>>Evolution of Grrrl Style

During the summer of 1991, the new, predominantly female bands began to rally under the riot grrrl banner. The term "riot grrrl" came from two sources. Tobi Vail had already been writing about "angry grrrls," and "riot" came from a letter written to Allison Wolfe by a DC friend, Jen Smith, who'd also played briefly in Bratmobile, discussing the recent Mt. Pleasant riots in DC following a racial shooting incident. "We need to start a girl riot," Smith had written, and eventually the words were flipped around to "riot grrrl."

That same summer also saw the first riot grrrl meetings, an outgrowth of the meetings that Jenny Toomey, who ran the Arlington, Virginia-based indie label Simple Machines, had organized for young women. Riot grrrl meetings were initially held at Arlington's "Positive Force House," a place where activists gathered to strategize. The meetings consisted of discussions about bands and music, and more serious issues like violence against women and abuse. As such, riot grrrl meetings were similar to the consciousness-raising sessions held by seventies-era feminists — with the added desire to create music.

Riot grrrl meetings soon became gatherings that were just as important as shows, where young women could make valuable connections with each other. Meetings were held at any available space; an apartment, a dorm room, or a community center. Topics for discussion depended on the mood of the moment. "Some meetings were very organizational; if someone had an idea for an event they wanted to do, we would figure out who would do what in order for an event to happen," says Corin Tucker, another Evergreen student. "And some of the meetings were really personal, talking about people's feelings, or things they were going through, or how feminism was relating to their personal lives. There was never really any set agenda."

These were issues that another DC resident, Sharon Cheslow, had also grappled with. Cheslow had played in bands since the early eighties, including Chalk Circle, DC's first all-female punk band. Cheslow publicly confronted sexism in the alternative music scene when she and Cynthia Connolly, another woman involved in the DC punk scene, edited an issue of Maximum Rock 'n' Roll in 1988. "It really opened up men for the first time to issues of sexism and gender difference," Cheslow says. "They thought, 'Oh no! We're not sexist!' And they had to take a look, because so many of us women were saying, 'There's something wrong here, we're noticing these differences. We are not getting the encouragement and support that we need.' And how can we change things on this bigger level if we can't change things right here in our community?"

Cheslow learned of the budding riot grrrl scene when she was living in San Francisco, through Fugazi's lead singer Ian MacKaye. She met Bikini Kill soon after when the band toured California, and became even more involved in the riot grrrl scene when she returned to DC for the summer. Though Cheslow didn't attend riot grrrl meetings ("I was older and had already worked through a lot of those issues," she says), she jammed with the musicians (eventually playing with Kathleen Hanna in the band Suture), and was fully caught up in the heady atmosphere of the times.

"It was just this feeling I never had gotten in Washington DC before, of just uninhibited expression and support and encouragement and just anything goes," she recalls. "There was this definite feeling of movement forward, and we all had the same ideas, and there was this confluence of energy." The events of 1991 played a part in directing that energy. The year began with America's involvement in the Gulf War, which helped jump-start a growing political awareness among young people, and a major pro-choice rally held in DC that spring further mobilized young women. The political atmosphere also influenced the development of riot grrrl. "There was a lot of real community-based energy and organization to see how to make our voices heard, but in a really creative and exciting way," says Neuman.

The summer of 1991 culminated with the International Pop Underground Convention, held August 20–25 in Olympia, and organized by K Records. Attendees proudly proclaimed their independence: "Revolution is the end. Revolution is the beginning. No lackeys to the corporate ogre allowed," the event's program proclaimed (there was also a nod to "the editors of every angry grrrlzine").

Kicking off the festival was the "Love Rock Revolution Girl Style Now" show, an evening of all-female performers. Along with established performers like 7 Year Bitch, Jean Smith, and Bratmobile, new performers appeared as well. During the summer of 1991, Corin Tucker and her friend Tracy Sawyer started the band Heavens to Betsy in Eugene, with Tucker on vocals, guitar and drums, and Sawyer on bass and drums. Though the band had never played a show, they were nonetheless invited to play on Girl Night. The evening proved to be a memorable one. "It was just this feeling of discovery," Tucker remembers. "A sort of spark of this new kind of idealism and talent that everyone was really taken by."

The communal spirit of IPU lingered long after the festival; Neuman was so impressed by Heavens to Betsy, she co-produced some of the band's singles. The event also opened doors of possibility to those in the audience who hadn't been aware of Olympia's alternative music scene, let alone riot grrrl. Nor was the excitement limited to Olympia. In the coming months, riot grrrl would gain national, and then international, exposure.