Post-punk female San Francisco based trio's first compilation of 1980 live recordings with three rare bonus tracks.

From 1979-1984, the female post-punk trio, Mary Kelley, Deb Hopkins and Katy Peck, known as the Contractions toured nationally and released a pair of singles and the Something Broke album. They opened for a cavalcade of punk & new wave artists: Dead Kennedys, Jim Carroll, Glenn Branca, the Go-Go's, Bush Tetras and even Duran Duran.

With the cooperation of the group's three founding members and thanks to the live recordings and endeavours of archivist Terry Hammer - this live compilation from two dates at the Mabuhay Gardens comes as a new addition to the group's catalogue. In addition to the 11 live tracks featured on 1980, the CD also includes three long out-of-print studio recordings.

As Kelley describes, "we thought of ourselves as a three-legged chair. Always a team. It wasn't The Contractions without the three of us." "People described us as 'musically dangerous,'" said Hopkins. "Years later, I am still meeting women who tell me that they decided to learn an instrument and start a band after seeing us. And that is what I hope our legacy is: empowering females to play music, and to expect to be treated and respected for their music and not treated like sex objects."