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A titan of the punk world passed away yesterday. Jennifer Finch, who played bass for punk rock outfit L7, died on July 18, 2026, following her battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer. The late bassist, photographer, and designer left an indelible impact on the music scene, helping pave the way for women in punk. While she's most known for being part of L7's longest-standing lineup, did you know that Finch's first band included another '90s music icon?
Finch burst onto the scene in the mid-'80s. She played bass in the San Francisco-based dream-pop/new-wave act Sugar Babydoll, which became known as Pagan Babies a few years after its inception. The band was founded by Hole's Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland of alt-rock band Babes in Toyland (another rock legend).
The group officially formed in 1985, but Finch joined the fray in 1984, after Love and Bjelland met at the Satyricon nightclub the year before. Finch recorded an unreleased demo with Sugar Babydoll before departing in 1986 to play for The Pandoras (the name change to Pagan Babies occurred after her departure). Love left that same year, and the group disbanded.
Of course, both Finch and Love went on to bigger and better things. After her short-lived stints with Sugar Babydoll and The Pandoras, Finch boarded L7. Love founded Hole alongside guitarist Eric Erlandson in 1989. Finch was even featured in the 1994 music video for "Doll Parts" from Hole's Live Through This after the death of their bassist, Kristen Pfaff.
Finch later played in other bands in addition to the aforementioned. Before her initial departure from L7 in 1996, Finch and Xander Smith founded a new-wave dance band called Lyme in 1995, which they later renamed Other Star People. She also founded the punk act The Shocker in 2002, and nine years later, she co-founded Sex in Progress with Evil Beaver's Evie Evil.
In 2014, Finch returned to L7 and played on the band's seventh studio album, 2019's Scatter the Rats. She was with them until her death.
