Punk Ladies: An Album a Day

Featuring Sleater-Kinney, The Raincoats, The Linda Lindas, and others

My friend Ken and I decided to listen to an album every day this year. Each week is themed. At the end of each week, we rank what we listened to. To be clear, we aren’t ranking every album that fits the theme. We are only ranking what we chose to listen to during the last seven days.

This week’s theme is “punk ladies,” meaning punk albums released by bands where at least 50% of the members are women. This theme was inspired by Gabbie, whose work over the years has made me realize that my knowledge of women in punk is severely lacking. Please note that we are defining “punk” very broadly here. We didn’t want to get in any arguments about categorization and semantics.

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#7 Yo Fui Una Adolescente Terrosatánica by Ultrasonicas (1999)

Punk is known for its D.I.Y. aesthetics, cutting recordings with nothing more than a half-functioning tape machine and the right attitude. The Ultrasonicas, one of the most prominent Mexican punk bands, fit in that aesthetic lineage. But their attitude and their songs cannot compensate for the fact that these recordings do not sound good.

“Fuck the Mall” is probably the worst sounding recording we’ve heard this year, the drums reminiscent of someone trying to clap underwater and the guitars so squashed that you might think they were recorded by mistake.

Still, there are some decent moments on this album. The group’s Spanish language covers of Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” (“Dulce Hoja”) and The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (“Quiero Ser Tu Perra”) are enjoyable. But much of the rest feels redundant, surf riffs recycled a few too many times.

#6 The Raincoats by The Raincoats (1979)

When Rough Trade reissued The Raincoats first three records in 1992, Kurt Cobain wrote some liner notes:

I don’t really know anything about the Raincoats except that they recorded some music that has affected me so much that, whenever I hear it I’m reminded of a particular time in my life when I was (shall we say) extremely unhappy, lonely, and bored. If it weren’t for the luxury of putting that scratchy copy of the Raincoats’ first record, I would have had very few moments of peace. I suppose I could have researched a bit of history about the band but I feel it’s more important to delineate the way I feel and how they sound. When I listen to the Raincoats I feel as if I’m a stowaway in an attic, violating and in the dark. Rather than listening to them I feel like I’m listening in on them. We’re together in the same old house and I have to be completely still or they will hear me spying from above and, if I get caught—everything will be ruined because it’s their thing.

I can’t imagine writing a nicer thing about a band: Their music touches you so deeply that they neither require nor warrant any explanation. On the B-side of this record, I could see what Cobain was getting at. Songs like “The Void” and “You’re a Million” are trance-inducing, especially with their inventive use of violin, a punk rarity.

The A-side did less for me, though. I was surprised by this given that it contains the group’s three most streamed songs: “Fairytale in the Supermarket,” “No Side to Fall In,” and a cover of The Kinks’ “Lola.” While many records this week push your standard conception of pitch, rhythm, and tuning to their limits, some of these songs went a bit too far for my taste.

#5 Growing Up by The Linda Lindas (2022)

The Linda Lindas, a group of teen and pre-teen women Los Angelenos, splashed on the scene when a video of them performing their song “Racist, Sexist Boy” at their local library went viral in 2021. The virality is easy to understand. “Racist, Sexist Boy” is punk at its most visceral, stripped to its bare bones, its message encoded in the crunchy guitar tone and stomping rhythms as much as it is in the lyrics.

Though the rest of the group’s debut album, Growing Up, lacks the power of “Racist, Sexist Boy”—in fact, I think you’d best describe the collection as a “pop punk”—there are some skillful, catchy tunes. The descending riff on “Nino,” an ode to a “savage cat,” has great energy. The title track has a chorus that will bounce around in your head for days. “Oh!” might even give Paramore a run for their money.

#4 The 5.6.7.8’s by The 5.6.7.8’s (1994)

Is “Surfin' Bird” by The Trashmen a punk record? I know I said that “We didn’t want to get in any arguments about categorization and semantics,” but bear with me for a second.

“Surfin' Bird” was recorded in 1963 and is effectively an off-the-wall mash-up of two songs by the doo-wop group The Rivingtons: “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s the Word.” Given its name and release date, you’d probably assume that “Surfin' Bird” is a surf rock record. And it probably is. But given that it’s been covered by loads of punk bands, including the Ramones and The Cramps, you could at least call it “proto-punk” without anyone getting mad.

The reason I bring this up is because The 5.6.7.8’s self-titled record is very rocking and surfing. With song names like “Arkansas Twist,” “Rockin' Rochester,” and “Oriental Rock,” you might assume that this album came out in 1962. It did not it. It came out of Japan in 1994 and made its way to the West when Quentin Tarantino featured the group performing this album’s “I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield” in Kill Bill: Volume 1.

So, is it punk? A fuzzed-out cover of Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally” suggests that it might be. But that’s still a cover of a rock and roll song from 1956. So, maybe not. But just like “Surfin' Bird,” The 5.6.7.8’s is worth the price of admission no matter what you call it.