The band that became a musical “awakening” for Beth Orton
Every artist remembers the first time that music actually moved them to their core. As fun as it can be to push music forward, it’s impossible not to go back to that handful of people who ignited a spark in you from the minute they rattled across the speakers. Although Beth Orton may have created her own path into the music world, her mind was blown when she was exposed to The Slits for the first time.
For the longest time, though, the idea of females making a dent in rock music was an exception to the rule. There may have been loads of female pop singers making the rounds on the charts, but outside of artists like Patti Smith and Janis Joplin, there were usually ten recognisable male names in the rock industry for every female.
As the golden age of artists like Led Zeppelin started to dwindle, the entire industry was about to be turned on its head by the rise of punk rock. Instead of having to learn those mile-long solos to be cool, the order of the day had shifted to playing from the heart whenever you could, even if it meant only performing at the bare minimum level.
While there was always a certain image around punk rock, the lack of any rules led to a lot of female faces becoming widespread. From Tina Weymouth out of Talking Heads to Debby Harry of Blondie, these were women who could go toe-to-toe with any of their male counterparts, having the same type of swagger that could even put legends like John Lydon to shame.
Even though punk was already known as a caustic genre, The Slits seemed to come directly from the gutter. Formed after attending a Patti Smith gig, the all-girl English punk act was paving the way for the riot grrl movement years before it had an official name, proudly earning their reputation as women who could kick major ass onstage.
While Beth Orton had hardly picked up an instrument yet, she was transfixed when she heard them for the first time, telling Pitchfork, “[My friend] Antonia played me the Slits, and it was an awakening, a beautiful sort of rebellion. To be introduced to them and Blondie was to be introduced to women in a really exciting and multidimensional way. That was a big part of my growing up”.
Whereas The Slits lived and breathed punk, Orton would end up taking her music in a much different direction. Outside of her electronic dance music in Spill, Orton would spend much of her solo career creating the kind of trip-hop music that stood proudly alongside the Massive Attacks of the world, getting her point across with an acoustic guitar just as well as she could with a synthesiser.
Compared to most artists who tend to copy from their favourite band, The Slits made Orton understand the power that came from doing something on your own. Music was about rebelling against that which had come before, and given that every artist in the world was cranking up their guitars in the 1990s, making a living out of being a folktronic artist was one of the most punk moves that Orton could have done.
