The Slits: Cut : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The Slits could hardly play an instrument among them at first -- when they opened on the Clash's White Riot Tour, Mick Jones tuned their guitars for them -- but they went on to become one of the most influential early female punk bands. Their raucous 1979 album, Cut, has now been reissued for the first time in the States on CD, with its notorious cover featuring the trio in nothing but loin cloths, slathered in mud. The record is an innovative mix of punk and reggae, with flip, deadpan lyrics ("He is set to self-destruct!/He is too good to be true!") followed by singsong choruses. Lead singer Ari Up carries many of the tracks with her hot scream and weird vibrato, paving the path for a generation of riot grrrls. If you're wondering where Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney came from, Cut is a chance to fill in the blanks.