'Shut Up & F**k'

I wonder if any of you remember or have heard of Betty Blowtorch? It was actually only a few months ago I heard about the band, which is a shame because they were great while they lasted.

Betty Blowtorch rose from the ashes of L.A. punk band Butt Trumpet. Butt Trumpet pretty much broke up in 1994, with Bianca Butthole (née Halstead), Sharon Needles, and Blare N. Bitch regrouping to form Betty Blowtorch. They brought with them the fun that defined Butt Trumpet, recording songs like “Shut Up and Fuck” and “Part-time Hooker.” L7’s Jennifer Finch served a short stint in the band during their 2001 tour with Nashville Pussy.

The band was brought to an early end with Halstead’s December 2001 death in a car accident. Their legacy consists of an EP, Get Off, most of which was re-released on their only full-length album, 2001’s Are You Man Enough?. The band was also the subject of Betty Blowtorch and Her Amazing True Life Adventures, a documentary by Anthony Scarpa.

Musically, the EP shows a more punk side of Betty Blowtorch. By the time they recorded Are You Man Enough? two years later, the band was a lot tighter and the newer songs are more melodic, although they never lost the rough edges: “All the lies that you tell / We hope you fuckin’ burn in hell / We hope you die... slowly.” If you like Girlschool, L7, stuff like that, Betty Blowtorch should do you right.

The songs below come one from each of their two original releases. “Shut Up and Fuck” is the original version from the Get Off EP; “I’m Ugly and I Don’t Know Why,” from the full-length, is the song that turned me onto Betty Blowtorch.

Shut Up and Fuck.mp3
I’m Ugly and I Don’t Know Why.mp3

Labels: metal, punk

posted by aikin @ 7:00 AM