Bikini Kill, the punk quartet that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1990 and helped give shape and voice to the riot grrrl movement, has finally released its catalog on streaming sites.
The news was announced on Tuesday, via Bikini Kill’s official Twitter. Five albums—1991’s Revolution Girl Style Now, 1993’s Pussy Whipped, 1994’s The First Two Records, 1996’s Reject All American, and 1998’s The Singles—are now available on Tidal, Apple Music, and Spotify.
Surprise! The entire Bikini Kill catalog is now available on streaming sites for the first time ever. pic.twitter.com/so8rDukt7F
— Bikini Kill (@theebikinikill) September 18, 2018
Bikini Kill’s music laughed in the face of patriarchy, called out abusers and sexism, and gave women a place to feel safe and feel agency. “Suck My Left One” and “Rebel Girl” are still anthems (and the latter just appeared in Netflix’s Next Gen). The band’s catalog dropping in the midst of Me Too adds another layer of context and history.
In a recent interview with Tidal, singer Kathleen Hanna (also of the Julie Ruin and Le Tigre) said the decision to pivot to streaming was about giving fans a better platform: “A lot of our records were not recorded that great, but they were recorded how we had the money to record them at the time, and I want people to listen to what we made. I don’t want people to listen to the crappy third-rate version on somebody’s YouTube video.”
Hanna also looked back on Bikini Kill’s music and where it fits in today: “It was so long ago that sometimes it doesn’t feel like me. I listen to it much more objectively because I’m further away from it. Now I listen to it and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m really feeling this. I’m feeling it as if it’s another woman singing it to me. I’m feeling empowered by it.’”
