Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

[Dina Hornreich <dinahornreich AT earthlink.net>]

Sharon was kind enough to point in the direction of this article. I think 
it's worth posting to the group as well as linking (for meltdown) to on my 
page:

I'm wondering if "The Map" is still in print (this article is 3 years old)...

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http://www.portlandmercury.com/2001-03-15/music.html

ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL
"1--2--MELTDOWN!"
by Julianne Shepherd


What were you doing in high school? I was making a horrible cut-and-paste 
skateboarding zine and smoking a truly embarrassing amount of dope. You know, 
a "creative underachiever"-- smart and pissed off, but too solipsistic to 
know what to do about it. I think a lot of alienated youths are like that, 
especially if they're from small towns--feeling disenfranchised early on, but 
not coming into their own until much, much later. 

Which explains one reason I admire Meltdown. They were not only politically 
aware in their teen years, but were unafraid to push their talent to its most 
hair-raising limits. They were Washington, D.C. high-schoolers in 1995 and 
1996, when Fugazi's Guy Picciotto and Brendan Canty asked if they could 
record their album. And yeah, while those punk rock heroes making such a 
request is pretty fucking cool, when you examine Meltdown's music, it's 
really just an aside. A spot of trivia. Some people's names in the liner 
notes. 

That's because this high school band, Meltdown, made some of the most 
imperative and incendiary punk rock that has ever come out of D.C. Sonia 
Brenner, Fiona Griffin, Amy Heneveld, Raquel Vogl--four crash-boom ladies 
armed with three guitars and a drum kit. Meltdown first released a now 
out-of-print 7" record in 1997 on Slowdime. The Map is a recent vinyl-only 
re-release of 13 live tracks (recorded by Picciotto and Canty at the Pirate 
House and D.C.'s famed club, The Black Cat) on Portland-based label 
Archigramophone (also the home of Heneveld's current band, Emergency). 

The Map opens with Meltdown's theme song, "Introduction," featuring Heneveld 
screeching gutturally and unintelligibly like a crazed 
bird--"oh-ah-yuh-uh-uh-yeah-oh-ah"--and a malignant symphony of trapezoidally 
clacking guitars. Gradually, as the whole group screams, "1-2-MELTDOWN," 
every rule (both musical and otherwise) is blown away, stomped on, stretched, 
salted, and strung up. Listening to it gives you the type of adrenaline rush 
that occurs when you're doing something subversive and important--positive 
action in place of negative reaction. 

Every song on The Map unfolds like that. Heneveld is a dangerous fawn--her 
voice is tender and she's obviously very young, yet she uses it to taunt and 
yelp so urgently, you feel like she could crush you underneath its weight. On 
"El Gato Blanco," she sings in Spanish to the tune of "Ring Around the Rosy," 
eventually erupting into a powerful "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nah-NAH!" On "Alien 
Autopsy" and "Postman," Heneveld trades vocal duties with Fiona Griffin, who 
evokes a desperately punk rock abandon similar to Tobi Vail-sung Bikini Kill 
songs. I hesitate to make that comparison, however, because Meltdown should 
not be categorized as R.G., or anything else for that matter. Because, aside 
from the stirring dichotomy (impetuous yet sweet-faced youths) and ecstasy 
(like in "Night Bird Nightmare," where the whole band growls and chants like 
witches) they invoke, Meltdown was an astonishingly technical band. They came 
up with connected yet warring riffs that have hardly been duplicated or even 
alluded to since. And, if I may remind you again, they were 17. 

Meltdown's very existence was important. They were an all-girl high school 
band supported by their surroundings, and not exploited for their youth or 
beauty like many teenage "punk rock" bands these days. They were women driven 
by their own will, talent, intelligence, and irreverence. I, for one, am 
totally inspired. 



You can purchase The Map at local independent record stores or at www. 
archigramophone.com. If you want to tell me what you were/are doing in high 
school, email julianne AT portlandmercury.com. 


-Dina

dinahornreich AT earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~dinahornreich/

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