Headgirl was a collaboration between Motörhead
and Girlschool
in 1980, the
result being the St. Valentine's Day
Massacre EP.
The collaboration between Motörhead and Girlschool started in
March, 1979, when Motörhead began their first big tour with Overkill
and Girlschool were their opening act. Lemmy had heard Girlschool's single
"Take It All Away" and thought they were "fucking excellent" and liked
the idea of girls being in a band. In his opinion, Kelly
Johnson was as good as any guitarist he'd ever seen in his life and
"wanted to stick it up these pompous bastard guitarists' asses". In
late December 1980, Motörhead's drummer, Phil Taylor,
broke his neck, preventing his continuing to play, so Motörhead's
producer, Vic
Maile, suggested they record a single with Girlschool. Lemmy chose
"Please Don't Touch" by one of his favourite groups of the past, Johnny Kidd and the
Pirates, for the flipside the bands recorded each others songs —
Girlschool performed "Bomber" and Motörhead performed
"Emergency", although Denise Dufort played drums throughout.
The record was released on February 14, 1981, as The St. Valentine's
Day Massacre EP and reaching #5 in the UK
Singles Chart, it became the biggest hit either band ever had in the
charts. On February 6 the bands had been filmed in concert for a Nottingham
TV show called Rockstage and on February 19, billed
as "Headgirl", they appeared on Top of the Pops playing "Please
Don't Touch".
With Girlschool as special guests on the Motörhead 2005 'Inferno UK
Tour', Lemmy joined the band at the end of their set at Brixton Academy
on November 19th to play "Please Don't Touch" for the first time ever
live.
In 1981 a Japanese 12" single was released on the
Bronze/Victor label, based around "Please Don't Touch" under the name Motorschool.
Issued in a picture sleeve, it included "Bomber" played by Girlschool,
"Emergency" and "Bomber" played by Motörhead, and "Emergency" and "Yeah
Right" played by Girlschool. Lyrics to the songs were printed in
English and Japanese.
Bronze used the Headgirl collaboration again in 1981, this
time for a 12" vinyl release in Holland called Hard Rock On 12
— the record plays "Please Don't Touch", "Stay Clean", "Metropolis" and
"Demolition Boys" but listed entirely different tracks on the sleeve.
Sadly, Kelly Johnson, formerly of Girlschool and later
guitarist with Headgirl, died on July 15th 2007, following a six-year
battle with cancer of the spine. She was 49.
References
-
Burridge, Alan (April 1991).
"Motörhead". Record Collector
(140): 19.
-
Kilmister,
Ian and Garza, Janiss White Line Fever
(2002) — Simon & Schuster pp.
126,143-144 ISBN
0-684-85868-1.
-
Burridge, Alan Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead
Published: 1995, Collector's Guide Publishing ISBN
0-9695736-2-6.
-
Burridge, Alan (April 2006).
"Motörhead". Motörheadbangers 26
(75).
-