ビキニキル

Pussy Whipped

source: rocknorockblogspot

La historia primaria de Bikini Kill empieza, como la de casi todas las bandas noventeras, en un campus universitario; a diferencia de las banditas actuales, cuya historia generalmente empieza en una junta de directivos disqueros o en la cama de algún productor… ¿me doy a entender? (sí, hoy vengo más filoso que de costumbre).

La ex-desnudista Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox y Toby Viali publicaban un pasquín feminista llamado Bikini Kill, posteriormente decidieron encausar sus esfuerzos ideológicos formando una banda con el mismo nombre.

Las presentaciones en vivo de Bikini Kill estaban cargadas de contenido social, más allá de las contestatarias letras y actitud poco recatada (como se aprecia en la foto, previa a la era del depilado brasileño), Kathleen Hanna convertía las tocadas en auténticas arengas políticas, donde se entusiasmaba a las asistentes a pasar al escenario y tomar el micrófono para discutir temas de género.

La primera grabación de Bikini Kill fue Revolution Girl Style Now, un Demo grabado en cassette y distribuido de manera independiente, seguido del más formal EP Bikini Kill en 1991. Durante el año siguiente y en la gira de la banda por Europa, se filmó el documental “It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill in the U.K.”, y para 1993 las publicaciones independientes estaban de plácemes con el estilo “tan alternativo” del Riot Grrrl, por lo que Bikini Kill convocó a un boicot mediático, por considerar que el movimiento estaba siendo malinterpretado y comercializado… una pequeña muestra, tal vez, de la -integridad- de la generación noventera a la que se refería Billy Corgan recientemente; hoy día, letra muerta.

A su regreso a Norteamérica Bikini Kill trabaja con la reputada Joan Jett, a quien Hanna cita como una importante fuente de inspiración estética para el Riot Grrrl. Jett produce el sencillo Rebel Girl y su lado B New Radio, aquí revisados.
La actitud renegada e insumisa de la banda siguió reflejándose en sus últimos dos álbumes, Pussy Whipped de 1994 y Reject All American de 1996. Bikini Kill se separa en 1998, justo el año en que… bueno, ya saben.

El mismo año de la separación de Bikini Kill pero en la ciudad de Nueva York, Kathleen Hanna forma Le Tigre, una banda que se aleja del Punk crudo para experimentar con lo electrónico pero en ningún momento abandona sus tendencias feministas, aunque en Le Tigre el contenido político es más simbólico que explícito, también su imagen y acto en vivo son más políticamente correctos, sofisticados incluso; hipster friendly si se quiere.

El debut de Hanna y compañía como Le Tigre es el álbum homónimo de 1999, seguido de Feminist Sweepstakes en 2001 y This Island de 2004.

Si a estas alturas se están preguntando cuál es la diferencia entre Bikini Kill y Avril Lavigne… en serio, deben abandonar las premisas de este blog inmediatamente y no volver nunca, no quiero ser descortés pero ya son bienvenidos.

Es triste ver cómo la fértil cultura noventera se extinguió. Hoy día es muy difícil encontrar artistas que perpetúen la manifestación política inherente al Rock. La línea genealógica de bandas femeninas se ha interrumpido y en la actualidad es prácticamente imposible citar artistas que llenen los zapatos de las PJ Harvey, las Liz Phair, las Juliana Hatfield, las Anie Di Franco o hasta las Sheryl Crow y las Sarah Maclachlan. Tal vez puedan citarse algunos dignos pero débiles intentos dentro del Indie como Cat Power, Feist o Bat For Lashes, pero estas artistas están muy lejos de alcanzar los niveles del mainstream que, como es sabido, están dominados por absurdas caricaturas poperas del viejo modelo Alternativo y los consecuentes intentos (y desgraciadamente exitosos) por tomar artistas infantiles y convertirlos en iconos culturales del Pop, como en las Britneys, las Gagas, las Hannas Montana, las Beyoncés, las Rihannas y los peleles de HSM.

¿Qué quise decir con esto? Meditémoslo un poco. La cultura-pop en los noventas se generó en los campus universitarios, la cultura-pop hoy día se genera en el patio de una escuela primaria… Llámenme exagerado, pero a eso yo lo considero un GRAN paso hacia tras.
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source: stereogum

It must be weird to be a cause celebre before you’ve put out your first album, but that’s what happened with Bikini Kill. The band was, of course, at the center of riot grrrl, the ground-up feminist punk-rock movement that burned bright and fast, that applied feminist-studies ideas to the often-boneheaded hardcore scene and saw its influence ripple out for years after its short-but-beautiful explosion. They were linked with that whole scene, had appeared in the Newsweek article that threatened to blow that whole scene wide open and caused internal rifts within it. (Weird to think that a Newsweek article could ever have that effect on a punk scene.) If the whole movement had one definitive anthem, it was “Rebel Girl,” a song written very much as an anthem. But Bikini Kill were a band, too, one that had to go about the business of touring and releasing singles and things that don’t necessarily jibe with being some legendary transformative energy-force. By the time they released Pussy Whipped, their first proper album, 20 years ago this past Saturday, many people within riot grrrl believed the movement had already died out, and the band themselves had already moved beyond the raw gut-scrape sound on it. But it’s still a remarkably potent album, and it still captured a ton of imaginations.

Pussy Whipped came after the Bikini Kill and Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah EPs. Bratmobile, Bikini Kill’s closest contemporaries, had already released their own Potty Mouth album. The band recorded Pussy Whipped early in 1993, then toured for a while. Ian MacKaye introduced them to Joan Jett, who produced their “New Radio” b/w “Rebel Girl” single, giving them a cleaner and sharper recording job. (This was their third time recording “Rebel Girl”; the second version of it appeared on Pussy Whipped.) The single showed a band that was ready to move onward and upward, that was learning just how much more forceful they could be if they presented their hooks straight-up without burying them in four-track murk. That “New Radio” single came out before Pussy Whipped, even though they recorded it months after, so maybe the album felt like an afterthought to the band by the time it found its way to market. And anyway, the album was barely longer than an EP; it ends just before the 25-minute mark. But it was still a hugely important album, partly because it was an actual album that you could buy and partly because it absolutely kicks ass.

“Blood One,” the first track on Pussy Whipped starts with a furiously propulsive bass riff, a few isolated drum-cracks, and Kathleen Hanna moaning wordlessly before saying, clearly and plainly, “I don’t owe you nothing.” And then it’s off: simple buzzsaw riffs, sprinting tempos, Hanna wailing furiously. That stuff barely lets up over the course of the album. There are hooks, and legible lyrics, but the hooks aren’t always legible, and the legible parts aren’t always hooks. It’s hard to know where one song stops and another begins. It’s hard to know, two decades later, how bracing all this must’ve sounded at the time, especially given how macho the hardcore scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s was. It was all done with an electric immediacy and simplicity, to the point where you had people at punk shows complaining that the members didn’t know how to play their instruments — this, even though one of the main points of punk rock was always that you don’t necessarily need to know how to play your instruments. But if everyone could write songs this direct and effective, there’d be a whole lot more punk albums full of songs this blunt and effective. And then there’s the final track “For Tammy Rae,” the longest song by far at 3:34 and a rare indication that this band knew how to jangle and shimmy as well as just pummel. They did a whole lot more of that later. Bikini Kill must not have been that interested in the process of making albums, since they only put out one more, 1996′s great Reject All American, before breaking up. But they still developed a lot more over the next few years, easing up on the attack and showing some serious pop-song chops before finally ceasing to be.

Pussy Whipped eventually sold 75,000, huge for an early-’90s indie rock album, especially one this uncompromising and brutal. And it was important that it existed, since the band’s early EPs, at least until someone collected them onto a reissue CD soon after, just weren’t available to most of the kids who might’ve been interested. Those 75,000 people just might not have had access to the live shows or the EPs. Around this point, “riot grrrl” was becoming a press buzzword to the point where it threatened to lose all meaning. I can remember a BMG Music Club catalog spotlighting “riot grrrl bands” and drawing attention to bands that had nothing to do with that scene: L7, Hole, Babes In Toyland, even Belly. So as riot grrrl gradually came to mean “alt-rock with female singers,” Pussy Whipped needed to exist so that you could hear this sound the way it actually existed. At this point, it still works as a time-capsule reminder of a specific moment. And it needed to be as tough and loud as it was to make a point. Later bands like Sleater-Kinney had the chance to play around with ideas and textures and emotions because Bikini Kill had helped to open up a punk-scene space for them. And at the right social gatherings, the opening “Rebel Girl” drum-cracks will still incite total euphoria in grown women. Those of us who were kids when this came out were lucky. And even if the rest of the riot grrrl scene, and even the band members themselves, had moved onto other ideas by the time Pussy Whipped came out, it’s still plenty easy to get stuck on it now.
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source: youtube
Pussy Whipped is the debut full-length album of punk rock band Bikini Kill. It was released in 1993 on Kill Rock Stars. The album includes the track “Rebel Girl”, which is #27 on the Rolling Stone list of “Most Excellent Songs of Every Year Since 1967”, a playlist assembled by the magazine in 2006 to celebrate its 1,000th issue.
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source: musicdouban

看這個標題是否覺得驚悚？沒錯，這正是此zine取向作品給我的直觀感覺。你指望Kathleen Hanna這個曾把專輯命名爲《Pussy Whipped》(Bikini Kill, 1993)、《Reject All American》(Bikini Kill, 1996), 或把歌名取成《I Like Fucking》、《Suck My Left One》等彪悍名的女權主義狂熱份子會傳遞給你什麼“正能量”、“高尚”或者“文藝范”的東西呢。Kathleen Hanna無論領唱於哪個樂隊(Bikini Kill, Le Tigre或The Julie Ruin)，無論年輕性感苗條也好中年大媽發福也好，無論健康也好、墮胎也好或是如今得了萊姆病也好，感覺都一直是個著裝廉價，凌晨三點喝醉在夜店門口扯著尖細嗓子邊吐邊鬧并找路過男人樂子的婊子。
　　
　　Riot grrrl這種興起于90年代美國地下朋克界的思想運動，本身帶有非常強烈的“同人”特點：因為它關注的話題當時看來算是激進，如強姦、家庭暴力、女性性愛、種族主義等等。受眾幾乎全爲女性，而傳播媒介爲自制磁帶和同人誌（zine，一般由複印機印製，每刊印製量不超過1000份）。正因為帶有強烈“同人”性質，它的音樂也好，攝影作品也好，刊物文字內容也好聽讀起來完全原始未加料，想說什麼以及感受到什麼都會直接了當體現在內容中。“同人”這個東西本身就帶有強勁的搖滾精神，因為在歐美好的zine可以直觀體現人性并在某個受眾圈子內娛己娛人，更厲害點的會跳出地下形成某種文化運動。只是在中國這個文化極度貧瘠的國家很大一部分人狹隘地把“同人”與日本動漫和“宅腐”聯繫在一起，極度缺乏思想光輝和創造性，這是一件可悲的事情。Kathleen大姐組建的第一支樂隊Bikini Kill，也是riot grrrl運動的代表朋克樂隊，把riot grrrl攮括的東西通通“關照”了一遍。在初期“同人傳播”的狀態下演出盡力尋找女性同人迷站前排，并給她們一人一手自制歌單。因為音樂題材的緣故，樂隊在地下時期並不受男性待見，如Kathleen Hanna在一次採訪中透露：“在男性樂迷面前表演是一件很恐懼的事，他們向我們扔東西，叫我們cunts，叫囂著讓我們脫光衣服；而在隔晚當著一群女生表演時她們會跟唱每一句詞，每首歌之後都會歡呼鼓掌”。由riot grrrl同人圈開始，Kathleen大姐女權搖滾了二十多年，受眾也越來越廣泛。如今探討究竟是Kathleen Hanna引導了riot grrrl運動還是riot grrrl成就了Kathleen Hanna的feminist punk icon地位根本無聊到不足為道。撇開“女權主義”這種陳腐無聊的東西不談，最難能可貴的是她把fanzine種種特點藉由作品一直傳承至今，kathleen的“煩人”尖嗓和一貫大老粗作派是千金難買的完美結合。 她的音樂聒躁歡騰不斷，不出口成髒就不舒服，不過如果有下限的話還能叫做riot grrrl嗎？
　　
　　《Run Fast》是Kathleen Hanna在Le Tigre處於無限冬眠狀態中以及大病初癒發福後和Bikini Kill時期就開始合作的貝斯手Kathi Wilcox，以及鍵盤手兼和音Kenny Mellman新搞出來的一個樂隊The Julie Ruin的首張LP。風格大體上延續了Le Tigre，是一張作曲偏pop的“好聽”類作品（對比Bikini Kill時期的完全“同人”化作品而言）。Kathleen除喜歡dirty歌名外也喜歡一些讀起來比較無裡頭的名字，如《Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah》、《FYR》、《TKO》。這次也不例外，《Oh Come On》和《Ha Ha Ha》非常成功地kick in也定位了專輯“幺蛾子”和“不瘋魔不成活”的總體感官取向（雖說是Kathleen大姐一貫的）。60年代復古流行編曲的《Oh Come On》, 大姐尖叫著教你在哪裡說以及如何說“Oh come on!”: “Say it on the street, on the lawn, on the dial! Make it super sweet, but still versatile… Shake it on the stairs, in the air, on the town… Make it popular, but still say it with a pout! ”奇怪又幽默的點子以及押韻對句，brilliant lyrics。 此外，始於第二段副歌部分的三聲“Oh come on!” 和聲，竟然有點飄飄然的昇華感；結尾於不斷repeated著的“Oh come on…”， Kathleen幺蛾子的尖叫版“Oh come on!”; 似乎有些“美麗”的女子和聲版”Oh come on!”; 以及大老粗便秘男聲版”oh come on!”，簡直是holy shit魔音洗腦讓人聽完也忍不住跟著哼哼一句“Oh come on!”。《Ha Ha Ha》似乎更應該叫做《Ha Ha Ha Ha Armageddon》，因為它講的是不同代女rockers間的世界大戰。像是“…I was the one stole your crown, you were the one with the biggest mouth…”，“…you’re more histrionic than historical…”，“If anti-you means anti-us, I guess we just bit the dust cuz in reverse it’s still a FUCKING pageant!”, 這樣不厚道的辱罵前輩法我看更適合拿來給Lady Gaga唱衰Madonna。“放屁”一樣的喜劇電子kicks-in，標準的4/4朋克節奏, 中途狂轟亂炸的guitar riffs，以及“啪啪啪”擊掌聲和著鼓點，本來就已經精彩不斷，大姐再扔給你一段可以炸死人的killer副歌“Ha ha ha ha armageddon!”，2013最佳朋克勁曲當仍不讓。當然Disco味道的舞曲《Cookie Road》勝在故意結巴的“cookie cookie yah cookie yah yah…ti-i-i-i-i…golden ga-ay-ay-ay-ate…”這樣應和節奏的切分詞，醉鬼fucker男聲跟著大姐唱卡拉ok般亂吼，以及那一大段帶有即興爵士味道的鋼琴演奏，精彩到一定境界。一些曲子中甚至出現了兒童片伴奏般的可愛鈴鐺聲，如《South Coast Plaza》和《Girls Like Us》。前者節奏滾動得像是公路片soundtrack的直接取樣，男聲叨叨念大段大段地爆粗口，而到了Kathleen大姐的副歌部分配合著鈴兒響叮噹簡直可以用“童趣昂然”來形容，雖然大姐也不忘偶爾飄飄然到pussy裡去了, 雖然就歌詞而言這是一首描寫夏日羅曼史回憶的情歌。後者《Girls Like Us》編曲雖然依然叮叮噹噹卡哇伊但卻是整張專輯pussy味道最重的一首，大姐放浪瘋癲和含糊不清的聲音像是出自一張正在含著一根那啥的嘴，跟幼齒感的編曲攪拌在一起顯得既奇怪又和諧。結尾處的鼓點輕輕一帶，甚至有了點拉丁感，可謂點睛之筆。
　　
　　當然專輯也少不了感性及消極的一面，至於讓“裝瘋賣傻”的傻大姐聽起來也會有那麼點“深沈”。如描寫成長的同名曲《Run Fast》。Kathleen運用了一些經典搖滾曲慣用伎倆，如三段式歌詞結構以推進情感，每一段中間穿插一句地道美式市儈發音“we ran so fast”。更為值得一提的是第二段到第三段高潮時的過度，從流行舞曲漸漸演變成Bruce Springsteen，情緒也被鍵盤和電吉他的交響編排，以及漸漸加速的節奏宣泄得淋漓盡致。Kathleen血淋淋地把自己陳年舊事挖出來吼給你聽：第一段的“We were called sluts from the time we were five, and teased so FUCKING bad that we thought we would die…”，第二段的“We gave hand jobs quick and always with a smile so it didn’t get too weird and we didn’t have to die…”，以及過渡到第三段的“…but whatever the truth, in the end we made tiny islands where we didn’t always have to be afraid…”。大姐從童年唱到青春期再到zine時期建立起同人小圈子，即所謂的“tiny islands”，以及那些年所受到的sexual abuse。《Run Fast》不僅僅是作為一首自省的歌曲，而處於專輯收尾處的一支“大”曲自然也把之前的pussy味道一掃而儘，偶然的一本正經卻在結尾處使專輯上昇到更高的一個台面。
　　
　　《Run Fast》作為Kathleen Hanna距Bikini Kill出道23年後的作品，價值觀依然是zine精神十足的誠懇與自力更生。專輯處處體現出Kathleen飽滿獨立的個性與人性化的現實主義思考，而思考方式依然如青少年般的不成熟對於念過40的搖滾女歌手來說其實是最難能可貴的。
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source: lastfmat

Bikini Kill war eine US-amerikanische Punkband, die die Riot Grrrl-Bewegung der 1990er Jahre stark prägte. Sie wurde im Oktober 1990 in Olympia (Washington) gegründet. Die Band wurde für ihre feministischen Texte und ihre intensiven Liveauftritte bekannt.

Auch wenn sie gelegentlich mit bekannten Künstlern wie Nirvana, Sonic Youth und Joan Jett auf künstlerischer und politischer Ebene zusammenarbeiten, lehnten Bikini Kill Major-Label und die Mainstream-Musikpresse ab. Nach zwei Alben und mehreren EPs löste sich die Gruppe 1998 auf. Das bekannteste Nachfolgeprojekt von Bikini Kill wurde Le Tigre (welche aus Hanna´s Soloprojekt „Julie Ruin“ heraus entstanden), bei dem Kathleen Hanna bis vor kurzem aktiv war. Die anderen Mitglieder widmeten sich dem Projekt „The Frumpies“. Tobi Vail betreibt zurzeit unter anderem den Mailorder des „Kill Rock Star“-Labels.
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source: 93115827

Bikini Kill — американская рок-группа, образовавшаяся в 1990 году в Олимпии, штат Вашингтон, исполнявшая радикальный панк-рок и прославившаяся провокационными и захватывающими сценическими выступлениями, сверхполитизированными текстами, феминистскими идеями и лозунгами («Revolution Girl Style Now!»). Bikini Kill вошли в число основателей и стали на какое-то время лидерами движения riot grrrl, первоначальной задачей которого было — подорвать сложившуюся в инди-роке «мужскую» иерархию.

Bikini Kill образовались в 1990 году, когда студентки колледжа Evergreen Кэтлин Ханна (подрабатывавшая стриптизершей), Тоби Вэйл и Кэти Уилкокс решили расширить сферу влияния феминистского фэнзина, ими же издававшегося. Пригласив к участию гитариста Билли Каррена, известного также под псевдонимом Billy Boredom, они превратились в конфронтационную панк-группу, назввание заимствовав у того же фэнзина.

Дебютировав в 1991 году с альбомом Revolution Girl Style Now, вышедшим на самодельной кассете, группа подписала контракт с лейблом Kill Rock Stars и выпустила здесь Bikini Kill EP; пластинка, записанная с продюсером Иэном Маккеем, лидером Fugazi, содержала, в основном, новые версии песен, выходивших на кассете. За мини-альбомом Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, записанным совместно с британской группой Huggy Bear, чья сторона была озаглавлена «Our Troubled Youth», последовали их же совместные гастроли по Англии, после которых о движении Riot Grrrl заговорили как о новой панк-революции. Выпустив ещё два (более искусно сработанных, но не менее мощных и бескомпромиссных) альбома, Bikini Kill в 1998 году распались.
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source: vk

Bikini Kill (МФА: [bɪˈkiːni ˈkɪl]) — американская рок-группа, образовавшаяся в 1990 году в Олимпии, штат Вашингтон, исполнявшая радикальный панк-рок и прославившаяся провокационными и захватывающими сценическими выступлениями, сверхполитизированными текстами, феминистскими идеями и лозунгами («Revolution Girl Style Now!»). Bikini Kill вошли в число основателей и стали на какое-то время лидерами движения riot grrrl, первоначальной задачей которого было — подорвать сложившуюся в инди-роке «мужскую» иерархию.