When we reflect on those who revolutionised the music scene in the 1960s—a time of rapid societal change and cultural transformation—the figures that often come to mind are predominantly male. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who—the list is extensive. These bands were crucial to the progressive landscape of British music and rock. However, the era largely sidelined women from playing instruments, a notion that many at the time would have found utterly preposterous. Despite the sweeping changes in music, the industry still maintained a gender divide that limited women’s roles in the creative process.
The Beatles emerged from the Merseybeat scene in Liverpool, becoming its de facto leaders. Yet, there were many lesser known bands making music in the same place at the same time, and one of these was The Liverbirds. They began performing together in 1962 as the Debutones before becoming The Liverbirds the following year, becoming (as they claim) the first all-female British rock and roll band.
The fact that all-female bands remained a rare sight for years after their formation proved how unusual it was for women to be taken seriously as rock musicians at this time. Sadly, even a member of one of the biggest bands in the world had something to say about the fact that The Liverbirds were women playing instruments.
John Lennon of The Beatles didn’t hold back his opinion when he encountered the band. In the book The Liverbirds: Our Life in Britain’s First Female Rock’n’Roll Band, surviving members Sylvia Saunders and Mary McGlory recounted their introduction to The Beatles at the Cavern Club. Lennon, dismissive of their ambitions, bluntly told them, “Girls don’t play guitars”. His remark reflects the prevailing attitudes of the time, where the idea of women playing instruments in a rock band was met with scepticism, even from fellow musicians.
This sexist belief was common at the time, but The Liverbirds were having none of it. “After we left the dressing room, we huffed, ‘The cheek of it! We’re going to prove him wrong,’” wrote Saunders. The band subsequently kept playing live shows, and while they sadly didn’t find much success in England, they found many German fans.
In 1965, the band released a cover of Bo Diddley’s ‘Diddley Daddy’ that peaked at number five in the German charts, a sign of their popularity abroad. The band played lots of live shows in Hamburg, where The Beatles also honed their craft. While the Fab Four returned home and became the world’s most popular band, The Liverbirds stayed in Hamburg.
Lennon wasn’t the only rock star with something negative to say about them, however. In the 2012 memoir The True Adventures of The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards called the band “real slags”, to which the band responded, “We realise that being in a 1960s all-girl band means that we have sometimes been written about as a gimmick. But to call a woman a slag is a huge insult.”
In their reasonably short career, The Liverbirds released a few singles and two albums: Star-Club Show 4 and More of The Liverbirds. They might not have been The Beatles, but the Liverbirds proved that women could also play instruments, find popularity, and make the music industry a little less male. Their legacy remains today, and in 2019, a musical about the band’s career was created, named after Lennon’s abrasive statement that inspired the band to prove him wrong: Girls Don’t Play Guitars.
