The Return of Riot Grrrl Music
Fury Basso-Davis | December 11, 2024
Olympia, Washington: the motherland of the Riot Grrrl genre. The Riot Grrrls music genre is a political movement started by women in the 1990s who were fed up with the sexism women faced in the punk scene. The Riot Grrrl Movement by Stevie Feliciano says the group wanted to start a girl riot against a society that did not offer validation of women’s experiences.
Riot Grrrl takes anger and makes it the forefront of the genre replacing the “ir” in the word “girl” with three “r’s,” making it so girls are growling when they say it. Riot Grrrl music is associated with third-wave feminism and centers on the political, social and economic disenfranchisement faced by women.
The most important aspect of Riot Grrrl is focusing on women’s anger. Since the election, Riot Grrrl bands have been getting more attention across social media. Riot Grrrl music has always been important allowing women to express themselves through music. An article written by Tom Williams for Paste Magazine notes that both Kamala Harris and the President-Elect used music and musicians to further their grasp on their audiences. Harris had the support of multiple prominent female musicians such as Beyonce, Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B while the President-Elect used musicians such as Kid Rock.
The Riot Grrrl movement believes in getting young girls and women to actively participate in creating the culture and coming up with new ideas rather than using existing molds. Riot Grrrlbands are pro-feminist and anti-racist and use that anger to create a political movement led by music. Some of the most popular Riot Grrrl bands include Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, L7, Heaven To Betsy’s and The Muslims.
Punk is intentionally aggressive which makes people listen to it, but it is a music genre aggressively overrun by mostly white men. In our society, anger is associated with men and is “the only way men can express their feelings,” and women are expected to be feeble, expressing their feelings through sadness, and have their anger ignored, and turned into being “bitch,” “over-emotional,” or just not taken seriously.
“Boys are castrated from the weakness of vulnerability and made into authoritative men who can lead revolutions as if their god-given right. While men are gelded from “weaker” emotions, women are baptized in their waters. We are to be docile, discreet, and most of all, quiet,” Emmanuelle Mphuthi said in RACIST GRRRL: THE POLITICS OF RACE AND ANGER IN PUNK FEMINIST MOVEMENTS.
What happens when you have a bunch of angry women who are tired of surviving in a system set up for them to fail? You get lyrics like “Don't you talk out of line / Don't go speaking out of your turn / Gotta listen to what the Man says / Time to make his stomach burn” from Bikini Kill, songs like “You Hear Yes,” by Destroy Boys, Mannequin Pussy and Scowl, a song about how men don’t take no for an answer.
Photo by Tammy Rae Carland
Kathleen Hannah, the lead singer of Bikini Kill, encourages women of all ages to take up space that is dominated by men, especially in the punk and DIY scene and encourages them to make art of all kinds that centers the needs of marginalized groups, specifically women. Zines and other types of art were used to start “taboo” discussions of women’s issues in the DIY scene such as incest, rape, addiction, women’s mental and physical health, queer theory and feminist theory.
As we enter the second Trump presidency, tensions are higher than ever across the United States, and women’s issues are a big part of it. With the 2022 loss of Roe V Wade and the rise of red pill-eating inches, the most important thing you can do is fight against the rising wave of fascism that may come with Trump’s second presidency.
However, Riot Grrrl never cowered in the face of men, they spat in them instead. 7 Year Bitch and Heaven to Betsy have bangers about switching roles attempting to put men in women’s shoes with lyrics such as “You follow me on the fucking street/ You make me feel like a piece of meat/ You think I don't know what war means?/ Now I'm the terrorist, see how it feels” lyrics from Heaven to Betsy and “I don't have pity, not a single tear/ For those who get joy from a woman's fear/ I'd rather get a gun and blow you away/ Then you'll learn first hand/ That dead men don't rape/ No, dead men don't rape.” lyrics from 7 Year Bitch.
Riot Grrrl advocates for violence against oppressive systems through music, not physical acts. It’s also about how confusing it is to be an assigned female at birth (AFAB) in a system built to work against you and teach them how to fight back without becoming physically violent, and how to take back power over their bodies and lives.
Songs to check out!
L7- Shit List, Pretend We’re Dead
7 Year Bitch- Dead Men Don’t Rape, Kiss My Ass Goodbye, Knot, Hip Like Junk
Heaven to Betsy’s- Terrorist, Monster
Bikini Kill- Double Dare Ya, Suck My Left One
Bratmobile- Gimme Brains, Cool Schmool, Bitch Theme, Love Thing, Stab
Cheap Perfume- It’s Okay (To Punch Nazis)
Honorary mention, The Muslims- Punch a Nazi, Fuck the Cistem, Fuck These Fucking Fascists
Thumbnail art by Lucua Auerbach.