Barbie Army

The Barbie Army was an all-girl punk rock garage band from Chicago in the 1980s, when all-girl punk bands were still pretty rare (before Riot Grrrls). Lead by Jean Lyons (center in the picture) the band was originally formed at The University of Chicago, but soon had mostly teen-age members. Although perhaps best known for covers such as Alice Cooper's I'm Eighteen, their original song "Take Down the Flag" enjoyed a brief surge in popularity on college radio stations in the aftermath of September 11th.

Group Members (from the band's website) "Group members: Back-stabbing, catfights and boyfriend-bashing broke up and refigured the band over the years. Founding members were Jean Lyons (guitar), Mary Dean (guitar), Tina Matlock (drums) and Judy Johnson (bass). Other talented women who played with the Barbies included bassists Glynis Johnson, Lyn Pusztai, Christine 'Sixteen' Garcia, Liz Tate, Joan Baby, and Tanya Mushinsky; and guitarists Ellen Phillips, Debbie Jurek and Alena Lemon." If memory serves, Russ Forster drummed for this band in one of its earliest incarnations, so it would not be fair to label it an "all girl" band, at least not for all of its existence. Russ also wrote some of their more memorable earlier tunes.