It’s October 1990. Do you know where your daughters are?
New punk-rock band Bikini Kill takes the stage in Olympia, Washington. Feedback resonates throughout the dark venue while band members tune their instruments.
Random men shout “Dykes!” and “Get back to the kitchen, sluts!” while singer Kathleen Hanna approaches the mic. Ignoring them, she taps it twice and says “Okay.”
And then she screamed, “We’re Bikini Kill, and we want revolution, girl-style noooooooooooow!”
The band kicked off into the song “Double Dare Ya,” an anthem that challenges women to secede from male-dominated society and act independently.
This isn’t the band’s only instance of hostility either. Hecklers would frequent their concerts and assault the members onstage. This would typically result in Hanna diving into the crowd and physically removing these disturbers.
In short, don’t mess with punks, female or not. History will tell you that.
It’s really no secret women have been just as involved with rock ‘n roll from the beginning as men. However, it is an unfortunate reality that it has always been as patriarchal as the government it was founded under.
In fact, until about 1963, not a single all-girl group was signed under a major label. Not one.
There were other all-girl bands, of course, but their names have been lost in history. Ever heard of the Liverbirds? The Pleasure Seekers? The Belles?
Didn’t think so. I didn’t either until I did some digging on who the first all-girl rock band was. Many people believe it to be The Runaways, where rock legends like Joan Jett, Lita Ford and Cherie Currie launched their careers.
These skeptics are off. About 11 years off.
In fact, the first all-girl band to get signed was Goldie and the Gingerbreads in 1963.
But considering the time period and their biggest hit being a single called “Can’t You Feel My Heartbeat” — which sounds closer to Motown than rock — I doubt they would have associated themselves with feminism.
Can you blame them? It was hard enough for women at the time to even get a gig at a club, let alone sign to major record companies or get a spot on television.
Even when femininity became stylish and unisex in the ‘70s glam rock scene, David Bowie and Elton John were still more popular than any of the equally talented women.
However, if you’re looking for raw feminine power in the rock world, look no further than Suzi Quatro’s 1974 hit single “The Wild One.” No other song up to that point by a woman challenged the male-dominated realm of rock quite as much.
Proclamations like “I’m a hammer from hell” and “I’m a blue-eyed bitch” would have never been recorded by Grace Slick or Janis Joplin, even at their most confident and destructive.
You can’t argue that it was Quatro who really kick-started the rock ‘n roll revolution, but like most women revolutionaries, she became merely a footnote in the history books.
Since then, bands like the Heart, Blondie, Sonic Youth and the Bangles carried the baton for leading feminist groups.
While rock ‘n roll did need feminine flair and inclusion, the commercial statuses of these bands only made them servants of the record companies, which were ran by men.
Enter the riot grrrls.
Beginning in the early 1990s, bands like Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland, Sleater-Kinney and Bratmobile raised their middle fingers in salute to oppressors and music corporations ever in a movement known as “riot grrrl.”
Their songs became more political in their lyrics than ever before. While gangsta rap told about society’s racism, riot grrrl screeched about its sexism. It was a retaliation on both fronts that the United States desperately needed.
Bands who wish to preserve the legacy of the style of this movement tend to find safe haven in Blackheart Records, which was founded by Joan Jett.
But who is carrying the baton now? Who are the Amazons and Joans of Arc of today? For the answer, look no farther than Moscow.
Pussy Riot, the all-girl punk band whose members were arrested in 2012 for speaking out against Vladimir Putin’s extreme rightist policies, are perhaps some of the most admirable, gutsy and dynamic musicians in the history of rock ‘n roll.
We may never know if music will ever become truly inclusive, but we who care will continue to fight until the day it is. As James Brown once said, “It’s a man’s world, but it wouldn’t be nothing without a woman or a girl.”
Rebel girls, you are truly the queens of our world.
Austin Faulds
@a_faulds9615
