Saturday Night Retro

Sometimes you look back at something from your youth and wonder how you could have missed just how weird and confusing it was.  Such is the case of Suzi Quatro.

Suzi Quatro

Suzi Quatro was the first female bass player to hit the big time.  Granted, she only hit the big time in Europe and Australia, but she was undeniably a pioneer in the field of female rockers.  Joan Jett patterned her style and early stage persona on Quatro.

Suzi had a lot of success across the pond in the early 1970's with hits like these

48 Crash

Can the Can

Being born in 1968, I knew nothing of Suzi Quatro during her heyday.  No, my first awareness of Suzi Quatro was more like this

Leather Tuscadero

That's right, Leather Tuscadero.  Younger sister of Pinky Tuscadero, Fonzi's one true love.  Pinky appeared on Happy Days in 1976.  Her character didn't return, but the next year we met her younger sister, Leather.  Leather showed up in Milwaukee straight from reform school.  She fronted an all girl band, Leather and the Suedes.  In one of television's most painful moments, Joanie Cunningham steps in when one of the Suedes gets cold feet and runs off.

Concurrent with her stint as Leather, Suzi had her biggest hit in the US

I was in my teens, in the mid 80's before I encountered Suzi Quatro, the rocker chick.  I was a big fan of heavy metal and the music that inspired the bands I listened to at that time.  I listened to Suzi the bass player for several years before I made the connection and realized it was Leather Tuscadero.  There was no Google at that time, so information like that wasn't readily available.  It struck me as weird, but since there was no way to watch those old Happy Days episodes on demand at that time, I wasn't able to get the full effect.

Husband and I watched the clips with Leather and the ones with Pinky, and I have to say, bad TV today has nothing on bad TV in the late 1970's!

(slap, slap) POW!