{
  "slug": "riot-grrrl",
  "name": "Riot Grrrl",
  "aliases": [
    "riot girl",
    "kill rock stars",
    "olympia scene"
  ],
  "description": "Olympia and Washington DC, 1991: hardcore's tools handed to women who were tired of being crushed at the front of the room, distributed through photocopied zines as much as through records.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Olympia, Washington",
    "year": 1991
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "hardcore-punk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/",
      "inherited": "The volume, the brevity and the labels. Kill Rock Stars and Dischord are the same infrastructure; what changed was who was allowed to use it and what the songs were permitted to be about."
    },
    {
      "genre": "post-punk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/",
      "inherited": "The other model. The Slits and the Raincoats had already shown that a band could be deliberately untrained and rhythmically strange, and riot grrrl cited them constantly and correctly."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 140,
    "max": 210
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-31",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/riot-grrrl/",
  "trackCount": 7,
  "curatedBy": [],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "bikini-kill--rebel-girl",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bikini-kill--rebel-girl/",
      "title": "Rebel Girl",
      "artist": "Bikini Kill",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bikini-kill/",
      "year": 1993,
      "label": "Kill Rock Stars",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Kathleen Hanna singing about wanting to be a girl's best friend, at full volume, with Joan Jett producing. The movement's one unarguable anthem.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bikini%20Kill%20Rebel%20Girl",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jfCqCKY5nUc",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "huggy-bear--her-jazz",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/huggy-bear--her-jazz/",
      "title": "Her Jazz",
      "artist": "Huggy Bear",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/huggy-bear/",
      "year": 1993,
      "label": "Wiiija",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The British half, performed on Channel 4 before an argument broke out in the studio audience. Chaotic, and the record that made the scene a UK news story.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Huggy%20Bear%20Her%20Jazz",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lwYIyv2y9CU",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "fugazi--suggestion",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/fugazi--suggestion/",
      "title": "Suggestion",
      "artist": "Fugazi",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/fugazi/",
      "year": 1988,
      "label": "Dischord",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A man singing about street harassment from the woman's position, three years early, from the label that made the scene possible. Contested at the time, and worth arguing about still.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Fugazi%20Suggestion",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7rASGknTU4o",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "bratmobile--cool-schmool",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bratmobile--cool-schmool/",
      "title": "Cool Schmool",
      "artist": "Bratmobile",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bratmobile/",
      "year": 1993,
      "label": "Kill Rock Stars",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Two chords, a drummer barely holding it together, and total confidence. The deliberate amateurism is a position, not a limitation.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bratmobile%20Cool%20Schmool",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zug8C4KcGfQ",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "bikini-kill--feels-blind",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bikini-kill--feels-blind/",
      "title": "Feels Blind",
      "artist": "Bikini Kill",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bikini-kill/",
      "year": 1991,
      "label": "Kill Rock Stars",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Slower and considerably angrier than Rebel Girl. Hanna's voice cracks and the recording keeps it, which was always the point.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bikini%20Kill%20Feels%20Blind",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=69lhDIqeHcI",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "heavens-to-betsy--tell-me",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/heavens-to-betsy--tell-me/",
      "title": "Tell Me",
      "artist": "Heavens to Betsy",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/heavens-to-betsy/",
      "year": 1994,
      "label": "Kill Rock Stars",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Corin Tucker before Sleater-Kinney, with a vibrato that sounds like it is about to break something. The purest voice the scene produced.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Heavens%20to%20Betsy%20Tell%20Me",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Heavens%20to%20Betsy%20Tell%20Me",
          "exact": false
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "sleater-kinney--dig-me-out",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sleater-kinney--dig-me-out/",
      "title": "Dig Me Out",
      "artist": "Sleater-Kinney",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sleater-kinney/",
      "year": 1997,
      "label": "Kill Rock Stars",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "What the scene became once the musicianship caught up with the position. Two guitars, no bass, and interlocking parts that owe more to Gang of Four than to punk.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sleater-Kinney%20Dig%20Me%20Out",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pVp6A0Ufots",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}