Night Music: Bikini Kill, “Rebel Girl”

Back in the days of the second punk eruption, in the early 90s, a subset of the scene took the name Riot Grrls for their girl centric rockish devotion and community. There were a lot of girl led hard rock bands then and I got into L7, Babes in Toyland and of course Hole, as well as bands like the Amps and Breeders and Belly, who all seemed to have the DIY enthusiasm of the first punk eruption. This was a music scene, but also a fashion scene and a revolutionary movement, and a lot of the music was really good.

But for whatever reason I didn’t hear Bikini Kill until a little later, when Subpop (I think) put out their first two albums on one CD. And this was different. Kathleen Hanna (about whom a movie was released in NYC today, which is what got me thinking about this) has a great big enthusiasm and a great big personality that kind of makes everything glow, and you can hear it in Bikini Kill’s music. I’m not saying her bandmates didn’t make fantastic contributions, but just that when you see a star you know it.

Perfect video, too.

2 thoughts on “Night Music: Bikini Kill, “Rebel Girl”

  1. I’m SO tempted to say “pretty good for girls,” just to bust some chops, but it’s good. I despise explicit politics in songs but don’t mind ambiguous politics at all. The difference between evocation and propaganda. This isn’t so much political as “here we are” and that’s all to the good. Riot on.

  2. Pingback: Breakfast Brew: Kathleen Hanna | Rock 'n' Roll Remnants

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