[5] Both artists were active in the Art punk community of Echo Park and had met in 1984 through mutual contacts at the cultural hub of the LA Weekly.

Of their meeting and on hearing Gardner play a tape of her songs in progress, Sparks described it as "one of the happiest days of my life" with a clear synchronicity in the music they were each interested in creating.

[14] Gardner and Sparks began performing regularly in Los Angeles at punk and metal venues along with a revolving list of supporting musicians in the early years.

[12] Their 1992 third album, Bricks Are Heavy, produced by Butch Vig, was featured in Rolling Stone's May 1999 list of 'Essential recordings of the 1990s', and was their most critically and commercially successful release.

[31] In a July 1993 article for Spin which featured L7 on the magazine's cover, Renée Crist described L7 as "four of the funniest, meanest, strongest, coolest, most pissed-off women I know" and as "wild, rambunctious, spontaneous" with a stage show that "is a wash of buddy love, crowd working, and acrobatics".

The band continued to be regarded as a strong live act[12] and performed on the main stage of the Lollapalooza tour in 1994, which also included The Smashing Pumpkins, the Beastie Boys, George Clinton, Nick Cave, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Breeders.

[33] In January 1995, L7 played a set of benefit concerts for Voters for Choice at Constitution Hall along with Neil Young, Lisa Germano, and Pearl Jam.

[14] To promote the record, on July 17, 1999, L7 had a plane fly over the crowd at the Lilith Fair at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, with a banner that read, "Bored?

However, the band's live performances consistently garnered praise, including a September 1999 review by rock critic Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune that stated "Gardner and Sparks favor low-end guitar chug, a sound that suggests the idling engine of a Harley-Davidson more than the high-end squeal of most lead guitarists.

They intersect with bassist Janis Tanaka to create a thick, sludgy bottom that rumbles the floorboards and shoots right through the sternums of innocent passersby.

In 2012, Sparks started a Facebook page for the band, posting videos and archival images of L7, where their fan base quickly began to regroup.

[8] On December 10, 2014, L7 announced, on their official Facebook page, that they were reuniting, featuring Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch and Demetra Plakas.

[51] The reunited band kicked off a European tour at Rock am Ring in Germany on June 6, 2015[52] with shows in the Czech Republic, Austria, UK, France, and Spain.

reviewed their Toronto show and stated that "Their subversive sense of humour and brash confidence provides feminism with some much-needed comic relief and audacity, and on this night, as 50-somethings in a 30-year-old band, they looked, acted and sounded every bit as brazen as they did 25 years back.

The film, largely funded through Kickstarter,[59] features original footage and interviews with the band members and eyewitness accounts of their development from Lydia Lunch, Shirley Manson, Krist Novoselic and Butch Vig.

[63] Chris Lane of Houston Press described the synergy of Sparks and Gardner's guitar playing and the strength of the band's live show stating "Their percussive styles seemed to be locked together, producing a glorious, unified wall of sound.

L7 released Fast and Frightening (a collections of rarities, covers, and live performances) as a double album in 2016 with music critic Robert Christgau granting it an A minus in a 2018 review.

Remastered by Howie Weinberg, the limited-edition release comes pressed on gold and black vinyl via Licorice Pizza, and pre-orders begun on September 30.

[75] The concept for Rock for Choice, generated by L7 and Sue Cummings, senior editor at the LA Weekly,[9][12] was loosely modeled on Bob Geldof's Live Aid.

[76][9] Thanks to a conversation between members of L7 and Dave Grohl at an afterparty following the first show, subsequent Rock for Choice posters were designed in a distinctive underground comix style by SoCal artist Jim Evans/TAZ collective.

[9] L7 performed at the September 27, 1992, Rock for Choice benefit concert at the Hollywood Palladium along with Exene Cervenka, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Mudhoney.

They toured with and opened for artists including Bad Religion in 1988, GWAR in 1989, Nirvana and Alice in Chains in 1990, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Rollins Band and Beastie Boys in 1992, Pearl Jam in 1994, Marilyn Manson and The Offspring in 1997, and Ministry in 1999.

In a later episode, while discussing who would win in a battle between Tiffany, Wilson Phillips, and Debbie Gibson, the characters state their belief that "one chick from L7 could kick all their asses combined".

[94][95] Throughout the mid-2000s, the band's song "Shitlist" was used as the entrance music of professional wrestler Jon Moxley, who would later become widely known under the name Dean Ambrose upon joining WWE in 2011.

"[97] Later in 1992, Sparks caused controversy in the United Kingdom when she dropped her jeans and underwear on live television, appearing nude from the waist down, during an L7 performance on the late night UK programme The Word.

L7 called themselves "slob girls" with ratty hair and clothes and bassist Jennifer Finch frequently performed barefoot onstage.

"[38] Donita Sparks credits the punk rock bands the Ramones and the Sex Pistols as two of her earliest influences, stating of the former that, at age 15, "I was so longing for teenage music, stuff that was fun and carefree and cool.

[110][111] Sparks has also noted 1960s surf music, namely the Beach Boys, Dick Dale and the Ventures, as a key influence, describing it as her "siren song" to move to Los Angeles in the 1980s.

[14][111] Suzi Gardner, more so than Sparks, was influenced by blues-based 1970s rock and early metal acts, such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Hawkwind and Led Zeppelin.

[112][113] Other influences on members of the band include ABBA,[114] AC/DC,[115] The Beatles,[116] David Bowie,[111] Patsy Cline,[115] Elvis Costello,[114] the Cramps,[115] Arethra Franklin,[115] the Gap Band,[114] Kraftwerk,[114] Motörhead,[113] Ohio Players,[114] Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop and the Stooges,[114] Lou Reed, the Rolling Stones,[116] Roxy Music,[111] and Sha Na Na.