Fanny

Upon signing hard rock combo Fanny in 1970, Reprise Records claimed their new acquisition was the first all-female rock band. That statement was far from the truth, but as the first self-contained female group to cut a major-label album, they were an important harbinger of things to come. Fanny could play crunchy hard rock with sophisticated instrumental skills and great harmonies, bolstered by songwriting that was never short on melodic hooks, and their four albums for Reprise, issued between 1970 and 1973, won rave reviews, even if a genuine hit remained frustratingly out of reach. While the band's original run came to an end in 1975, their influence proved powerful in the years to come, and their work would be reissued to an appreciative audience in the 2010s. 2024's Live on Beat-Club '71-'72, taken from German television broadcasts, documented their strength as a live act.