The Rocket exhibit: Riot Grrrl

Riot grrrl refers to a social, political, and cultural movement that began in the early 1990s with roots in feminist zines created by students in Olympia, WA. These zines gave way to bands such as Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsey, and Sleater-Kinney, known for their searingly personal and political lyrics. The coverage of this feminist subgenre’s development in the pages of The Rocket tells a story about the state of music journalism in the nineties.

True to the movement’s DIY spirit, early-1990s mentions of “riot grrrl” first crop up in the paper’s want ads. Early recordings from bands in the grrrl scene were covered in The Rocket’s release round-up sections. While generally positive, the tone of the write-ups might suggest that the journalists took the political motivations behind the music less seriously.

Rocket writer Gillian G. Gaar wrote about riot grrrl bands on multiple occasions, including reviews of an early Sleater-Kinney show and a review of Bikini Kill’s Joan Jett-produced EP. Her coverage gives context to the riot grrrl movement’s place within the “Seattle sound.” Some of this coverage coincided with the “riot grrrl media blackout,” a period around 1992 when members of the scene, including Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, refused to speak to the mainstream media in response to what they felt was misrepresentation. Most of The Rocket ’s riot grrrl coverage during this time was review-based.

At the same time, many reviews of riot grrrl and all-female bands in The Rocket from this time reflect the overwhelming masculinity of the Seattle music and music journalism scenes. Bands with a majority-female lineup were inevitably compared to riot grrrl acts and other female peers, and all-female bands uninterested in the grrrl scene had to explicitly define themselves as not riot grrrl. The writers asking these questions of genre or writing the reviews were often men.