grrrls 1

riot grrrl has fascinated me or over ten years now. I'm not sure why, I just latched onto the music, maybe around 1996, perhaps, and then followed on from there.

It not hard to track down the origins, but it's difficult, particularly from a foreign perspective, to separate fact from hype.

I get that riot grrrl was originally a fanzine and the name coined by Toby Vail and Molly Neumann. The name should be written lower case with three 'r's - according to Alison Wolfe.

I understand as a dynamic force it had mostly blown over by 1993/4 with the dispersal of bands to Washington DC, Portland, etc, following the heroin deaths of Stephanie Sergeant, Kristen Pfaff, Andrew Wood, the murder of Mia Zapata, Joe Cole and lastly the suicide of Kurt Cobain.

What also interests me is the politics - the conflict between agendas aggravated by commercialism - the effect of media hype and corporate money - and the effort to keep the music pure through all of this. There's a familiar theme that runs through all of this.

I kinda thought I'd run through the bands that interested me for various reasons. Feel free to add comments and anecdotes.

HOLE - Not strictly a riot grrrl band, but my entry into the genre. Pretty on the Inside was Kim Gordon's attempt to make a Sonic Youth album in the Northwest. It's scratchy, quirky, obnoxious and tough to listen to in one sitting. As a debut, it reminds me a little of Nirvana's first record, but less focussed.

Live Through This, by contrast, is absolutely brilliant. Courtney Love spears each of her targets with clever lyrics and Nirvana inspired arrangements. Kat Bjelland, Kathleen Hanna, the Evergreen College alumni, and herself, gets royally nailed by CL with thunder and rage. One of my favourite records of all time and, IMHO, better than Nevermind.

Ask For It- an EP with a great cover of Greg Sage and the Wiper's 'Over The Edge.'

Celebrity Skin - too many hands in the pie, not enough gas in the tank, too many mixed metaphors. I know there was a lot of pressure to get the CD finished and save Geffin's arse, but it should've been an EP. 'Reasons to be Beautiful' is okay and 'Northern Star' is nice. I'm not sure why 'Wedding Dress' wasn't in the main CD, because it's way better than a lot of stuff that was included. It went platinum - go figure?

Courtney Love is one of these people who you either love or loathe. Outspoken, erratic, vengeful - I'm glad I'm neither her friend nor enemy. But there's no doubting her intelligence and, when she throws away the Rhyming Thesaurus, she writes brilliant lyrics.

She was quick to dump the riot grrrl tag - likely when she hooked up with Nirvana and began to screen the women who hung around the band. Mary Lou Lord, Juliana Hatfield, Kathleen Hanna all were on the thick end of her jealousy, insecurity and ambition. A grade A controller, I'm in admiration of the musicians who stuck with her, Eric Ehrlandson, Patty Schemel and Melissa auf de Maur. (RIP - Kristen Pfaff)

More to follow...