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Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm PhoebeZimmermann. In the later years of the twentieth century, femalemusicians helped define new sounds in popular music. These bands areoften called "girl groups." This week, learn about three of the mostinfluential.

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During the nineteen-seventies,guitar bands filled popular radio. One of the first all-femaleguitar bands on the radio was the Runaways. They appeared with theirfirst album in nineteen-seventy-six.

The music of the Runaways had the sounds of all-male heavy metalbands like Kiss and Aerosmith. But listeners could also hear theinfluence of punk music. Groups like the Sex Pistols and the Ramonesmade this kind of music popular.

Here, from that first album by the Runaways, is a song called"Cherry Bomb."

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Like other rock and roll groups, the Runaways sang about teen-agerebellion. But here the girls in the songs did everything that boysdid. One song was about breaking out of a jail for teen-age girls.The song is called "Dead End Justice."

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Three of the Runaways -- Lita Ford, Cherie [sheh-REE] Currie andJoan Jett -- went on to separate lives as performers. But before thegroup broke up, they made two more recordings together. Here is thetitle song from their album "Queens of Noise."

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In the nineteen-sixties, the Beach Boys defined the Californiasound ...

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... but in the nineteen-eighties, it was the Go-Go's.

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Like the Runaways, the Go-Go's were influenced by the punkmovement. But their music was more fun. In fact, their carefreesound influenced a lot of the "new wave" music of thenineteen-eighties.

The Go-Go's had one of their first hits with this song fromnineteen-eighty-one, "We Got the Beat":

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Most of the songs by the Go-Go's were written or co-written byguitarist Charlotte Caffey. A strong guitar and drums drove thesound, carried along by electronic pianos and led by the strongvoice of Belinda Carlisle.

This song, "Vacation," is still played in American dance places.

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The Go-Go's broke up in nineteen-eighty-five. During thenineteen-nineties, they worked together from time to time. And theyreleased a few collections of older material. Then, intwo-thousand-one, the five members reunited and produced the album"God Bless the Go-Go's." The band continues to perform together.

"God Bless the Go-Go's" kept withthe sound that made them famous. The album includes this love songcalled "Stuck in My Car."

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In the early nineteen-nineties, music produced independently oflarge record companies became more and more popular. The city ofSeattle, in the Pacific Northwest, became known for what peoplecalled grunge music. All-male bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jambecame famous.

In nineteen-ninety-four, two young women, Corin Tucker and CarrieBrownstein, formed a group. They called it Sleater-Kinney. Theynamed it after a road near the city where they met in college:Olympia, Washington, south of Seattle.

Their first album was released by an independent record company,Chainsaw Records of Olympia. Here is "Slow Song" from that album.

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Sleater-Kinney was part of amovement in punk music from the early nineteen-nineties known as"riot grrl" [girl] ... G-R-R-L. This movement was an answer to themostly male culture of punk music. It started with all-female groupslike Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.

Sleater-Kinney is not as widely known as other bands in thecountry. Yet in two-thousand-one, Time magazine declared thisthree-member group "America's Best Rock Band." The words to theirsongs are both personal and political. Many of the songs have to dowith women's rights. This one speaks out against sexual violence.The song is called "#1 [number one] Must Have."

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Sleater-Kinney has recorded six albums so far. For their thirdalbum, "Dig Me Out," they left Chainsaw Records. Since then, theband has been with another independent record company, called KillRock Stars.

They recorded their most recent album, "One Beat," intwo-thousand-two. It has been the biggest success to date forSleater-Kinney. It includes this song, called "Oh."

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Many music critics say the Runaways, the Go-Go's, andSleater-Kinney have had a big effect on an industry where males holdmost of the power. In fact, some consider them among the mostinfluential groups ever to record music in America.

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Our program was written by Robert Brumfield and produced by CatyWeaver. I'm Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for the VOASpecial English program, THIS IS AMERICA. We leave you with aSleater-Kinney song. It's called "You're No Rock 'n Roll Fun."