Calamity Jane was an all-female American rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon, United States, in 1989.
Gilly Ann Hanner (vocals/guitar) and Lisa Koenig (drums) started playing together as a band in 1988 along with Ronna Era (bass). After a few live appearances Hanner's sister Megan took over on bass and the band was renamed Calamity Jane the following year. Their first gig was supporting Scrawl. The band then supported Fugazi on their 1990 tour.
The band released their first album on 12", Martha Jane Cannary, in 1991. At the time it received positive critical reception in the specialist music press, including a review in Maximum Rocknroll that highlighted the "driving rock riffage". Calamity Jane released three singles with their original line up, and a final single with Marcéo Martinez (later of Team Dresch) on drums and Joanna Bolme (later of Quasi and The Jicks) on bass.
The band played two support slots with Nirvana. One of these shows, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, ended in Calamity Jane being booed off and thrown mud and rocks by the stage, which motivated Nirvana to intentionally sabotage their own performance.
In 2014 a grunge retrospective album, No Seattle: Forgotten Sounds of the North-West Grunge Era 1986-97, which included Calamity Jane song "Magdalena", was released. A review in the City Arts Magazine highlighted the groups significance as "riot grrrl pioneers" and lamented their demise. In 2011 they were named as one of the "best proponents of Grunge" in an article published by the Journal of Popular Culture, and in 2022 Will Russell, writing in music magazine Hot Press, named Calamity Jane as one of Grunge music's "sublime all-female outfits".