ABSTRACT
The Red Hot Chili Peppers is not the first male band to cover girl group songs, even without overt irony—although many webposting Frusciante fans appear to believe that "Remember" is an Aerosmith song. Before going any further, it might be wise to at least try to pinpoint what distinguishes the girl singer from a woman who sings, and the girl group from women who sing. As the old joke shows, musicians may think they know what a girl singer is, but the matter is slightly more complicated than that. Within the academy, girl pop singers have fared somewhat worse than they do even in the wider world; in fact, they might be seen to be suffering from a triple threat. The one body of so-called mainstream academic work that has dealt anything more than passing critical attention to 60s girl singers and groups are those articles that point out their influence on more prestigious male artists or repertoires.
