did it, it just confused everyone and metalheads just called them ugly just because they’re not some silly girls dressed in sexy little outfits that couldn’t play anyway. Metal would have to be the most sexist of all the music styles and oh my god L7 could play and kick everyone’s ass!

I guess they did cover all those musical style bases back then because they had to, it would be music career suicide just to call yourselves one thing in the early 90’s. This was the breakthrough album on major label and the third album so maybe I should have pick the earlier indie one but they came after this for me. I think it would be the 1990 Sub-Pop one called Smell The Magic I would recommend next but was just an EP when it was first put out not that matters but I think would come after Bricks Are Heavy no matter what. It’s a little under forty minutes but it’s just a perfect, dirty, heavy hard album. Their names are and play: Donita Sparks on guitar and vocals, Suzi Gardner on guitar and vocals, Jennifer Finch on bass guitar and vocals, Demetra Plakas on drums.

Off course, the big hit single was Pretend We’re Dead on this album but I’ve included the other two video clips/singles before that. Now they all didn’t married Kurt Cobain or anything like that but I always thought they were better than over hyped Hole’s Courtney Love and all her bullshit. Three of the four member take turns as the lead vocalist and split the songwriting that way too. After already writing about The Breeders and PJ Harvey from the 90’s it seems pretty right on for L7 come in next. There is going to be at least a couple more artists before this week is over too, any guesses who?

I did see them live back in the day too, some nutcase put on a festival in Mandurah in the mid-90’s sometime and this was before a train line was builded so it was catch a bus or drive about 50/60 minutes south. Which remembering the crowd was so sparse or non existence so no one from Perth/Mandurah like that idea at all and was a total fail. Headliners were The Tea Party which were huge in Australia at the time but the highlights for me would be off course L7 plus The Jesus Lizard and Primus, both band I’ve got to write about later on. Then seen them again at a club show later too, oh my god they can put on a show and a half.

I can’t not say anything about the song Shitlist used in the 90’s movie Natural Born Killers, if you’ve never seen it after the opening credits soundtrack by Leonard Cohen we put into a truck stop in the middle of nowhere and Juliette Lewis‘ Mallory is dancing to the jukebox but a redneck comes over and start to piss her off, the next record flips to Shitlist and she lets fly an uppercut while he’s taking swig on his beer, she break the bottle and throws a few more before his reply but then her genius double tap comes before a dinner tray goes over his head, kick to the nuts etc. If this isn’t the greatest bit of violent feminism in mid-90’s cinema I don’t know what is? How many times I’ve seen women just wanna dance then some asshole comes over thinking he’s just going to pick her up then and there, you just wish the rejection was like this every single time.

As with every second Classic Albums post here I’ve got to link the artist featured back to Nick Cave. L7 and The Bad Seed did the Lollapalooza 1994 together which was in time for the next album Hungry For Stink and Cave’s Let Love In album too. So below is a photo, the other two blokes in the photo is Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey on the left and Jim Sclavunos. Plus here’s a link to a pretty funny interview for MTV with both of them.

L7 with three Bad Seeds in 94.

So that might be time to finish up now but who else loves L7’s Bricks Are Heavy album?

Bricks Are Heavy track listing and times:

1. Wargasm – 2:40
2. Scrap – 2:53
3. Pretend We’re Dead – 3:53
4. Diet Pill – 4:21
5. Everglade – 3:18
6. Slide – 3:37
7. One More Thing – 4:07
8. Mr. Integrity – 4:06
9. Monster – 2:56
10. Shitlist – 2:55
11. This Ain’t Pleasure – 2:42

All my Classic Albums posts are in that link or they’re all linked below too!

• Tales From The Australian Underground – Volume 1 & 2 by Various Artists
• Station To Station by David Bowie
• Unplugged In New York by Nirvana
• Rust In Peace by Megadeth
• Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs by Marty Robbins
• Henry’s Dream by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
• Whatever You Love, You Are by Dirty Three
• Gala Mill by The Drones
• Black Monk Time by The Monks
• Ex Tropical by Lost Animal
• Work (Work, Work) by HTRK
• In The Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra
• The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn by Pink Floyd
• Songs Of Love And Hate by Leonard Cohen
• Warm Leatherette by Grace Jones
• The White House by The Dead C
• Silence Is Sexy by Einstürzende Neubauten
• Lulu by Lou Reed & Metallica
• Kaira by Toumani Diabaté
• Kings Of The Wild Frontier by Adam And The Ants
• Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth by Dan Kelly And The Alpha Males
• Aerial by Kate Bush
• The Future by Leonard Cohen
• Rock For Light by Bad Brains
• Last Splash by The Breeders
• Sex by The Necks
• Emergency Ward by Nina Simone
• Paradise by My Disco
• Batman by Prince
• Sings Christmas Carols by Mark Kozelek
• What Are Rock Stars Doing Today by Magic Dirt
• Love Of Life by Swans
• Big Name, No Blankets by Warumpi Band
• Blue Valentine by Tom Waits
• In The Pines by The Triffids
• Where Joy Kills Sorrow by Various Artists
• TV Sky by The Young Gods
• King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime by Faith No More
• Jean Lee And The Yellow Dog by Ed Kuepper
• Law Of Nature by Laughing Clowns
• (I’m) Stranded by The Saints
• Super Ape by Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters
• The Soft ‘N’ Sexy Sound by Dave Graney ‘N’ The Coral Snakes
• Mutiny/The Bad Seed by The Birthday Party
• Bahdeni Nami by Omar Souleyman
• Ascension by John Coltrane
• The Definitive by Blind Willie McTell
• Rid Of Me by PJ Harvey
• Horses by Patti Smith
• Vespertine by Björk
• Hex Enduction Hour by The Fall
• Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood by DMX
• I’m New Here by Gil Scott-Heron
• Charcoal Lane by Archie Roach
• In My Own Time by Karen Dalton
• Stay Sick! by The Cramps
• Primary Colours by Eddy Current Suppression Ring
• Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison
• Trainspotting by Various Artists
• After School Session by Chuck Berry
• Body Language by Kylie Minogue

So the idea here is simply for me to write a post about each of my favourite albums that I consider total stone cold classics!

Please do leave a reply below and tell me what you think about this album and/or artist or whatever you’d like to say about it?