Credit: Dangerous Minds / The Ladybirds / Original Press Cutting

‘The Ladybirds’ was apparently quite a popular name for female pop groups in the 1960s. There were several all-girl bands named The Ladybirds, some of which performed fully clothed and some of which did not.

But first, let’s narrow it down to just the Ladybirds who got their kits off, shall we? We’re leaving out a California-based group by that name that opened for the Stones for at least one performance during their 1965 US tour, and also the Ladybirds, an English all-girl vocal harmony group often seen on The Benny Hill Show.

Now let’s be honest—“topless band” sounds like something dreamed up by a horny promoter during an especially strong Quaalude high, but The Ladybirds weren’t just a peep show with a backbeat. Beneath the jiggle and skin-tight stagewear was a weird, uniquely 1960s cocktail of proto-feminist provocation and pure showbiz grift. Imagine if Russ Meyer directed Josie and the Pussycats with a whiskey hangover and a pile of biker mags for inspiration. That’s the vibe. These were women turning the male gaze into ticket sales, shaking the patriarchy down for bar tabs and cigarette money, one note at a time.

Now, as it turns out, there wasn’t just one single band of topless Ladybirds, either. There were two! What are the odds of that?

The idea of two completely separate topless Ladybirds bands is almost too absurd to be real, like something from a forgotten John Waters script, buried under some old bingo flyers. The American Ladybirds strutted their stuff from Vegas to North Beach, all feather boas and Farfisa organs, with just enough actual musical competence to keep the gimmick from collapsing into strip-club oblivion.

The American Ladybirds, a garage rock group comprised of five showgirls that began in San Francisco – although some sources say NJ – sometime in 1966. When they first started out their act was just a T&A gimmick, and I’m guessing one that was inspired by Charlotte Morman’s topless cello playing, then in the news, although topless waitresses were already a “thing” at that point, with the girls shaking their tailfeathers (and tits) at punters but miming along to backing tracks in places like the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, LA’s risque Blue Bunny Club and Tipsy’s, a “cabaret” in San Francisco’s then wild North Beach neighborhood where they were booked for 14 solid months. Like the Monkees, eventually, they learned how to play their instruments.

Here’s a ridiculous bit of Ladybirds trivia: None other than World Golf Hall of Fame golfer Raymond Floyd managed the group, at least for a while. A 1998 Sports Illustrated article about Floyd called him an “investor” in the Ladybirds. Floyd was apparently a rather notorious party boy in his younger years and the owner of a nightclub called Coke’s. He probably co-managed the group with Voss Boreta, who also managed stripper Carol Doda, at least for a while.

And really, what’s more rock ’n’ roll than a band managed by a hard-partying PGA golfer with a nightclub side hustle? Raymond Floyd investing in a topless girl group sounds like something cooked up in a Mad Men spec script, but there it is, nestled between golf tournaments and cocktail waitresses in Vegas. Toss in a co-manager who handled Carol Doda’s career (you know, the Carol Doda of foam bra and go-go infamy), and you’ve got a microcosm of ’60s sleaze culture in one band’s origin story. The Ladybirds weren’t just playing music, they were performing the American libido live, three sets a night, pasties optional.

Then we head to Europe. The Danish Ladybirds, meanwhile, were something else entirely – a surreal slice of Scandinavian showbiz sleaze filtered through Vox amps and heavy eyeliner.

Formed in Copenhagen at the tail end of the ‘60s, these Nordic nymphets didn’t just flash flesh – they ripped. Imagine if The Shaggs had better rhythm, matching leather boots, and a residency in a David Lynch bizarro world. They tore through sleazy R&B and fuzz-drenched beat numbers like a topless K-hole version of The Animals. And yes, it’s absolutely true that they shared a bill with a pre-Zeppelin Yardbirds-in-transition. If you think that’s random, you’re not wrong. But it also kind of makes perfect, chaotic sense. This was Europe in 1968, baby, anything with tits and a fuzz pedal could get booked, and these ladies delivered.

While the Danish Ladybirds were out there sharing bills with a pre-fame Led Zeppelin, presumably giving Robert Plant some very confusing feelings, their whole schtick had the raw charm of a stag film crossed with Shindig!—and they kept it going until 1986. That’s commitment.

From the shots below, you can see both the predominantly brunette US incarnation and the blonder Scandinavian variant of Ladybirds. Frankly, I don’t expect we’ll be seeing any sort of anniversary reunions from either of them.