Over two decades after four Palo Alto teenagers first plugged in and cranked it up, The Donnas are getting their due. HNE Recordings’ The Atlantic Years 2002-2005 3-CD box set captures the band at their commercial peak, documenting the uncanny transformation of four Bay Area girls from scrappy punk upstarts into arena-ready rock stars.
The Donnas’ journey began in 1993 when high school friends Brett Anderson (vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar), Maya Ford (bass), and Torry Castellano (drums) started jamming together. Like the Ramones, they adopted matching stage names, i.e., Donna A, C, F, and R, respectively, complete with gold nameplate necklaces that became part of their trademark aesthetic. Their early years on Lookout! Records showcased a raw, Ramones-inspired sound that was equal parts youthful sneer with a healthy dose of sarcasm. These were teenagers with an encyclopedic knowledge of the music of yore, living out their punk rock fantasies in real time.
But The Donnas were never content to remain frozen in the punk rock amber. The transition that began with their signing to Atlantic Records in 2002 represented more than just a label change; it marked a deliberate sonic evolution that would define their mainstream breakthrough. Where their earlier work channeled the rough-and-tumble stylings of The Runaways, their Atlantic years saw them embracing the arena rock punch of AC/DC, Kiss, and Mötley Crüe.
Spend the Night, the band’s 2002 major label debut and the first disc in this collection, crystallized this transformation perfectly. The album retained their punk attitude while embracing a fuller, more polished production that didn’t sacrifice the rough edges. Ballsy numbers like “Take It Off” and “Who Invited You” became radio standards, propelling them onto mainstream TV and the Lollapalooza main stage. What made the album work was how it preserved The Donnas’ trash-talking persona while packaging it in a slightly more sophisticated structure, emphasizing the sharp hooks and the band’s evolving musical muscle.
2004’s “Gold Medal,” the box set’s second disc, continued this commercial trajectory, reaching number 76 on the Billboard 200. It featured singles like “Fall Behind Me” and “I Don’t Want to Know (If You Don’t Want Me).” Critics took notice of their evolved sound—Stylus magazine declared them “incapable of playing in anything but the key of badass,” while Rolling Stone praised their “wailing on solos that would make AC/DC’s Angus Young proud.”
What made The Donnas unique wasn’t just their gender in a male-dominated genre, though it was a key factor in setting them apart. Their secret weapon was an authentic understanding of rock ‘n’ roll mythology combined with the confidence to claim their place within it. They weren’t trying to subvert rock conventions so much as master them, delivering party-ready anthems that made perfect soundtrack fodder for films like Dodgeball, Mean Girls, and Herbie Fully Loaded. Their music became the perfect accompaniment to early 2000s pop culture’s embrace of retro-rock aesthetics, where bands like the Hives, White Stripes, and Jet were thriving.
The box set’s third disc showcases the depth of the band’s Atlantic years catalog with B-sides, acoustic versions, and live recordings from Boston’s Paradise and XFM sessions. Hearing the Billy Idol cover of “Dancing With Myself” alongside rarities like “Hyperactive” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine” demonstrates how much they’d absorbed classic rock’s vocabulary while maintaining their own unique voice. The live recordings should be a treat for fans, capturing the raw energy that made them such effective festival performers and revealing the punk foundation that was always at the core.
In looking back at the period, The Donnas’ Atlantic years were a masterclass in artistic evolution without compromise. They managed to grow from upstart punk teens into hard rock contenders without losing the attitude that made them special in the first place. In an era when authenticity and commerciality were often seen as opposing forces, The Donnas proved you could have both. This collection serves as both a time capsule of the early 2000s rock landscape and a testament to four friends who refused to let growing up mean getting old.
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