Women Persons Who Rock
By Rachelle Bowden in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 28, 2004 3:28PM
Chicagoist hopes one day that musical artists will not be lumped together solely because they all have the same genitalia. But until such time, it’s time to trot out the time-honored “women in rock” post. Actually, these women have more in common than just the double X chromosomes: they both helped to create the (admittedly wide-ranging) sound of 90s alternative rock that still reverberates through today’s top 40.
The Muffs fronted by Kim Shattuck, have been around since 1991 but it was their 1993 major label debut that caught the world’s attention. The Muffs melded 60s power pop and 70s punk guitars that had them creating a trend instead of following one (Hi, Avril!). Now after a five-year hiatus, the band has released Really Really Happy into a pop world that resembles the one they helped create ten years ago with several bands milking the catchy chorus and loud guitars that the Muffs perfected. It is with delicious irony that Chicagoist notes most of those bands are of the cock-rocking variety. Happiness abounds as the Muffs are playing two shows here: a (free) in-store show at Tower Records on Clark before heading over to Subterranean (which is about the size of Tower anyway) for a show at 9:30 PM. They’re on an indie label again though so maybe you could offer to buy them dinner at Hollywood Grill or something.
And then there’s PJ Harvey who's playing the Riv at 8:30 PM this Saturday. *sigh* Polly Jean is soooo cool. She was the girl who drove a motorcycle to high school and had tattoos, not to mention a boyfriend who was ten years older than her. You secretly loved and hated how she called you “kid” even though you were the same age. You never had a chance with her then and you certainly don’t now but it never stopped you from thinking romantically self-destructive thoughts anyway--most of which she’s already experienced and put into songs that appear on her most recent album Uh Huh Her. (Thanks, Scott!)