Les Calamités - An Introduction

Introduction

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Millions of French people remember Les Calamités just as a girl pop duet with one hit in 1988: Vélomoteur .
Some genuine rock fans regard Les Calamités mainly as the first famous French girl band in the early 80's.
Though their name is also still remembered by French Pop and Garage Rock connoisseurs in Japan and in the United States.
And several young European bands have covered their songs since the late 90's.
This site's purpose is an attempt to restoring consistency between those various views of that group, founded more than twenty years ago in the Beaune region by Caroline Augier, Isabelle Petit and Odile Repolt. And to give it back the place it deserves in the history of Rock'N'Roll.

Starting with the history of French Rock. Because Les Calamités were primarily a part of what was later to be called the French Rock alternative scene. With a home in the French provinces, like many other groups, singing equally in French and in English (which put them at the boundary between two conceptions of French Rock), they expressed in their own way the energy spillover of the young, who were not satisfied with the music glutting nation-wide medias. One cannot deny them that merit, even though their musical journey ended with a huge commercial hit, which they actually had not looked for.

Isabelle et Odile Then, in the history of Girl Rock. Nowadays, fortunately, girl bands have become a common thing in Rock'N'Roll. But it's a recent phenomenon. Girl groups' history started in the early 60's in the US, especially with Motown groups (several of their songs were to be covered by Les Calamités). But there is one link between that era and the present generation: the early 80's. There was Bananarama in England and the Bangles in California - France had Les Calamités. The comparison may sound odd and almost like a provocation. But it's not artificial: the first track by the Bangles is to be found on the same American compilation as the first English cover by Les Calamités; and Bananarama, who had covered the same Velevelettes hit as Les Calamités, is now being paid a tribute by the Boonaraaas, who started their recording career with a Calamités cover.

And finally in the history of Rock as such. Les Calamités indeed left a work behind them. Obviously their records, still in print and reissued. But also their songs, living through years too, as their covers by bands like Sourire kabyle or Curlee Wurlee demonstrate.
Most of all, as Enzo said, "they proved there was a way to be an excellent rock group and to be NORMAL". If only for that, their short career deserves to be remembered.

One last word: just like Les Calamités, this site is seriously designed but doesn't take itself seriously. And it commits only its author.