Helen Love

Probably the biggest Ramones fans in Wales, if not the entire United Kingdom, Helen Love mixed da bruddahs with a little B-52's and a whole lot of Pooh Sticks-style indie irony to create a sunny and unapologetically disposable sound. Formed in Cardiff, Wales, in 1992, Helen Love (like Blondie, they're a group) consists of the pseudonymous Helen Love on bratty shout-along vocals, Sheena -- who is, of course, a punk rocker -- on buzzsaw guitars, and Roxy and Mark on dueling Casio keyboards, which also double as drum machines. Their low-tech, high-energy sound landed them on the estimable U.K. indie Damaged Goods, where they released the statement of purpose "Formula One Racing Girls" in 1993. (This single, it should be noted, coined the term "girl power" a good three years prior to the Spice Girls' media blitz.) The unabashedly adulatory "Joey Ramoney" followed in 1994, itself followed by "Punk Boy," a giant step melodically and lyrically that Northern Ireland's Ash later covered on their Crazed and Confused EP. Helen Love's next step was the 10" EP Summer Pop/Punk Pop, a five-song celebration of "Summer Pop Radio" and related activities that's like a '90s U.K. indie answer to the Beach Boys' Summer Days (And Summer Nights). 1995's "Bubblegum" single introduced a new trick into the group's repertoire by unashamedly nicking the chorus from the Specials' "Much Too Young" for the flip, "Let's Go." The three-song Ahead of the Race CD EP introduced the group to the digital era with a slightly mellower sound, but 1996's Beat Him Up was punkier than anything since the group's debut. The group's final release for Damaged Goods, the four-song We Love You EP, was probably their strongest work, but a dispute with the label led to the group signing with the slightly larger Che...