Girls, girls, girls (and a few dudes)

The girl-band label is all but obsolete—women have been playing in rock bands as long as dudes, so get over it already—but what about “girl” bands? There are lots (Parenthetical Girls, Boys Like Girls, and so on), and ladies aren’t always a part of the line-up. In preparation for the Vivian Girls show tonight at the Hi-Dive, Decider reviewed some of pop music’s best girl-named bands to see just how girly they really are.  

The Girls
Base: Seattle
Years Active: The early aughts to present
Female members: 0/5
The Girls are synth-loving partiers that hang out just as well with Black Lips as they do with the Buzzcocks. The quartet’s spazzy electro-jams are equally heavy on guitars and, despite lacking in female members, their ponytail-bouncing sound definitely makes them girl-friendly.

Sun City Girls
Base: Phoenix
Years Active: 1982 to present
Female Members: 0/3
Formed by brothers Alan and Richard Bishop and friend Charles Gocher, the group took its name from the Sun City retirement community in Arizona. Sun City Girls released a few dozen albums of interstellar folk over their 25-plus year career before Gocher passed away in 2007. The Bishop brothers have continued on with strange kabuki-theater-style shows and a cult of devoted followers.

Some Girls
Base: San Diego
Years Active: 2002-2007
Female Members: 0/5
Taking its name in obvious tribute to the classic Stones album, Some Girls’ line-up was a face-melting supergroup of big-league post-hardcore players. With members of The Locust, Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, and Give Up The Ghost, Some Girls spent five years crafting strategically terrorizing math metal before disbanding in 2007.

The Weather Girls
Base: San Francisco
Years Active: 1982 to present
Female Members: 2/2
The duo of Martha Wash and Izora Armstead—best known for the gay bar/male strip club anthem “It’s Raining Men”—had several Top Ten Billboard hits under its original moniker, Two Tons O’ Fun, before ultimately changing its name to The Weather Girls. After the Girls’ glory days, Wash continued to lend her vocal talent to house and dance tracks, and infamously sued C+C Music Factory for its video “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” which featured Wash’s voice dubbed over a much skinnier imposter. Armstead died in 2004, but The Weather Girls still perform with Armstead’s daughters Dynelle Rhodes and Ingrid Arthur as the new leads.

Spice Girls
Base: London
Years Active: 1994-2001, 2007-2008
Female members: 5/5
The prefab purveyors of female empowerment barreled over tween girls with the '90s hit “Wannabe,” introducing America to a brand of feminism involving booty shorts and drag queen enviable platforms. Wielding safe sex advice in the charting hit “2 Become 1” and drumming up some world musical influence in “Spice Up Your Life,” the girls rode the Spice train to mindless faux-feminist success.

Vivian Girls
Base: New York, NY
Years Active: 2007 to present
Female members: 3/3
Taking their name from the title of a 15,000 page manuscript by writer Henry Darger, Brooklyn darlings Vivian Girls propelled themselves from relative infancy to an opening spot for Sonic Youth with their combination of dirty, ocean rock and clangy lo-fi shoegaze. It’s basic three-chord garage done to near perfection.