After today, I won't be blogging again until June. I have blogger's elbow and the doctor has ordered me to stop. I told the doctor, "Hey doc, it hurts when I do this", and he said, "Well, then don't do that."
In regards to the heated conversation below, the Bee had a very thoughtful opinion piece on biking in our region in the Sunday edition. Bike riders obeying the rules was a sensible number 7 on the list. That's about its correct order of importance. If you build the bike lines and other safeguards, safe riding will follow.
34 comments:
Food for thought: Tiger Trap and Bikini Kill Reject All America: the only classic albums to emerge from Riot Grrl?
I reject Reject All America as a classic album! It definitely falls behind everything else they released.
I also submit Pottymouth.
What about that Huggy Bear 10"? Still awesome.
biz
I was just about to mention that Huggy Bear...so good!
-- Patrone
Much like HC, riot grrl didn't lend itself well to full-length LPs as much as 7"es, but the ones mentioned so far are exceptional. I still dig Soda Pop Rip Off by Slant Six very much, too. Best 7" of that era that no one ever talks about...the Height of Fashion 7" by CeBe Barnes Band.
Huggy Bear was my gateway riot grrl band. I think I mail ordered the CD version of the 10" from KRS and listened to it non-stop. I also remember finding the split LP they did with Bikini Kill and feeling like I finally found the music I was supposed to listen to. I'd call that one a classic for sure. I am almost certain I bought that one at the Hindenburg from someone that just couldn't be bothered to ring me up. Wasn't it always like that?
Many of the riot grrl bands of that time were great in the context of the era, but wouldn't stand up now. I know if I put on that Heavens to Betsy LP, I'd be bored to warbly tears.
NL
Also, if you can pardon one side of estrogen-dilution from an all-boy band, the split LP of Fucking Angels and Vicious Ginks is remarkable especially for those Fucking Angels. That singer's voice is one of the greatest examples of frosty detachment in rock history, and contrasts nicely with the occasional catty scream. If the song "Dead, Baby!" is floating around for anyone to download, that's the one I'm thinking of all the time. Meanest diss of an admirer I can think of.
Also, depending if you want to split hairs (I would have split those hairs so hard in the late nineties!), I wouldn't classify Tiger Trap or CeBe Barnes as riot grrl even though they might have shared bills or a space in the same fabric of the whole riot grrl thing. CeBe Barnes was part of the growing queercore movement. I don't know if I had a word back then for what Tiger Trap was. Indie pop?
To agree with Rick, there were a ton of great 7"s and I still have many of them. The Frumpies had some good ones and I can't remember if they ever put out a full length to go with their singles.
Slant 6 had at least one solid LP with Soda Pop Rip Off, but I had trouble following them on the next release and as they morphed into Quix*o*tic.
NL
Tough call with Tiger Trap. I know that pre-Tiger Trap Rose was corresponding with Alison from Bratmobile & getting encouragement to do something so I would say that Riot Grrl was definitely a catalyst for her to start really working on writing songs. But the music we were in to was K Records stuff so it's not surprising that indie pop is what she ended up writing. But she did play the Grrl night at the Intl Pop Underground fest - which was sort of THE moment that Riot Grrl went more "public" for lack of a better word - so I associate her with Riot Grrl on that level. It seemed so out of character for Angie to miss what was basically the first Tiger Trap show because she had school. Rose was insanely nervous to go up there alone & it was a rush to see her get through it.
-miller
I had a huge crush on Christina Billotte of Slant Six, but yeah...Quix*o*tic's music was even harder to follow than the band name spelling would suggest. And Casual Dots played perhaps the most boring show ever. I mean...I was crushing majorly on my favorite riot grrl of all time, and yet the boredom of the music actually snapped me outta my trance!?!?! Yet, Kia took a Casual Dots song for a TV commercial for its Sorrento SUV.
The Huggy Bear 10 inch doesn't count and neither does the Huggy Bear/Bikini Kill split. I'm talking full-length albums. Soda Pop Ripoff is good. I guess I can say classic. I really tried to get into Quixotic. And White Magic.
Not knowing much about it except what I read in magazines and living in Lincoln, Tiger Trap was totally part of Riot Grrl to me.
If I were voting for a Bikini Kill albulm it would be their first. Revolution Girl Style Now! I only have a dubbed tape of this but I do have one of the original H2B cassettes which is cool too.
And the Bikini Girl split with Huggy Bear is pretty awesome. Huggy Bear was so energetic live. It was a huge part of why I was into them. And they were British. I don't think you had to be in Oly to be Riot Grrl. It just helped. I loved Tiger Trap, and some pdx bands too.
jamattack!
That Huggy Bear album may have been a 10", but it still had 12 songs on it. So it totally counts.
-- Patrone
The Huggy Bear 10" is longer in minutes than the first Ramones album, so there should be no debate.
captcha unscramble: tore a fatter snake
(Could Lorena Bobbitt have been influential to riot grrl?)
Add this to the list of reasons 10"s should never have been invented!
-miller
I wasn't going to argue my views on whether or not Tiger Trap was a riot grrl band any further but then I thought it couldn't be more riot grrl of me. So here we are.
I love Tiger Trap! Although they happened concurrently with riot grrl, they were not riot grrl cannon. They did not riot against the man, but against unreturned love. There's no doubt they are an important part of Sacramento music history, nineties independant pop and the DIY/punk girl bands of that time.
Tangential to riot grrl? Yes. Actual riot grrls playing music? Unknown - I didn't know them. Riot grrl band making riot grrl music? Nope. Not in my opinion.
NL
Dear Miller:
Slates.
-biz
I've been on the sidelines of the "How riot grrl were Tiger Trap?" debate several times, and I've never felt like picking a side until Niki's last comment. Contemporaries of...labelmates of...but, yeah...not riot grrl. Thanks!
I'll give you Slates. And maybe Perfect Sound Forever. AND THAT'S IT!
-miller
Black Market Clash?
biz
Fine. AND THAT'S IT!
-miller
Ok, fine. I won't mention Miracles for Sale.
-biz
I tend to wander into these discussions late and meander around a bit -- I lean toward wide defintions -- Fanny and Girlschool as proto-riot grrl?!?!? you could certainly argue it if you wanted...---
anyway here's a list of bands off the top of my head that I'd offer up for consideration -- more than a few who put out some great LP's that still hold up today --some from the Riot Grrl era, some who influenced it, some who were deeply influenced by it and carry the spirit on today.....
Team Dresch, Sleater Kinney, Spitboy, White Lung, Erase Errata, The Gossip, Babes in Toyland, L7, Crass, Poison Girls, 7 year Bitch, Tribe 8, Hole, The gits, Lunachicks, Fifth Column, Mecca Normal, Excuse 17, Frightwig, The Slits, Au Pairs, Chalk Circle, Anti-Scrunti Faction, GASH, Scrawl, Autoclave, Le Tigre, Red Aunts, Auntie Christ, Butchies, Wild Flag, Mika Miko, Harum Scarum, Fire Party, Kleenex....
and yeah, Bikini Kill pretty much tops them all in my opinion, but I think Bikini Kill tops pretty much everyone -- one of the best and most important bands of all time I think -- in all of rock and roll, not just Riot Grrrl/punk. Really dig Huggy Bear too, but it's Bikini Kill that I keep coming back to 20 years later -- in fact was listening to their first ep on repeat wandering around the street of Sacramento early on this beautiful morning. there is so much swing and swagger in their sound, Kathleen Hanna is such a great vocalist on that stuff. The tone, the attitude, the lyrics, I could go on and on. I think I like them even more as a band now than I did way back when. So, so, so great.
Suck my left one, indeed
craig
sacramentopunkshows
Most dub plates were 10"s
JD
how could you leave out avril lavigne?
that Girlfriend song is so insidious -- it's my daughter's favorite song on Just Dance 2 and I can't blame her cuz their are so many deadly hooks in it.
Any song with the lyrics "She's like, so whatever" that celebrates bathroom stall sex will stick with you a long time -- only thing that would make it better was if it came out as a 10" record
Is bloggers elbow like stoners elbow, cause my elbow hella hurts, I'll need to smoke some weed to fix that.
I love Bikini Kill, but...great lyrics? Really? I can't think of any that don't give me second-hand embarrassment.
-- Patrone
oh yeah, I like Bikini Kill lyrics, liked them then, like them now. No embarrassment. I don't think they'd be Bikini Kill without those words.
Craig
spitboy, the only riotgrrl band
bikini kill = headache
I'm having a heckasac withdrawl!
Craig I am incredulous that you would include L7 in the best of anything (but I have to confess I listened to them).
Anyone who says Tiger Trap were not riot grrl is WRONG!!!!!!! Unless Rose gets on this comment thread and says they weren't.
I don't think L7 is all that great, but a lot of folks really liked them and they were definitely an influential band from that period. Plus they get hella points for throwing a tampon into the audience at a mega rock fest and starting Rock for Choice. I think for a lot of people they were one of those bands that were an entryway into exploring the sounds of the deeper (and better, in my opinion) underground sounds of the period.
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