Menu
July 12th, 1994, L7 released their fourth album, Hungry For Stink, on Slash Records. Coming hot on the heels of 1992’s breakthrough album Bricks Are Heavy, L7 didn’t tone down their approach in an attempt maximise on its success. Hungry For Stink is a rip-roaring, violent, messy, raw, joyous album. It’s the sound of stereotypes shattering. L7 rocked harder than most bands plying their trade in the ’90s, gender be damned.
Bricks Are Heavy had propelled the band to the forefront of the burgeon alternative rock scene of the early ’90s. The album was the band’s major label debut, produced by 90’s alt-rock svengali Butch Vig; it introduced the world to four driven, talented women with a knack for a killer hook. New fans coming to the band through the success of Bricks Are Heavy quickly discovered they had an impeccable back catalogue to trawl through. 1990’s Smell The Magic (Sub Pop Records) and 1988’s debut L7 (Epitaph Records) captured their gilt-edged songwriting, riotous attack and razor-sharp wit in all its glory. Everything aligned for the band, not by design; it’s just how it was.
But like Smell The Magic before it, Bricks Are Heavy had one undeniable thing going for it over and above everything else. The songs! Beneath the blistering, full-frontal attack, the speaker-shredding guitar tones, the pummelling drums, the thundering bass, and the lacerating vocal delivery lies a natural sophistication. L7 can craft a great song with killer hooks and memorable lyrics at will. Both Smell The Magic and Bricks Are Heavy had these attributes in spades.
The band entered the studio in late 1993, choosing to work with producer GGGarth (Garth Richardson) to help them bring the album to fruition. Before working with L7, GGGarth had steadily climbed the ladder as a “go-to” producer for many alternative rock bands like Rage Against The Machine and Melvins. From a young age, Garth was steeped in music; his father was Jack Richardson, a producer of classic albums by Alice Cooper, The Guess Who, Badfinger, and Poco.
GGGarth’s natural production style focused on capturing the band’s unhindered sound while upping the performance’s dynamics and sonic punch. This approach perfectly matched the prevailing trends of the early ’90s and fit L7’s modus operandi to a tee.
For their part, the band brought a stellar batch of songs to the table. The album starts with the first single, “Andres,” sung by guitarist Suzi Gardner. It’s a tight ripper with scuzzy guitars, powerhouse drums and ominous bass. The song is an apology to a friend of the band, Andres, who was hurt by someone they introduced him to. Suzi sings, Down in North Hollywood / There’s a guy with long hair / He’s really, really nice / But we had a problem / Andres / I’m sorry.”
“Baggage” is a mid-paced stomp with an intense and passionate vocal from Donita Sparks. The chorus slows to a crawl, with guitars, bass, and drums channelling filthy doomy punk, ala Black Flag’s My War. Donita screams, “Now I’ve Got Baggage,” with a larynx-shredding howl.
“Can I Run” is a chugging monster filled with slashing guitars and spiky vocal hooks. Donita delivers a harrowing vocal and lyric about fear, “Are these sensible shoes on my feet / I wear my shades so our eyes don’t meet / I’m scared every fuckin’ day / I wear my headphones so I can’t hear what you say.” Musically, the song is rife with tension and offers minimal release. It’s the soundtrack to a bad situation.
Sparks said in 1995, “Can I Run” is a song I wrote because, when I walk my dog at a late hour, down my street, in Los Angeles, I have to put on gym shoes and my rape whistle and put my hair under a baseball cap. And you know, basically try to look like a man. It’s a song about fear of being raped or attacked.” Dee Plaskas drives the sinister chug of guitars and bass with a thunderous drum attack as Sparks sings, “Switch to paranoid from having fun / Will he use his hands, knife, or a gun / Knuckles are white, wrapped around my mace / Comes from living in a terrorist state.”
“The Bomb” is a full-throttle punk beast and one of L7’s finest deep cuts. Sung by bassist Jennifer Finch in a caustic wail, she laments the plastic pop culture of the mid-’90s: “Plastic people with their plastic lives / Plastic lips tell plastic lies / Plastic drivers in plastic cars / Plastic food from plastic jars.”
Speaking of jars, “Questioning My Sanity” is an L7 classic, a compelling argument for the value of coming to terms with a desperate situation and rising above. Donita Sparks sneers, “I’m saving my piss in a jar / This depression has gone too far / I’m lying here in bed / Am I alive or am I dead.” The grimy undercurrent of sleazy, low-slung guitars threatens to tip into uncontrolled feedback. Choked melody notes clamber for air as the swirling din beneath intensifies.
“Stuck Here Again” changes the pace, opening with a catchy rotary speaker guitar hook; its bouncy feel belies its dark lyrics. The bluesy guitar stabs counterpoint the swinging rhythm section, creating a languid but edgy ride through a slacker fever dream. Donita Sparks’ resigned vocal tone shifts to a savage wail and back again at the drop of a hat, while Suzi Gardener’s wah-drenched guitar solo is pitch-perfect and beautifully played.
“Fuel My Fire” channels the Ramones’ relentless drive with its spitfire downstroke guitar blitz and four-to-the-floor rhythm section. The chorus hook, “People like you just fuel my fire,” is instantly memorable. Suzi Gardener’s blitzkrieg guitar antics are wicked fun as the song throttles toward a blunt full stop. “Freak Magnet” is a molten hot, metallic riff fest and a joyous piss and vinegar romp that is worth the price of admission alone.
“She Has Eyes” barrels with the usual thick-as-lava guitar tone but hints at a slightly more reflective tone. Disembodied plucked guitar notes rise through the hefty murk, giving the atmosphere an almost shoegaze quality despite its obvious punk rock leanings. Again, Suzi Gardner excels with a psychedelic guitar break that soars radiantly above the fray.
“Shirley” is a song about “First Lady of Drag Racing” Shirley Muldowney. Nicknamed “Cha Cha”, Muldowney began street racing in the 1950s in Schenectady, New York. “School had no appeal to me. I only wanted to race up and down the streets in a hot rod,” declared Muldowney. She was the first woman to receive a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) license to drive a Top Fuel dragster. Shirley won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first to win two and three Top Fuel titles. She won a total of eighteen NHRA national events.
The song is an exhilarating ripper, befitting its subject matter. Sounds of screeching tyres and revving engines grapple with the blistering guitars and drums. Interspersed with live commentary from Muldowney’s racing days, Jennifer Finch augments the race announcers’ excited acclamations with gripping praise of Cha Cha’s considerable talent.
The closing song, “Talk Box”, chugs and grinds as interstellar sounds buzz and bubble beneath the mix. Donita Sparks sings of reliving a nightmare, “Last night I had a dream / It scared the shit out of me / ‘Cause you were dying / Yeah, you were dying.” adding, “And you were all alone / you were all alone.”
Much to admire and love is baked into the twelve tracks that make up Hungry For Stink. And it’s easy to see how rock fans of all persuasions flocked to L7 during the early ’90s. When considering the band’s broad appeal, Donita said: “I think that L7 probably crossed genre appreciation more than some of the other female acts of the time. We were accepted into the metal world, we were accepted into the punk world, we were accepted into the art world. Regarding our basic origins, Suzi and I are art punks, and Jennifer is an art punk. We came from the art-punk scene in L.A.”
Punk is a common denominator for most of the ’90s Alternative Rock protagonists in both sound and spirit. L7 was steeped in it from the get-go. “Hungry For Stink continued the band’s single-minded assault on the cultural “norms,” as they flipped the script on an unsuspecting public and, in doing so, garnered a devout fanbase. L7 rock hard, drawing from the sleazier, grittier, and frankly tastier side of the rock n roll buffet.
In many ways, Hungry For Stink marked the end of an era for the band; Jennifer Finch departed during the making of its follow-up, The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum, thus closing the chapter on the original classic line-up. The band continued with former Belly bassist Gail Greenwood but split up in 2001. After thirteen years, they reformed the classic line-up in 2014 and continue to tour. L7’s initial four-album run that ended with Hungry For Stink is the stuff of legend.
Essential..!
