‘Pussy Whipped’ by Bikini Kill

 Welcome to Girl Power Week! We are going to celebrate one of my favorite groups of humans, females, and their role in rock’n’roll. From riot grrrls to avant singers, we’ve got them all. Let’s get started!

 Speaking of riot grrrls, no other band embodies the 90’s feminist movement quite like Bikini Kill. Started as a fanzine by Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail in 1990, Bikini Kill evolved into a punk rock outfit with the addition of the only boy in the group, Billy Karren. This band had a message for women. At shows they would hand out lyric sheets to all the girls they would have come up front. The lyrics are often an angry and satirical look at how women in society. After several singles, including working with Joan Jett, Bikini Kill released this record, ‘Pussy Whipped’, as their first full length album.

 Feminism aside for the moment, Bikini Kill is 100% punk rock. The songs are rough, loud, vulgar and gutsy. The group has a complete DIY, anti-establishment, “Fuck you!” attitude to them that I cannot get enough of. The guitar feeds back anytime Billy stops strumming, Kathi wails away on the bass with this low and heavy, rock bottom tone. Tobi plays the drums hard and sloppy giving the song a balance of chaos and rhythm. All that mixed with Kathleen Hanna, one of my favorite voices in the history of music, with her scream that makes the hairs on the back of your neck launch like little rockets off you neck and you get punk rock at it’s finest. These women made music to act tough to. 

 Besides being as punk as a safety pinned junkie, Bikini Kill was here with a message. Bikini Kills lyrics dealt with feminist issues like rape, domestic violence, body image and general sexism in the world, as well as other social and political commentaries. This drew a lot of attention, some good and some bad, from press and fans. Men at Bikini Kill shows would try and start fights with female fans as well as the band. Major press started to report on Bikini Kill and the Riot Grrrl scene causing bands to call for a media blackout due to feeling misrepresented. Now even if you don’t agree with what Bikini Kill and other Riot Grrrl bands are saying, you at least have to give them credit for saying it. They are out there, speaking their mind in a way that gets them heard. If more people cared this much about the things they believed in, maybe the American government wouldn’t be in such a sorry state right now.

 When punk rock started, it showed that anyone with something to say could start a band and say it. Bikini Kill did the same thing for women. Instead of poisoning their minds like female pop and movie stars, They showed women how to stand up and be heard. Now somewhat ironically, Bikini Kill has become one of the bands in rock’n’roll history with the most balls.

Song: ‘Tell Me So’