You're No Rock N' Roll Fun! (Women & Media Blog Post #6)

Okay, so choosing between Sleater-Kinney songs is like choosing children for me. This band is so near and dear to my heart that every single song is the best song. There are tons of their other songs that illustrate their riot grrrl/"sassy lady band with a need to say something" attitude just as well, if not better, than this song. I chose this one though because it was a) the first song of theirs I ever heard/liked b) it's one of the few songs with a music video c) it's a really great, catchy pop song and therefore much more accessible to non-riot grrrl/Sleater-Kinney fans. Now, S-K was definitely a later riot grrrl band where their members had been in previous bands when riot grrrl first became a "thing", but they've lasted the longest. They finally broke up in 2003, much to my and my brother's chagrin, but left a legacy in music. This particular track from their album, All Hands on the Bad One, addresses what Zeisler says of the riot grrrl phenomena where the girls involved "[loved] punk music nut hating the guys who thought girls didn't belong in the mosh pits. They called out punk boys for their complicity in perpetuating sexism..." (which had also been previously discussed by some of those "punk boys" like the politically and socially progressive U.S. hardcore band, Fugazi in their song "Suggestion") The song is really about them (as are most of their songs) and their views on how they've been perceived and treated as an all-girl rock band that can honestly play their guitars and write songs just as well as any other band.
Lyrics can be found here.