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The Donnas

  • Genre: Rock
  • Active: '90s, 2000s
  • Major Members: Donna R., Donna F., Donna C., Donna A.

Biography

Aspiring to nothing more than a good old-fashioned rock & roll party, the Donnas won a cult following and considerable media attention in the late '90s after scoring a record deal right out of high school. Early on, they were invariably described as "the Ramones meet the Runaways," with a definite emphasis on the former (they'd even adopted identical first names as a tribute). But their bratty high-school-delinquent image was clearly indebted to the latter, as their songs concerned themselves mostly with boys, booze, drugs, and hated classmates. As the Donnas grew up and polished their technical abilities, their music evolved into a distinctly female take on cock-rock metal, drawing more from AC/DC, Kiss, and Mötley Crüe than from punk. Some critics praised their cheerfully crude adoption of male sexual bravado; others complained that the band's music never transcended its vintage influences, and remained suspicious that their naughty-girl packaging was a bigger part of their appeal. The Donnas were originally formed in May 1993, when all four members (all born in 1979) were still in the eighth grade together in Palo Alto, CA. Calling themselves Ragady Anne at first, they played covers of groups like R.E.M., L7, the Muffs, and Shonen Knife, and entered a junior-high battle of the bands just one month after forming. During high school, they kept practicing virtually every afternoon, and soon moved into riot grrrl territory with inspiration from bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile (though it was more musical than political). In early 1995, Ragady Anne released a 7" EP on the local Radio Trash label, but soon changed their name to the Electrocutes and adopted a trashy jailbait image and a loud-fast-rules aesthetic. They gigged around the Bay Area that year and were spotted by Darin Raffaelli, a onetime member of trash-punkers Supercharger and head of the small Radio X label. Raffaelli had written a cache of Ramones-style songs for a hypothetical girl band, and approached the Electrocutes about recording them. Deciding that the songs didn't fit the Electrocutes' metal-queen style, the girls created Ramones-worshipping alter egos known as the Donnas, even going so far as to mock them in Electrocutes interviews as though they were different people. Thus, vocalist Brett Anderson, guitarist Allison Robertson, bassist Maya Ford, and drummer Torry Castellano became Donna A., Donna R., Donna F., and Donna C. Before 1995 was out, they played their first gig as the Donnas, and released their first single under that name on Radio X. Two more followed in 1996, the last one on Raffaelli's new imprint, Super*teem. Meanwhile, they hadn't yet abandoned their identity as the Electrocutes, and in fact recorded an album called Steal Yer Lunch Money during 1996; however, it wasn't released until three years later, when Sympathy for the Record Industry acquired the rights in the wake of the Donnas' eventual success. In 1997, the Donnas recorded a self-titled debut album for Super*teem, using songs ghostwritten by Raffaelli. Critics charged that Raffaelli was acting as the band's Svengali, likening their relationship to that of Kim Fowley and the Runaways; both sides vehemently denied that that was the case, and eventually severed their professional relationship to avoid fueling more speculation. Following the release of The Donnas, the group took a week off from its senior year of high school to tour Japan. After graduation, they postponed plans for college and accepted an offer to sign with Bay Area indie Lookout, the original home of Green Day. Their label debut, American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine, was released in early 1998, and did feature some uncredited songwriting input from Raffaelli. The Donnas quickly became underground punk favorites, and even landed some attention from mainstream media like MTV. The Donnas' third album, Get Skintight, appeared in 1999 and marked the first time the band composed its material with no outside assistance. A distinct hard rock influence began to creep into their compositions, underlined by their cover of Mötley Crüe's "Too Fast for Love"; they even opened a show for Cinderella. That year, they also appeared in the teen comedies Jawbreaker and Drive Me Crazy, the latter as the Electrocutes. In early 2001, the band issued The Donnas Turn 21, which continued their move away from punk and toward the hard rock mainstream of 15-20 years previous (this time the cover was Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight"). The album received some of their weakest reviews to date, generally from critics who felt that their party-hardy subject matter was starting to feel forced. Nonetheless, the Donnas caught the attention of major label Atlantic, who signed them up in late 2001. Launched with a new wave of publicity, the Donnas' label debut, Spend the Night, arrived in 2002 and became their first album to break into the Top 100 of the pop charts. It also earned them their biggest radio hit to date in the single "Take It Off," whose video also got some MTV airplay. In the summer of 2003, the Donnas played the main stage on the revived Lollapalooza tour. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Representative Songs:

"40 Boys in 40 Nights," "Rock & Roll Machine," "Drivin' Thru My Heart"

Representative Albums:

Get Skintight, The Donnas, Spend the Night

Similar Artists:

The Ailerons, Rocket, The American Foxes, Lolita Storm, Kittie, Toilet Boys, The Skirts, Kenickie, BMX Bandits, Ash, The Muffs, Fluffy, Redd Kross, L7

Influences:

Courtney Love, Chrissie Hynde, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, The Runaways, The Ramones, New York Dolls, Mötley Crüe, Joan Jett, Blondie

Followers:

Angelica
 
 
Wikipedia: The Donnas
This article is about the band. For the Italian commune, see Donnas, Italy.


The Donnas
Donnas_sabrina_lugo.jpg
Background information
Also known as Screen, Ragady Anne, The Electrocutes
Origin U.S. flag Palo Alto, California, United States
Genre(s) Hard Rock
Years active 1993–present
Label(s) Atlantic, Lookout!, Sympathy for the Record Industry, Radio Trash, Purple Feather Records
Associated
acts		 Toilet Böys
The Donalds
Website http://www.thedonnas.com/
Members
Brett Anderson - vocals
Torry Castellano - drums
Maya Ford - bass
Allison Robertson - guitar

The Donnas is the name of an American all-female rock band.

Origin and early years

All band members were born in 1979. Brett Anderson (born May 30, 1979) is the singer of the band, Allison Robertson (born August 26, 1979) is the guitarist, Maya Ford (born January 8, 1979) is the bass player, and Torry Castellano (born January 8, 1979) plays the drums. As best friends, they formed in the eighth grade to play for their school's "Day on the Green." The only girl band in their town Palo Alto, California, they were relatively unknown until they were out of high school. They are all self-taught musicians and practiced in Castellano's garage nearly every day during high school.

Towards the end of their high school days, while they were still known as "The Electrocutes", they decided to create another band (with the same members) which they would use to play softer tunes without distorting the metal queen image of The Electrocutes. To further distinguish the difference between the two bands, they all took matching "Donna" monikers, where all of their names were Donna, and their last names were the first initial of their last name (Brett Anderson became Donna A) which they used only when performing as "The Donnas". Although they initially planned on dropping The Donnas after a while and sticking with The Electrocutes, they changed their minds after high school and stuck with the Donnas instead, while still keeping their Donna names. They are sometimes described as a punk band, but the band itself denies any kind of affiliation with the punk rock movement.

Experimenting with different musical styles, they underwent a variety of band names (Screen, Ragady Anne, and The Electrocutes) before settling on The Donnas. They worked with producer Darin Raffaelli for their first two albums, the first of which, simply called The Donnas, was entirely written by Raffaelli and released on his own Superteem! record label. (It was later released again on Lookout! Records.) They took a week off of their senior year of high school to tour Japan and experimented with riot grrrl, calling themselves The Electrocutes. Afterwards, they signed with Lookout! Records. As the band grew, they were urged to sign with a major label company. In 2001, they signed with Atlantic Records.

Mainstream popularity

In 2002, The Donnas released Spend the Night. The album was their mainstream break through, spawning the hit single "Take it Off" and appearances on Total Request Live, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The Late Show with David Letterman. In the summer of 2003, they played the main stage at Lollapalooza. In 2004, they released their sixth album Gold Medal. In February 2005, they toured Australia with the Big Day Out music festival, playing from Sydney to Perth.

Their influences are Guns N' Roses, KISS, Anthrax (John Bush era), L7, and The Ramones.

The Donnas' music has repeatedly been featured in video game soundtracks. "You've Got A Crush On Me" can be heard in the PlayStation 2 game, Splashdown. "Who Invited You" can be found on soundtrack for True Crime: Streets of LA and MVP Baseball 2003. "I Don't Want to Know" is in the Gran Turismo 4 soundtrack also and a cover of the song was also used for Donkey Konga 2 for the Nintendo GameCube. A cover of "Take it Off" is featured in Guitar Hero and added as a downloadable track in Guitar Hero 2 (released in 2005) and Downhill Domination (released in 2004).

The Donnas' music has also made various appearances in film and media. The band appeared in the movie Drive Me Crazy in 1999 (as The Electrocutes), and more recently appeared on the TV show Charmed performing the single "Fall Behind Me" at P3. They also appeared in the teen comedy Jawbreaker as the prom band, contributing two songs to the soundtrack ("Rock 'N' Roll Machine" and "Checkin' It Out"). A cover of "Roll On Down The Highway" was used in a Disney commercial. The Donnas can also be heard on Mean Girls during the end credits playing a cover of the Billy Idol song "Dancing With Myself", and they also contributed to the soundtrack of the movie Grind. The video "Too Bad About Your Girl" also features the cast of the film Grind. The song "Take It Off" features in the movie Dodgeball.

"Donna" pseudonym

Up until the release of 2004's Gold Medal, the band used pseudonyms. Each member was known as "Donna" followed by the first initial of their surname (e.g. Brett was known as Donna A). They decided to drop the stage names prior to the release of Gold Medal to present an image appropriate for the more mature sound that they had adopted on the new album.

Current

On May 19, 2006 The Donnas posted an announcement on their public message board (which required free registration for viewing) that they had "parted ways with Atlantic Records," claiming "[t]he decision was entirely mutual and completely amicable and will not impact the band, nor will it impact upon the writing, recording or touring for the next Donnas album."[1] In March 2007 the Donnas released their first song from the new album, titled "Don't Wait Up For Me", and a new logo.

The Donnas released their 7th studio album titled Bitchin' on September 18, 2007 on their Purple Feather record label. The band released three songs from Bitchin' on their official MySpace.[2] Bitchin' was produced by Jay Ruston and The Donnas.[3]

Discography

As Ragady Anne

  • Ragady Anne [7" EP] (1996) (Radio Trash Records)

As The Electrocutes

As The Donnas

Studio albums

  1. The Donnas - July 28, 1997 - Lookout! Records
  2. American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine - January 27, 1998 - Lookout! Records
  3. Get Skintight - June 8, 1999 - Lookout! Records
  4. The Donnas Turn 21 - January 23, 2001 - Lookout! Records
  5. Spend the Night - October 22, 2002 - Atlantic Records - US #62 (Gold)
  6. Gold Medal - October 26, 2004 - Atlantic Records - US #76
  7. Bitchin' - September 18, 2007 - Purple Feather Records RedEye Distribution- US #89

Singles

  • 1998: "Wig-Wam Bam" THE DONNAS b/w "Funny Funny" Groovie Ghoulies (split with The Groovie Ghoulies)
  • 1998: "Rock 'N' Roll Macine"/"Speeding Back to My Baby"
  • 1999: "Strutter" THE DONNAS b/w "Detroit Rock City" KISS clear vinyl 7" (Lookout Records)
  • 1999: "Get you Alone" (7") (split with The Toilet Boys)
  • 2002: "40 Boys in 40 Nights"/"Wig Wam Bam"/"School´s Out"
  • 2003: "Take it Off"/"Hyperactive"/"Rock & Roll Machine"
  • 2003: "Who Invited You"/"Mama´s Boy"/"Backstage"
  • 2003: "Too Bad About Your Girl"
  • 2004: "Fall Behind Me"
  • 2005: "I Don't Want to Know (If You Don't Want Me)"/"Done with you"
  • 2007: "Don't Wait Up For Me" digital download only

Songs on Soundtracks and Compilations

  • "Speeding Back To My Baby"-Gearhead Compilation (1998)
  • "Strutter"-Detroit Rock City OST (1999)
  • "Keep On Loving You"-Drive Me Crazy OST (1999)
  • "Backstage"-Freaky Friday OST (2003)
  • "Dancing With Myself"-Mean Girls OST (2004)
  • "Please Don't Tease"-New York Minute OST (2004)
  • "Everyone Is Wrong"-Electra OST (2005)
  • "Roll On Down The Highway"-Herbie: Fully Loaded OST (2005)
  • "Drive My Car"-This Bird Has Flown-a 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles´ Rubber Soul (2005)
  • "Kids In America"-Nancy Drew OST (2007)

References

  1. ^ The Donnas have "parted ways" with Atlantic Records. brooklynvegan. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  2. ^ The Donnas Take The Itch Out Of Bitchin. StrangeGlue. Retrieved on 2007-08-02.
  3. ^ http://myspace.com/thedonnas/

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

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Artist. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Donnas".  Read more

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