861 Goldie and the Gingerbreads “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” 1965

“Before there were the Go-Go’s, the Runaways, or Fanny, there was Goldie and the Gingerbreads, the first all-female band ever signed to a major label. Unlike other girl groups of the ‘60s, Goldie and the Gingerbreads played their own instruments, and the groundbreaking group made a splash in the U.K. with their 1965 hit single, ‘Can’t You Hear My Heart Beat?...” 

Genya Ravan: “We were considered a novelty till they heard us. Right from the first note, they knew they were hearing and watching something special. The U.S. was far more misogynistic than [Europeans]. In Europe they said, ‘Wow, you are great!’ and in the U.S., guys were like, ‘Do you broads really wanna be in this business? Shouldn’t you be home married with children?’ I never let it bother me—it drove me to become so good that male musicians would get embarrassed when they followed us onstage. The thing that really bothered me was how journalists would mention age [when writing about us]. They don’t say ‘Mick Jaggar is in his 30s now’ or talk about what male groups wore that night’” (Bess Korey, Bitch Magazine, Winter 2011).  

Goldie and the Gingerbreads “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat”