The Donnas Share Their Favorite Metal Records of the ‘70s and ‘80s
While breaking hearts and bottles has always been a major selling point of the Donnas’ party-hard persona, none of their records have referenced the arena rock highs of the hair-metal era quite like Bitchin’. Seemingly exhumed from the Sunset Strip circa 1982, the quartet’s seventh full-length justifies its Aerosol-optional cover (featuring a Judas Priest-like logo and some severely constrictive leather pants) with a healthy dose of guitar goddess soloing and up-all-night lyrics. Singer Brett Anderson calls it a “return to our roots with some new stuff added in”; we call it the greatest trans-gendered cock rock album of the past 10 years.
To further emphasize the Donnas’ Reagan-era obsessions, we asked Anderson to share some of her favorite albums from a time when Axl and Vince ruled.
Judas Priest, Screaming for Vengeance (Columbia, 1982)
The cover of this one is so hardcore—the kind of thing that gets your mom to say, “What’s wrong with you?” My mom’s cool—all of our moms are, really—but we like pissing off the proverbial mom. That’s our job, what we’re put here to do. Not to ruin moms, but to rub them the wrong way.
Mötley Crüe, Too Fast for Love (Elektra, 1981)
We were just at [the New York City clothing store] Trash and Vaudeville, and they were playing this whole record. It’s so classic; every cowbell is right on. The pelvis and crotch shots on its cover were also a major inspiration for [Bitchin’]. Unlike some of our past records, we wanted the cover to set a tone and everything from this record to be cohesive, from t-shirts to album art to our website—all as part of the Bitchin’/Purple Feather [the Donnas’ new DIY label] era.
We saw that Aerosmith/Mötley Crüe tour at the Hollywood Bowl. It was funny. Tommy Lee got up from his drum kit after every song to say, “Jäger shots for everybody!” He totally went back to college and now he’s a frat boy.
Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction (1987, Geffen)
There’s nothing like “Welcome to the Jungle” when you’re in a bad mood. This record also reminds me of the time in our lives where we were all discovering rock ‘n’ roll. Axl Rose was superhuman then. We all wanted to be him… and Slash, of course. When I saw them on the cover of Rolling Stone recently, my heart leapt. It was like seeing an ex-boyfriend or something.
Kiss, Dynasty (Casablanca, 1979)
I like not having to choose rock or disco. Some of the best songs are ones that put two genres together, like “I Was Made for Lovin’ You.” I know they got a lot of flak for that, but that was then and this is now, man.
Cinderella, Night Songs (Mercury, 1986)
The way Cinderella throws their guitars to their roadies is acrobatic. We played a show with them in Reno at a place called Rodeo Rock, which was kinda amazing.
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