This new-wave/power-pop band, hailing from the San Fernando Valley of California, was fronted by sisters Caron and Michelle Maso. Their backing band included Kip Brown (guitar and backing vocals), John Baker (bass and backing vocals) and Marty Rosamond (drums). Thanks to a lot of airplay on the radio station KROQ in Los Angeles, other deejays picked up on them. Today, we will revisit this extended-play album in honor of its thirtieth anniversary this year.
Side one opens with the "Earthquake Song", a novelty number about living in California and having to deal with the random tremors. This single may not have burned up the charts, but its lyrics appeared in the 1985 novel Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. It was used as an intro song by ABC for the 1994 documentary Earthquakes: The Terrifying Truth, hosted by Martin Sheen, and has also been covered by the Excessories (in 2001) and Happy Accident (in 2003). The song has a rollicking rhythm and pays homage to 60's beach music, right down to the vocal harmonies on the chorus.
"Left Without a Real Kiss", with its Buddy Holly vibe, tells of an end-of-the-date disappointment.
"No Time to Say Goodbye" takes the tempo down a bit with this song about surviving romantic heartbreak after being deceived by a guy.
Side two begins with the bouncing beat of "Bandana". The lyrics tell of an irresistible bad-boy that catches a girl's eye; she has to resist his good looks and charm because she knows he'll end up leaving her on the road of broken hearts with all the other girls who came before.
The dating primer "How to Pick Up Girls", their other single, had a video which aired on MTV's early days of rotation.
The closing track, "Rich Girls", tells of the woes of a privileged young lady who has anything money can buy - except the love of the guy who has captured her heart.
My first exposure to the Little Girls was hearing the first track on a Rhino Records collection of 80's new-wave songs back in the mid-90's. A decade later, I saw a collection of their songs pop up on emusic.com and eagerly spent a few of my monthly credits to add them to my digital music library. This included all of the songs found here on Thank Heaven!. Despite opening for a number of bands at local shows (including Billy Idol, the Boomtown Rats, the Call, the Plimsouls and the Pretenders), the Little Girls eventually grew out this phase and called it quits after two years.
This, though, is an example of what I like about the 80's - sometimes acts came and went so fast that we barely got to know them. However, what they left behind were some fun music that we might not have gotten otherwise. This one by the Little Girls definitely falls into that category, and I say "thank Heaven for the Little Girls".
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