Suzi Quatro – Can The Can

The First Female Bassist To Top The Charts

Released in May 1973, “Can The Can” stormed to number one in the UK within four weeks, spending a single week at the summit in June. It also hit number one across Europe and Australia, with the Detroit native selling over two and a half million copies worldwide. What makes this single historic is that Suzi Quatro became the first female bass player to reach number one on any major chart, smashing through barriers in a scene where women were expected to be singers, not instrumentalists rocking leather and wielding a Fender Precision bass.

The song spent seven weeks in the UK top 100, peaking at number one for the week of June 10. It conquered charts in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Australia, where Quatro would become as big as the Beatles. Back home in America, success came late and reluctant, with the single belatedly peaking at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976, three years after its initial release. Radio stations wouldn’t touch it, and Clive Davis himself couldn’t get it played stateside. At a time when glam rock ruled Britain and Europe, Quatro’s hard-edged sound and leather-clad image made her an instant sensation everywhere except her homeland.

The title came from songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, who later explained it meant attempting the impossible, something you simply can’t do. Chapman noted the phrase described trying to fit one can inside another of the same size, a metaphor for trying to nail down a man who won’t commit. The refrain demands scratch out her eyes, capturing the fierce possessiveness and raw aggression that defined Quatro’s persona. Quatro herself didn’t write this one, but she made it hers with a vocal delivery that matched the song’s snarling intensity.

Recording happened after Quatro moved from Detroit to London in 1971. Producer Mickie Most had spotted her playing with her sisters’ band Cradle at the Eastown Theatre and signed her to his RAK Records label. Her first single flopped everywhere except Portugal, so Most enlisted the hit-making team of Chapman and Chinn to write Can The Can. The backing band featured Len Tuckey on guitar, who would soon become Quatro’s husband, Alastair McKenzie on keyboards, and Dave Neal on drums. Most’s vision was revolutionary for the time: present Quatro as the opposite of typical female singers, dressed in black leather, playing bass onstage, rocking as hard as any man. Her televised performance in her now-iconic leather jumpsuit backed by three male musicians caused a sensation.

The song appeared on Quatro’s self-titled debut album released in October 1973 on RAK Records. The album peaked at number 32 in the UK, number four in Germany, and number two in Australia. Other tracks included 48 Crash, another Chapman-Chinn composition that hit number three, plus Quatro’s own songs like Glycerine Queen written with Tuckey. The leather catsuit she wore for the album cover photo session became her signature look completely by accident. When photographer asked for that Suzi Quatro look, she later recalled, she didn’t know she had one yet, but suddenly there it was.

Joan Jett has long credited Quatro as her primary inspiration, telling interviewers she had a poster of Quatro on her bedroom wall as a teenager. In the 2020 documentary Suzi Q, Jett recalled seeing Quatro in 1974 and thinking a girl playing rock and roll, which made her realize she could do it too. Chrissie Hynde, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads, and the entire band Girlschool all cite Quatro’s influence. When Quatro wrote her song A Girl Like Me years later, she described it as herself imitating Joan Jett imitating her. Even Elvis Presley reportedly told Quatro her cover of his All Shook Up was the best version since his own.

Can The Can shattered expectations and rewrote the rules for women in rock. Quatro proved women could front bands, play bass with power and authority, and dominate stages in leather without compromising their artistry. The phrase attempting the impossible perfectly captures what she achieved. In a male-dominated industry that told her to be the next Janis Joplin, she refused and became the first Suzi Quatro instead. That one-week stay at number one opened doors that had been bolted shut, creating a direct line from her to every woman who picked up a bass or formed a band afterward.