How Kim Gordon inspired Carrie Brownstein to greatness: “Liberating”
The riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s was a revolutionary moment in music history. Fed up with the dominance of men in the punk genre, various women in Olympia, Washington, started making their own punk songs, which were largely concerned with feminism. Riot grrrl bands and fans also made zines and often played at all-female festivals, creating a sense of safety and community among women who were involved in the scene.
Some of the most well-known riot grrrl bands were Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, but there were many others who were active at the same time, like Heavens to Betsy, which gave Corin Tucker her first taste of being in a band. Tucker would soon pair up with Carrie Brownstein, a member of the punk band Excuse 17, to form Sleater-Kinney. The band’s roots were firmly in the riot grrrl scene, with early songs like ‘A Real Man’, for example, hitting out at heteronormativity and patriarchy. “I don’t wanna join your club/ I don’t want your kind of love,” Tucker declares, adding, “Don’t you wanna feel it inside?/ They say that it feels so nice/ All girls should have a real man/ Should I buy it? I don’t wanna.”
The riot grrrl movement took inspiration from various all-female bands or women who were carving out a space for themselves in a male-dominated landscape. Bands like The Slits and even the fictional punk group The Fabulous Stains inspired these women to pick up guitars and stand against the androcentrism of rock and punk, helping to incite a sense of hope and rebellion among many passionate young women and girls. However, there’s one woman who proved to be one of the most prominent influences over riot grrrl musicians – Kim Gordon.
As the bassist and sometimes vocalist of Sonic Youth, Gordon stood out. Most noise rock and alternative rock bands were predominantly all male, but Gordon fearlessly thrashed her instrument around and sang without worrying about sounding perfect, typically exploring themes regarding women’s rights. On ‘Swimsuit Issue’, for example, she took aim at sexual abuse in the workplace, with Gordon singing, “Don’t touch my breast/ I’m just working at my desk.” One of Sonic Youth’s most well-known songs, however, is ‘Kool Thing’ from their 1990 album Goo.
In a mocking tone, Gordon makes fun of her own feminism, saying, “I mean, are you gonna liberate us girls/ From male white corporate oppression?” Despite Gordon’s use of satire, her politics still stand, with declarations of “I don’t wanna/I don’t think so” acting as the perfect defiant singalong. As a teenager, shortly before Brownstein joined Sleater-Kinney, she couldn’t get enough of ‘Kool Thing’. She found it hugely inspiring, giving her the confidence that she carried with her into her music.
In the book No Icon by Kim Gordon, Brownstein gives a short foreword about the musician, revealing her most distinctive memories of falling in love with Sonic Youth. “It was spring break 1990, my sophomore year of high school. My family was visiting my uncle’s house in coastal Maine. I only brought one CD with me on that trip, Goo by Sonic Youth.”
Here, she listened to ‘Kool Thing’ “on repeat.” According to Brownstein, she enjoyed “luxuriating in the bridge where Kim riffs on white, male, corporate oppression and liberating us girls.” She was inspired by how “she inserted herself into the middle of that noise,” calling it “playfully sinister like the rest of the band suddenly required an invitation to be there along with her”.
Brownstein continued, “I kept thinking that maybe to combat imposter syndrome, you have to throw your own party.” In the foreword, she describes having dinner with Gordon, who is now a friend, concluding, “When I got home, I texted Kim, ‘Thanks for dinner’. But I could just have easily said, thanks for being the person who helped me realise you don’t have to wait for someone else’s permission to be yourself.”
