BIKINI KILL: THE SINGLES (1998)
1) New Radio; 2) Rebel Girl;
3) In Accordance To Natural Law; 4) Strawberry Julius; 5) Anti-Pleasure
Dissertation; 6) Rah! Rah! Replica; 7) I Like Fucking; 8) I Hate Danger; 9)
Demirep.
For the sake of extra accuracy, I suppose this
very short compilation, consisting of several A- and B-sides, as well as a four-song
EP from 1995, deserves a brief mention. ʽRebel Girlʼ has already been discussed
several times above, and without that song the entire compilation is around 17
minutes long — nevertheless, it still contains songs that are absolutely
essential for any fan of the band.
In a way, ʽNew Radioʼ, the original A-side of
ʽRebel Girlʼ, is much more ferocious and disturbing — not only does it feature
the scariest Kathleen Hanna screeching on record (she almost literally spews
her lungs out in little pieces), but its lyrics, suggesting something
uncomfortable, unspeakable, and almost certainly illegal, are a very far cry
from the anthemic swagger of ʽRebel Girlʼ that sounds dang near comical in
comparison.
The EP Anti-Pleasure
Dissertation, released in 1995, already shows the beginning of the transition
to the «softer» sounds of Reject All
American — the title track has certain melodic traces both in the guitar
playing and in the singing, although the ideology remains the same (as usual,
the song is directed against the sterotypical macho boyfriend looking for
sexual conquests — "did you win that race, did you score that
point?.."). But even sad stories like that do not prevent Hanna from
proclaiming that ʽI Like Fuckingʼ — "I believe in the radical
possibilities of pleasure, babe!", she states at the end of the song (if
you can call it a song, that is).
Musically, the best song is probably ʽI Hate
Dangerʼ; its melody sounds like a slightly de-syncopated variation on AC/DC's
ʽDirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheapʼ, but that particular dangerous, growling sound
suits Bikini Kill to a tee — in a different world, I could easily see them as
the female equivalent of AC/DC, counterattacking that band's aggressive
machismo with their equally fiery brand of aggressive feminism (now if only they
learned how to play those instruments...). On the other hand, their recording
of the ʽMary Macʼ clapping game at the beginning of ʽDemiRepʼ is a rather silly
novelty whose symbolism I am not able to decode, probably because there isn't
any, they just felt like letting out ther inner child for a while.
To conclude these reviews, I just want to state
that, although I am not and will never be a big fan of Bikini Kill, I do think that,
had they managed to stay together, there were some actual chances of their
gradual evolution into a band that might be taken seriously even outside of
ideologically charged discussions. Fire and passion in art always deserve
respect, regardless of whether they are used to express radical social ideology
or not, and all they needed to learn was how to control and direct that fire —
something that they had almost mastered by the time of ʽI Hate Dangerʼ and Reject All American. But then, of
course, it became clear that the «Bikini Kill» brand was all about ideology
first and musical impression second, so that any musical growth was a direct
mortal threat to the band's existence. Too bad about that. But you can always
check out Hanna in Le Tigre, her subsequent and much more «musical» project in
the «electroclash» genre, rather naturally evolved from Bikini Kill and
certainly easier on the ears of the average music lover — the wilder they
start, the softer they get, eventually.
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