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MARK STEIL: Enter the band's name in an internet search engine, and there it is. The Continental Co-Ets and their song "Let's Live for the Present" on the Get Hip Archive Series. Get Hip calls it a crude garage number with surf overtones and a kick drum that doesn't quit.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Judge the record company's words for yourself. But one thing's certain. Like the boy bands of the time, the Co-Ets could cause a commotion.

(SINGING) Let's just forget what happened long time ago

The things that happened shall never be told

Before the present and not for the past

Memories are not the kind to last

The band toured extensively and even had a record which made a few hit song lists in a few Canadian cities. Carolyn Behr was the Continental Co-Ets' rhythm guitar player. She says initially, they didn't pay much attention to their all girl status. But that changed.

CAROLYN BEHR: There were a lot of girl bands around at the time, a lot of excellent girl groups then. But they didn't play their own instruments. So in that way, I suppose we were special.

MARK STEIL: The band started in the town of Fulda in Southwest Minnesota in 1963. The high school's music teacher, Dave Edwards, tutored the young musicians and played on stage with them in their first few appearances.

DAVE EDWARDS: Most kids practiced till their fingers were just raw. And that was the drive and passion they had for playing.

MARK STEIL: Guitarist Carolyn Behr says raw fingers is a generous description. She says bloody is more accurate. Drummer Vicki Ommen says the hard work paid off.

VICKI OMMEN: We were pretty good. We did a good job of combining all of our talents. And the sound that we put out was good. We were just thrilled by it all.

MARK STEIL: While the band improved, rock and roll was about to explode. A few weeks after the Continental Co-Ets won a case of Orange Crush Pop at a talent show, The Beatles landed in New York. The interest in the Beatles was so great, it spread to every corner of the country and helped build an audience for other bands like the Co-Ets. The Co-Ets' big break came in August of 1964 when the band played at the Lyon County Fair in Marshall. They didn't know it at the time, but the Vultures were watching.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(SINGING) Well, let me tell you about my Mary Lou

The Vultures were an area band that might follow Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode with one of their own. Like this song, "Mary Lou." Vultures' bass player Wally Bloch says the band was looking for ways to boost its visibility. And the all girl band sparked an idea.

WALLY BLOCH: We met up with them and decided to be a good idea to join together and have what they call a battle of the sexes, which was an all-male band against an all-female band.

MARK STEIL: The Battle of the Sexes played to packed houses, even though there wasn't much of a battle. Mainly the bands alternated sets before uniting for a final song. There was a huge audience to draw from in those days, because the baby boom had reached its teenage years. In the 1960s, the average age in the Co-Ets' home, Murray County, was a little over 25. Now it's 42 years old.

John Senn, of Spirit Lake, Iowa, scored a national hit in the mid '60s with a band Dee Jay and the Runaways. Later, he produced a recording session for the Continental Co-Ets. He says not only was there a huge audience, but Midwest rock and roll bands had hundreds of first class performance halls to use. He says they were built during an earlier musical fad, but were perfect for the rockers.

JOHN SENN: The big bands probably created most of that, because some of these ballrooms were built in the '20s, '30s, and '40s. And so I recognize that we had something provided by the big band that allowed rock and roll to really spawn a life right here in the Midwest.

MARK STEIL: The Continental Co-Ets went beyond the Midwest ballrooms that gave them a start. They built an audience in Canada during three tours of the Western provinces. Co-Ets' drummer Vicki Ommen says they often traveled all night on the Canadian plains. She says they played for everyone, from Eskimos, to loggers, to miners.

VICKI OMMEN: I remember one place that had a pot-bellied stove and it was leaking. And we had just a board that we changed our clothes into our costumes behind the board. And I think it had rained that night. It was really muddy. And we were ankle deep in the mud. But the Northern Lights were just beautiful.

MARK STEIL: The band always had at least one parent traveling with as a chaperone. Vicki's dad, Duane Steinman, remembers the Canadian tour as a special time. He was recovering from cancer, and the girls' music was powerful medicine.

DUANE STEINMAN: I still wasn't so sure I was even going to live.

[LAUGHS]

It was fun for me. Yeah. I wasn't so sure I was going to beat that cancer or even be around. Took my mind off of my problems, definitely.

[THE CONTINENTAL CO-ETS, "I DON'T LOVE YOU NO MORE"]

MARK STEIL: During its Canadian tours, the band stopped at radio stations along the way to drop off a copy of this song, "I Don't Love You No More," their only commercial release. It got airplay and helped boost the band's following. Drummer Vicki Ommen says looking back, the band's touring helped her grow up. She met people raised in far different circumstances than small town Minnesota. She says it made her appreciate her life a little more.

VICKI OMMEN: We minded our Ps and Qs. We were very good. We never drank. We never explored drugs, any of that. We were just very good girls.

(SINGING) You told me that you loved me

But that was way last year

So now that you tell me that it's me you love

Let's get this one thing clear

I don't love you no more

MARK STEIL: The band lasted three years before breaking up in 1967. But even though it had a short run, the legacy of the Continental Co-Ets keeps coming back. Guitarist Carolyn Behr met her husband decades later because of the band. He was a rock and roll history buff from New York, researching 1960s garage bands. He traveled to Fulda to find information about the Co-Ets and met Carolyn there. Collectors have discovered the group. Drummer Vicki Ommen says she still gets requests for copies of the band's only commercial release.

Still unanswered, though, is just how unique was this group. Research indicates they were likely the first all girl rock and roll band in at least a five or six state area of the Upper Midwest. An internet search turned up only one band which predates the Continental Co-Ets, a group from England. But being first is not a great concern for the band. What is important is something musicians like Wynonna still sing about today-- the pride of being in a band.

(SINGING) She turned 15 with the great expectations

Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio

(SINGING) He caught her going through his record collection

Looking at Hendrix like a lovesick pup

She's [? pregnant, ?] she pleaded to death by [? the lesson ?]

He took her in the car down to Sears Roebuck

He bought her that guitar, and that's the beginning

Now she's down in the cellar with the amp turned up

Girls with guitar

Daddy's little angel

Girls with guitar

What's the world coming to?

Girls with guitars

Mothers in the world by

Girls with guitars

Well, Saturday night, she followed her brother

With the socks and stockings on the old gym floor

And everybody danced to garage band covers

She was checking out riffs and memorizing chords

Didn't care at all for the football fields

She didn't even notice the basketball stars

Boys as a species were all a bunch of zeros

Except for the ones who played that guitar

Hot girls with guitars

She wasn't [INAUDIBLE]

Girls with guitars

She didn't go out [INAUDIBLE]

Girls with guitars

Wasn't trying to [INAUDIBLE]

Girls with guitars

She went off to college, she got her degree

Her parents breathed a sigh of great relief

Daddy's thinking law school, mother's thinking medicine

Daughter's thinking how she's going to break the news to them

Now there's an old Chevy van sitting in the driveway

Filled to the gills with all her stuff

She got a deal with her brother to drive it up the highway

Figures New York City is close enough

She gets the audition

Through a friend of a friend

She's checking out her legs, saying this will never work

She puts on her boogie and turns to the band

Gives a little friend a [INAUDIBLE]

Girls with guitars

Everybody's rocking

Girls with guitars

There ought to be a song about it

Girls with guitars

There's just no stopping

Girls with guitars

Get your money for nothing and your guys for free