Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks (2026)

This article was originally published on Write Through the Night

The 80s and 90s were filled with so many iconic female-led punk rock bands, from The Go-Gos to Bikini Kill to Babes of Toyland. One of these rock bands that does not get the recognition it deserves is the Lunachicks, a New York City-based rock band that performed from 1989 to 2001. With the new documentary Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks, the band is finally getting their due.

It’s so crucial that stories like these get made into documentaries. The Lunachicks aren’t going to be preserved in magazines or radio transcripts like their male peers because of the sexism in the music industry. In Pretty Ugly, they make a point to talk about the reception the band received from music media. They weren’t allowed to be in magazines if another woman-dominant band had been in it the month before, and they were frequently cut from playlists so that it didn’t become too girly. Although the Lunachicks and bands like them have always had fans, it’s only now that their success is being catalogued.

What makes the Lunachicks stand out is the true friendship between the three main members of the band, Gina Volpe, Theo Kogan, and Sydney “Squid” Silver. They met as teenagers and founded the band at just seventeen years old, using their experience dropping acid and wandering through the streets of New York to inform their style and lyrics. It’s adorable that they’re lifelong friends who were able to overcome the pressures of touring and being in business together, despite all of the stresses that came along with it. As one of the women said in the film, friendship at that age is “as important as any lover” and it’s clear they lived that philosophy throughout their early adult lives as well.