Anti-Climacus

Of all the things to be thankful for, count this among them: I grew up in a time when a bunch of women who had their own band was nothing strange or unusual. For any time prior to the 90s, this was functionally impossible. Sure, there were 'girl groups,' who in demeanor and presentation were partially strange and partially trivial--great songs though they are, "Please Mr. Postman" or "Be My Baby" (to name two at close to random) trade on some unpleasant gender stereotypes. The songs were primarily written by men, of course, with male impresarios not too far out of sight (hello Phil Spector!). Women were permitted to be singer-songwriters as long as their choice of topics was mostly confined to the domestic sphere and the nature of relationships. One could trade on androgyny, in the way of Patti Smith--her early songs were better the more masculine they were, her later songs better the more feminine they were. But Patti Smith was pretty one-of-a-kind. The 80s provided female bands--the Go-Go's and the Bangles--but for all their serious musical intentions (and ability), are mostly remembered for their novelty-ish singles. The more things change...

Indie rock should, by rights, have been more accommodating. It was the place, in the 80s, for music that aimed to be more intellectual, more socially progressive, less tied to the gendered stereotypes of popular music. To a certain extent, that was true--I'm not sure Husker Du would've been possible in an earlier decade. But if you were a woman, your best bet was to play bass: see Kim Gordon in Sonic Youth or Kim Deal of the Pixies (later, see D'Arcy from Smashing Pumpkins; Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo was primarily on the drums).

But, for reasons mostly inexplicable, this was different in the 90s. Part of the credit, no doubt, goes to tone-shaping male feminists like Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder and (at the peak of his popularity) Michael Stipe. Thus a world in which one had Liz Phair, PJ Harvey, Elastica, Luscious Jackson, Bjork, Ash, etc, at various levels of popularity.

Of all these bands, my favorite was and remains Sleater-Kinney. Their appeal is largely conditioned on whether or not you like Corin Tucker's voice; I very rarely object to singers--and tolerate both Mark E. Smith of the Fall and Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays, who are in all ways inferior vocal talents--so that has never been an issue for me. To speak in further dichotomies: either their primary songwriting strength--loud, fast, short songs about emotional crises that rely on killer riffs--will appeal to you or it won't. For an example, see "Stay Where You Are", both my favorite of their songs and the archetype from which all their other songs emerge.

Moreover, S-K adhered to a number of the better rock and roll and punk tropes. No solos, which was extremely important to 16 year-old me (and makes their last album, with its partial concession on this front, a bit disappointing). Simple equipment: a good guitar, a distortion pedal, and a good amp (you can get a pretty good look here). They shared with the Rolling Stones the habit of switching which guitar was playing the 'lead' part and the 'rhythm' part, often in ways that remain stupifying to those of us attempting to learn these songs on guitar. Like R.E.M.'s early albums, the first three S-K albums featured overlapping lyrics, which multiples the rhythmic and harmonic complexity of the songs.

Like most bands, however, Sleater-Kinney had a creative peak--Call the Doctor and Dig Me Out (youtube has a show from cbgb's in 1997 that is best described as 'all killer, no filler') and then a long, slow decline. The Hot Rock is fine but flawed; All Hands on the Bad One and One Beat ramp up the political content to bad effect--if one's judgment on the quality of a song depends on whether one likes its politics, something has gone dreadfully wrong. On The Woods, S-K finally give in to their classic rock urges, which makes for four really excellent songs and a few that are unbelievably terrible.

It makes me sad to think how their potential was fulfilled only incompletely. But then I realize I made it through three paragraphs without self-consciously identifying them as 'female' in any way--their music can be judged on its own terms and not on any reductive gendered template, which itself should count as a little, important, victory.