Girlschool – Yeah Right

The All-Female Metal Band That Made Motörhead’s Drummer Dress In Drag

“Yeah Right” was released as a single on November 7, 1980, months before appearing on Girlschool’s second album Hit and Run in April 1981. The track captured the British all-female heavy metal band at the height of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal explosion, with its snarling vocals and Kelly Johnson’s blistering guitar riffs embodying every woman’s right to stay out all night raising hell. What most fans don’t know: the song became a defiant statement against the music industry’s skepticism about whether women could play heavy metal—and Girlschool proved them wrong by collaborating with Motörhead on the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre EP, where Philthy Animal Taylor made a drag cameo in the “Yeah Right” video as somebody’s angry mom trying to stop the party.

The album Hit and Run became Girlschool’s most successful release, hitting No.5 on the UK Albums Chart in April 1981 and spending six weeks on the chart—including two weeks in the top 10. The album also charted in New Zealand and Canada, where it earned gold certification in November 1981 for shipments of 50,000 units. This success came during one of NWOBHM’s peak years, alongside chart domination from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon, Def Leppard, and Motörhead. The title track “Hit and Run” climbed to No.32 on the UK Singles Chart, and the band appeared on BBC’s Top of the Pops on April 16, 1981, miming to the hit song. But “Yeah Right” arrived first as a standalone single in November 1980, serving as the band’s declaration that they wouldn’t be stopped, judged, or dismissed.

Girlschool started in 1975 when bassist Enid Williams and rhythm guitarist Kim McAuliffe formed an all-girl rock covers band called Painted Lady in South London. Lead guitarist Kelly Johnson and drummer Denise Dufort joined later, and in April 1978 they changed their name to Girlschool. Their first single “Take It All Away” on City Records led to a support slot on Motörhead’s Overkill tour in 1979, which changed everything. Lemmy Kilmister was so impressed he convinced Bronze Records to sign them, and producer Vic Maile—who’d worked as live sound engineer for The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, and Jimi Hendrix—captured their raw but powerful sound on their 1980 debut Demolition. The album spawned singles including “Emergency,” “Nothing to Lose,” and “Race with the Devil.” But the music press remained skeptical, questioning whether an all-female band could authentically play heavy metal without it being a novelty. “Yeah Right” was their answer—sarcastic, defiant, and unapologetically aggressive.

Recording for Hit and Run took place at Jackson’s Studios in Rickmansworth, England from December 1980 to January 1981, with Vic Maile returning as producer. The sessions emphasized live band energy—Maile knew how to capture spontaneity without sacrificing power. The album featured ten original tracks written primarily by band members, plus a cover of ZZ Top’s “Tush” that added bluesy swagger to their metallic attack. “Yeah Right” showcased the band’s classic lineup firing on all cylinders: Johnson’s lead guitar delivering hit-and-run riffs, McAuliffe’s rhythm guitar adding crunch, Williams’ bass providing groovy foundation, and Dufort’s drums punishing the skins with relentless precision. The vocals were shared among Williams, McAuliffe, and Johnson, creating a three-headed vocal assault that differentiated them from male-fronted bands. The production emphasized down-to-earth rock ‘n’ roll with a metallic edge—no excessive complexity, just ferocious energy balanced with melody and hooks that stuck.

“Yeah Right” appeared as the fourth track on Hit and Run, sandwiched between the hard-charging opener “C’mon Let’s Go”—which started with a motorcycle engine impression done on guitar—and tracks like “The Hunter,” “(I’m Your) Victim,” and “Kick It Down.” The album’s limited red vinyl pressing became a collector’s item, and various international editions appeared on LP, cassette, and 7-inch formats across the UK, US, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Bronze Records distributed through Polydor, and the album was mastered by John Dent at Sound Clinic London. The 2004 Castle Music reissue expanded the original 11 tracks with nine bonus tracks, including the Motörhead collaboration “Please Don’t Touch” and live BBC Radio 1 session recordings from January 1981. A 30th anniversary edition titled Hit and Run Revisited was released in 2011 on Wacken Records.

The Motörhead collaboration elevated both bands. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre EP featured Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ cover “Please Don’t Touch,” with Girlschool performing Motörhead’s “Bomber” and Motörhead covering Girlschool’s “Emergency.” Denise Dufort played drums on all songs because Philthy Animal Taylor was recovering from a neck injury—she also drummed during the BBC One Top of the Pops performance on February 19, 1981, where both bands performed as “Headgirl.” The EP hit No.5 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1981 and earned silver certification in December 1981—the best sales performance for both bands at that time. The mutual respect extended to the “Yeah Right” video, where Philthy Animal Taylor made a hilarious drag cameo as somebody’s angry mom trying to shut down the party—a moment that perfectly captured the irreverent camaraderie between the two bands. The friendship between Girlschool and Motörhead demolished any lingering doubts about women’s place in heavy metal, with Lemmy frequently championing the band in interviews and describing them as “proper musicians” who could out-drink and out-rock most male bands.

Rolling Stone later ranked “Yeah Right” among the greatest songs of the 1980s, calling it a “charmingly snotty two-fingered salute to naysayers everywhere” that combined NWOBHM thump with classic rock ‘n’ roll sass. The song’s message of staying focused in the face of negativity resonated beyond metal audiences, making Girlschool unlikely feminist icons who never sought the label but embodied it through sheer existence. Lead guitarist Kelly Johnson—whose virtuosic playing inspired countless female guitarists—tragically passed away from spinal cancer in 2007 at age 49, but her legacy lives on in every woman who picks up a guitar and refuses to be told she can’t play metal. Kim McAuliffe later reflected: “We never thought about being women in rock. We just thought about being in rock.” That unpretentious attitude, captured perfectly in the swagger of “Yeah Right,” made Girlschool pioneers who proved you didn’t need permission to raise hell—you just needed talent, attitude, and the guts to turn the amps up to 11.