Forty years ago, the Birmingham band released their debut album, and its frank, forthright songs about sex and equality are still pertinent. They explain how music gave their anger a voice
âThere was just so much to be angry aboutâ . Lesley Woods performing with Au Pairs in Leeds, June 1981. Photograph: David Corio/Redferns
âThere was just so much to be angry aboutâ . Lesley Woods performing with Au Pairs in Leeds, June 1981. Photograph: David Corio/Redferns
Mon 17 May 2021 06.30 EDT
Forty years ago this month, one of the best but often forgotten albums of the 1980s was released: Playing With a Different Sex by Birmingham band Au Pairs. The cover, an Eve Arnold photo showing female militia fighters heading into battle, is a good visual harbinger of the albumâs friction-filled songs. Jane Munroâs monster basslines, Pete Hammondâs tight drum rhythms, and the jagged riffs of Lesley Woods and Paul Foad combine to form a tense backdrop for the myriad