Fanny: The Right to Rock

The title is a deliberate pun on the original title of something else, and rightly so. As a child of the era, I never heard of Fanny, I wish I had. If the documentary is watched, what I say is actually mentioned, the meaning part. I won't join the dots for you.

I've just came across the documentary (in 2023), and am only half way through it. I'm confident I can say, without seeing the rest (which I shall), this is one of the most important musical documentaries ever put together.

Amazing musicians and singers I'ver never heard of till now, makes me feel sad.

I've played music for over 50 years, thought I knew most of the names of bands and singers, famous and unknown; Fanny is definitely unknown to me. Not anymore.

I am going to try and find their albums online, and purchase. What I've seen and heard so far, is amazing, and deserves to be heard.

Imagine, they were a fabulous band before The Bangles or Hole yet, virtually died before they could have become the first great female band? What a disgrace.

Oh, as a piece of useless to dicks, and useful for women, a piece of information very few know. One of the most famous bass lines ever written and played, These Boots Were Made For Walking, was coined and played by a woman. Her name is Carol Kaye.

Oh, and, I use the phrase "first great female band", with tongue firmly in cheek. A band is a band, no matter it's make up. Male, female, mixed? So what.

If memory serves, female bands were originally formed in concentration camps in Germany and it's outposts, during WWII. Take from that, what you will.

And there I go, finish my post with the name of an instrumental.....

Systematic documentary on the groundbreaking 1970s all-female rock band Fanny, presented here as just-a-bunch-of-chicks-sitting-around-jamming. Musician sisters June Millington (guitar) and Jean Millington (bass), transplanted to the US from the Philippines, began in an even earlier all-female unit, The Svelts, in 1961 Sacramento (an outfit which also briefly included Fanny drummer and fellow-Filipina Brie Darling). After hiring a new drummer and a keyboardist--and "coming up" with the new name Fanny (no mention of George Harrison, whom legend has it coined the name--which has a different meaning in the UK--to producer Richard Perry)--the group relocated to Los Angeles and was signed to a record deal with Warner-Reprise after apparently just one performance on open-mic night at the Troubadour. The storytelling here is just that: story telling. There's nothing flashy or fantastic happening filmmaking-wise: the song titles aren't captioned for newcomers, the proverbial third-act reunion is perfunctory, and even the celebrity testimonials are sparely used. ** from ****

FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK (2022) Streaming. Interesting story about an all female band who never quite made the mainstream even though they released five albums and had two Top 40 singles. The women certainly had talent and were ground-breaking in a number of ways, among them that the co-founders were Asian American. Much is made of how the industry tossed obstacles in their way, but, the evidence here shows that they did have some breaks including some strong promotion, billboards, bookings on several TV shows and celebrity backers like David Bowie and Barbara Streisand. The band went through the usual ups and downs with a parade of band members coming and going.

There's about an hour's worth of truly good material here. The rest is filled out with several of the original members coming together to record a comeback album (it was released in 2018 to sparse attention). The interviews are honest and well done. Unfortunately, one of the pair of key singer-songwriters, Nickey Barclay, refused to co-operate with the documentary so her input is only from archival footage.

Were Fanny dealt a bad card? Bad timing? Perhaps, but they did have some genuine opportunities. Their personnel changes and shifting sound certainly didn't help. It's a story worth telling.