Carry on Beautiful!

I love finding music I haven’t listened to before, especially stuff from the 90’s, and I wanted to share some of the bands I’ve recently discovered and am absolutely loving. A lot of these are 90’s feminist punk bands because I’ve somehow only just found out that that was a thing? Anyway, all of these are bands I highly recommend you listen to!

Bikini Kill/The Julie Ruin/Le Tigre

These three I’m throwing together because they’re all fronted by Kathleen Hanna but they honestly sound so different! Bikini Kill is fast and aggressive, exactly what you expect when you think of a punk band but with a front woman rather than man and some great feminist hits like ‘Rebel Girl’ and ‘Don’t Need You’.

Le Tigre take on an electronic vibe without once feeling like Kathleen Hanna or any other band members were selling out. ‘Deceptacon’ is my personal favourite so far but I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to everything they’ve done yet! Finally The Julie Ruin is probably my favourite band that Kathleen Hanna has been in, though that is no easy decision.

I’ve seen interviews with Kathleen Hanna talking about how with The Julie Ruin she wanted it to sound like something a girl could make in her bedroom, and it definitely has that vibe. ‘Girls like us’ is my personal favourite, but all their songs sound like they could be spoken word poetry were it not for how cool some of the keyboard/synth stuff is. I feel like girls usually tend to put a lot of effort into our bedrooms, especially in our teens and twenties, to make them almost an extension of ourselves. We make them show who we are and I feel like every Julie Ruin song is treated the same way girls treat our bedrooms, its another way for Kathleen Hanna to show us who she is.

Blondie

Blondie have been on my radar for a while, probably close to a decade now, and I somehow only recently really got into them. Debbie Harry’s voice is like a call from an angel, almost every song they have is a total bop, especially ‘Maria’ which I, again, somehow only recently heard. I’ve been putting a lot of effort into listening to more women so of course Blondie was a must but I wasn’t expecting to love them as much as I do. Searching out more female fronted bands has been frustrating for me because they’ve been under my nose this whole time!

Pussy Riot

Pussy Riot are a bit different from most of the other bands on this list because they’re still going for one! They’re also a lot more fiercely political and are incredibly passionate activists. They’ve become a lot more heard of lately after their protest at the world cup final and I had started listening to them maybe a week or two before that because their song ‘Make America Great Again’ is absolutely amazing. If you don’t listen to anything else on this list, please listen to this! Its an absolute jam and has such a strong message behind it. Pussy Riot are definitely one to check out and support if you believe in the same things as them, and frankly if you don’t agree with their opinions I think you need to reconsider who you are! ‘Police State’ and ‘Straight Outta Vagina’ are also songs I’d recommend!

Sonic Youth

Not too much to write about Sonic Youth because I only started listening to them a few days ago but I’m super into what I’ve heard so far and will most probably elaborate on this sometime in the coming weeks in a similar post to this one!

Dave Grohl

Okay okay we all know I’ve been a huge fan of Dave for years now but hear me out. ‘Play’ is absolutely incredible. Now, I get that a 23 minute instrumental isn’t for everyone so I’m not going to insist you all listen to it immediately with rapt attention but if you want something on in the background thats cool and doesn’t have lyrics, or if you’re a Dave fan too, definitely give it a listen! I wasn’t expecting to be too into it, I’ve listened to instrumental stuff by people like Steve Vai and Frank Zappa and not overly enjoyed it but whether its because I love Dave that bit more or just because its more my cup of tea, I immensely enjoyed ‘Play’ and am waiting with held breath for the vinyl to arrive in September!

Of course I’m still listening to the bands I’ve loved forever, like the Foo’s and RHCP, too! I like talking about what I’m getting into and enjoying though, so I hope you enjoyed this post too! If you have any bands you love that you think I’d like too please leave a comment mentioning them so I can have a listen!

-Dana