Riot Grrrl Music Trivia Quiz

Answer: Heavens to Betsy

Excuse 17 were Carrie Brownstein's former band, and supported Heavens to Betsy on tour. Brownstein was a fan of Heavens to Betsy, who also featured Tracy Sawyer; she played drums and occasionally bass while Tucker sang and played guitar, which her father had built for her.

They released two albums, a self-titled cassette in 1992 and 'Calculated' in 1994. Tucker based her trademark wail on the vocals of Kathleen Hanna and X-Ray Spex's Poly Styrene.

Answer: Cherry Bomb

Bratmobile were a trio consisting of singer Alison Wolfe, drummer Molly Neuman and guitarist Erin Smith. Both Wolfe and Neuman came from activist families and worked together on the fanzine 'Girl Germs', which later became the title of a Bratmobile song.

Bratmobile released their debut album 'Pottymouth' in 1993, which featured the above Runaways cover. The band went on hiatus in 1994, and Smith and Wolfe formed Cold Cold Hearts with bassist Nattles and drummer Katherine Brown; former Sleater-Kinney drummer Lora McFarlane also played with them for a time. Bratmobile reformed in 1999 and split four years later.

Answer: Kathleen Hanna

Kathleen Hanna started out as a photographer and spoken word artist before branching out into music, and forming the band Amy Carter with her friends Heidi Arbogast and Tammy Rae Carland (who Bikini Kill dedicated a song to on their debut album 'Pussy Whipped'). She met drummer Tobi Vail and guitarist Billy Karren after seeing their band, The Go Team, and formed Bikini Kill with them and bassist Kathi Wilcox. Bikini Kill were at the forefront of the Riot Grrrl movement, with a policy of allowing women to the front at their gigs. They split in 1998 and reformed in 2019, with transgender guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle replacing Karren.

After Bikini Kill, Hanna worked on Julie Ruin, a DIY solo project. She later formed Le Tigre with zine editor Johanna Fateman, after working with her on a Julie Ruin live show, and filmmaker Sadie Benning (later replaced by JD Samson). They released their self-titled debut album in 1999. In 2013, Sini Anderson released 'The Punk Singer', a documentary about Hanna, in which Hanna revealed that she had been struggling with Lyme disease.

Answer: Huggy Bear

Huggy Bear were named after the informant in 'Starsky & Hutch' and came from Brighton. In keeping with their DIY philosophy, they refused to be photographed or interviewed by the mainstream press for much of their career and remained on indie label Wiija.

In 1992, they befriended Bikini Kill and released a split EP with them, 'Our Troubled Youth' (Huggy Bear)/'Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah' (Bikini Kill). In 1993, they performed 'Her Jazz' on 'The Word' and got into a row with production staff, ending in them being thrown out of the studio. Guitarist Jo Johnson also briefly dated Blur guitarist Graham Coxon.

Answer: Olympia

Evergreen State College was the alma mater of several Riot Grrrl musicians, including Kathleen Hanna, and Carrie Brownstein (who transferred there because of its music scene), and Olympia was to Riot Grrrl what Seattle was to grunge. Kill Rock Stars, home of bands including Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, Emily's Sassy Lime and Gossip, and K Records were both based there. Nirvana fans might recall that Kurt Cobain had the K Records logo tattooed on his arm. Courtney Love also wrote a song mocking the city, mistakenly titled 'Rock Star' on Hole's 'Live Through This'.

Answer: The Need

The Need were a duo consisting of Rachel Carns and Radio Sloan, both of whom have been involved in multiple projects. They were one of the many bands namechecked in Le Tigre's 'Hot Topic', a kind of who's who of queer, feminist and Riot Grrrl artists, musicians and other heroes of the band. Carns originally was a member of New York band Kicking Giant, before relocating to Portland and joined the CeBe Barnes Band, where she met Sloan (then known as Shannon Tragedy), and which also featured filmmaker Miranda July. After the band split up, Sloan and Carns toured together as The Need and released their self-titled debut album in 1997.

Both Carns and Sloan played with Mocket and Two Ton Boa. Carns was also a member of the King Cobra (later TWIN) and Cloud Eye Control, while Sloan played with violinist Emilie Autumn and drummer Samantha Maloney in Courtney Love's backing band, the Chelsea. She also played bass with Scarling and was a member of Peaches' live band, the Herms.

Answer: Tiger Beat

Bangs (NOT 'the Bangs!') also featured bassist Maggie Vail, sister of Bikini Kill drummer Tobi, and drummer Jesse Fox. Vail, a multi-instrumentalist, also played drums, cello and clarinet. Although Bangs are often lumped in with Riot Grrrl bands due to being from Olympia, being signed to Kill Rock Stars and playing with the likes of Sleater-Kinney, they saw themselves primarily as a rock band, being inspired by bands such as the Go-Go's and Cheap Trick. They released two albums, 'Tiger Beat' (the Mud song being 'Tiger Feet') in 1998 and 'Sweet Revenge' in 2000.

As for the other answers, 'Desperate, Scared But Social' is the only album by Emily's Sassy Lime, 'Such Friends Are Dangerous' is Excuse 17's second album, and 'In Love With...' is the only album by Mambo Taxi (another British Riot Grrrl band).

Answer: Janet Weiss

Stephen O'Neil was the singer with the Cannanes and a friend of Sleater-Kinney. Lora Macfarlane played on Sleater-Kinney's first two albums, but had to leave due to the slight problem of her living in Australia and her visa running out, along with personal differences. Toni Gogin briefly played live with Sleater-Kinney, but was sacked after a poor live performance. Janet Weiss, who also played in Motorgoat (later Quasi) with her ex-husband Sam Coombes, joined Sleater-Kinney and played on their third album, 'Dig Me Out'. The longest-running drummer with the band, she played with them for several years before leaving in 2019, after the recording of 'The Centre Won't Hold'.

Weiss was also a member of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and played with Carrie Brownstein in Wild Flag while Sleater-Kinney were on hiatus, as well as Bright Eyes.

Answer: Mr Lady Records

Team Dresch were a queercore (they had an all-lesbian line-up) and Riot Grrrl band formed by Kaia Wilson, Marceo Martinez, Jody Bleyle and Donna Dresch. Dresch wrote her own zine, 'Chainsaw', and later founded the label of the same name in 1991. Bleyle also had a label, Candy Ass, and Team Dresch's albums, 'Personal Best' and 'Captain My Captain', were released jointly on both labels. Meanwhile, Wilson co-founded Mr Lady Records with Tammy Rae Carland in San Francisco in 2001, believing that there was a lack of feminist record labels. She got the idea for the name from an Italian shop called Mr Baby.

Bands on Mr Lady's roster included Le Tigre, drag act Kiki & Herb, Electrelane, and the Butchies, a lesbian punk band of whom Wilson was also a member (and who also got a mention in 'Hot Topic'). The label shut down in 2004.

Answer: 2000

The first Ladyfest was held in - where else? - Olympia in 2000. The line-up included Sleater-Kinney, The Need, Sarah Dougher, Bangs, Bratmobile and Neko Case. As well as musicians, Ladyfest also featured spoken word performers, artists, writers and film makers, along with workshops teaching various skills, and was organised by volunteers.

Other Ladyfests have taken place in countries around the world, including the UK; the first British Ladyfest was held in Glasgow in 2001. I still have the Ladyfest UK 2003 CD, which I bought at a tie-in gig in Liverpool, and which featured Katastrophy Wife (the new band of Babes in Toyland frontwoman Kat Bjelland), Angelica, Bananarama's Siobhan Fahey, and up-and-coming British female or female-led singers and bands such as Carina Round, Hooker and We Start Fires. Various spin-offs and similar festivals have also been set up around the world, such as LaD.I.Y.fest in Berlin and Grrl Fest in Australia.