I wanna blame press hype and dumb music writers whenever I hear the Runaways called the first REAL all-female rock band, 'cause it ain't true. Prior to the Runaways there were a bunch of kick-ass all-female groups, like the Ace of Cups.

The AoC got together in the mid-'60s and, being part of the (ahem) Haight-Ashbury scene, were a dosed, sussed West Coast sike group. Uh, and it's obvious when you hear their hazy (ahem) nod of a song "Simplicity" they were RIGHT ON! And their version of Mongo Santamaría's "Afro Blue"... what great lysergic atmosphere! They were a steady working band throughout the late '60s and they played everywhere, including opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, they were on the bill for the Band's first official show as the Band, a live AoC clip was included in the psychedelic exploit-o film Revolution, and they even played Seattle at the Seattle Center Arena with the Jefferson Airplane.

However, in 1972 they'd split up and essentially vanished. Then, in 2003, an album was issued on Ace Records It's Bad for You But Buy It!. It's a fantastic and telling history, but still they were ignored. It's too bad they haven't received their due. They weren't just another group of also-rans; they deserve a better place in history. Maybe part of the problem is, tho' they had recordings, no records were issued. MAYBE. Or since they were hippies, contemporary pop culture has chosen to ignore them and give more weight to all-female bands ONLY when they were connected to punk...