The Donnas

A band of women who crashed the rock ’n’ roll boys’ club, The Donnas combined hard-rock riffage and bubblegum pop-punk, creating nimble but aggressive music full of adolescent sass and a take-no-prisoners attitude. Formed in 1993 by a quartet of school friends, the Palo Alto, CA, band took cues from Ramones and The Runaways on their 1997 self-titled debut and the following year’s American Teenage Rock ’n’ Roll Machine, released on Lookout!, Green Day’s old label. The Donnas came into their own on 2001’s The Donnas Turn 21, exhibiting more musical sophistication indebted to bluesy ’70s arena rock and gargantuan guitar riffs. After signing to a major label, the band continued embracing a heavier sound on Spend the Night, an album highlighted by the explosive single “Take It Off” and the seductive “Too Bad About Your Girl.” The Donnas went even deeper into pure hard-rock territory on 2004’s Gold Medal and 2007’s Bitchin’. Despite some touring and rumors of new music, the band stopped playing together in 2012 and have mostly remained dormant, although leader Brett Anderson (not to be confused with the London Suede singer) resurfaced in 2023 singing the theme song for That ’90s Show, a cover of Big Star’s “In the Street.”