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

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  • From: Lizzie Ehrenhalt <dancingvioletsnail AT yahoo.com>
  • To: "Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)" <typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [TypicalGirls] Riot Grrrl: genre vs. musical-political ethos
  • Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:55:38 -0700 (PDT)

I appreciate this point about people's tendency to stick current groups with the riot grrrl tag when they don't necessarily embody the explicit feminist politics of the original bands (Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Huggy Bear, e.g.).  Or even of the fanzines, social networks and activism that were always as big a part of the riot grrrl movement as the music.   Obviously, we don't want to keep on repeating the same mistakes as all those journalists from the 1990s who called every female musician with ripped tights and a guitar a riot grrrl.  It's an interesting question:  what does the riot grrrl label mean in 2007?  Has it held on to any kind of subversive potential? 

That said, some of the bands I listed are explicitly feminist and political.  Kitten Forever, a band I accidentally left off the list, are influenced by Allison Wolfe and sing about misogyny and reclaiming the punk scene for women.  I highly recommend them:  http://www.myspace.com/kittenforeverrr

Lizzie

unmannedmission AT gmail.com wrote:
It's kind of funny... because I guess it's like the difference between calling the Ying Yang Twins "Hip Hop" when if you wanted to be technical they're more "Rap." I'd say there's a difference between all female bands who are more punk than riot grrrl? While the sound may be similar, the content is more what would define it. So maybe my calling it a resurgence in riot grrrl was off, and it's more the resurgence of the sound... in general anyway. I guess it kind of mimics No Wave coming back in the early 2000's... and a lot of that being the same way... more about the finished sound than the process and constructive ethics.

On 9/13/07, Lizzie Ehrenhalt < dancingvioletsnail AT yahoo.com> wrote:
For the past six months I've been keeping a running list of--for lack of a better term--"neo-riot-grrrl" bands as I find them.  Here's what I have so far (current side projects of original riot grrrls, like Partyline, don't count):

Love of Diagrams
Kiosk
Baby Guts (truly amazing, from Minneapolis!)
Gamine Thief
Mil Mascaras
Shrag
Finally Punk
Mika Miko
The Grates
Poppy & the Jezebels (not punk, but still grrrlish)
Be Your Own Pet (for the amazing Jemima Pearl)

Australia seems to have a particularly strong grrrl-influenced scene going at the moment...many of the above bands are Aussies. 

Please add your own favorites to the list and help it grow!

Lizzie





unmannedmission AT gmail.com wrote:
I was just curious what the list members thoughts were on the surge of new, younger artists taking a lot of queues from the riot grrrl movement of the early 90's. Finally Punk ( http://www.myspace.com/finallypunk), Kiosk (http://www.myspace.com/kiosk), for two and of course the projects of the forever hard working Allison Wolfe, and Tobi Vail as well. I've had several disagreements with people who complain that while the music these bands are making is fun... they're just not taking it anywhere new. Having grown up listening to Bikini Kill and Bratmobile a lot... I'm inclined to like this stuff for pure nostalgia, let alone that the music is great in its own right in my opinion. I think it's great that  the ideas that started a movement in underground music more than a decade ago, can still translate well to the next generation without coming across as trite and overly derivative. Anyone else, thoughts? Also, if you have info on similar bands, post em' up... i'd love to hear more.

justin
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Lizzie Ehrenhalt
MSI candidate, School of Information
University of Michigan
616 Wesley Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
BLOG: http://www.pogoprincess.blogspot.com
CELL: 703-945-2112

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_______________________________________________
TypicalGirls mailing list
TypicalGirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/typicalgirls



Lizzie Ehrenhalt
MSI candidate, School of Information
University of Michigan
616 Wesley Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
BLOG: http://www.pogoprincess.blogspot.com
CELL: 703-945-2112


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