Saying things like.. "At twelve I was so disturbed to be a boy - and wanted to be a girl so much" is a good way to get into therapy but nonetheless. Hearing Bikini Kill for the first time just blew me away. I loved everything about it - it was so intense, so meaningful and I wanted to be a part of everything about the scene that surrounded them.Riot Grrrl - or what does or does not fit into the genre - is one of those areas that can be quite difficult to get a firm answer for. For the first of what will likely be three packs, I've opted to go with the strictest interpretation. Feminist minded music that is directly related to the scene and culture.
Four 'songs' in this pack are sung by Kathleen Hanna, or as I like to think, the most amazing woman on the planet. Le Tigre is perhaps the furthest from the strict interpretation of Riot Grrrl but it is hard to deny their presence with her fronting. Julie Ruin was a solo project and obviously she was the lead for Bikini Kill.
Bratmobile is similarly tied to the formation of the movement, and I don't want my emphasis on Bikini Kill to take away from that either.
The next pack in the series will be a mix of progenitors (Girls who were rocking loud and aggressively before the scene existed) and peers who were not technically part of the movement but share a common thread.
- Bikini Kill - Sugar
- Le Tigre - Fake French
- Julie Ruin - Valley Girl Intelligentsia
- Kathleen Hanna - Rockstar
- Heavens to Betsy - Stay Away
- Bratmobile - Girl Germs
- Sleater-Kinney - I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
1 comment:
i totally forgot how much i love bratmobile and heavens to betsy! i was pretty into them in high school and haven't heard much since.
i also love bikini kill, and can occasionally dig sleater-kinney and le tigre based on the song.
i couldn't get into kathleen's track, but i'm hard-pressed to think of a spoken word track that i've ever enjoyed. julie ruin was pretty good, but i'll have to give it a few more listens to be sure.
bring on the 2nd pack!
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