Style: grrrl riot, punkLabel: Kill Rock Stars
Year: 1996
Home: Olympia, Washington
Members: Kathleen Hanna ~ vocals
Billy Karren ~ guitar
Tobi Vail ~ drums
Kathi Wilcox ~ bass
The group is widely considered to be the pioneer of the “riot grrrl” movement & was notorious for their radical feminist lyrics & fiery performances. Their music was characteristically abrasive & hardcore-influenced. This is their final album, even closing with "Finale" that has the line "time to go". It's hard not to think of other girl power bands L7 & 7 Year Bitch when listening to Bikini Kill & perhaps even Hole. Though, the connection for me isn't immediately musical as BK are far more raw & garage sounding, but the dominance of pro-feminist lyrics & angst of a woman's life lumps these bands together unintentionally or not. For me, musically, BK is more reminiscent of a lot of early pre-Nirvana grunge/Seattle bands due to the simple but aggressively played three chord arrangements, overly distorted guitar that rebel against the technically proficient solos of the glam years with screaming lyrics that are more about relaying a idea than creating literary perfection. Bikini Kills lacks the more literary lyrics of 7 Year Bitch & L7 but makes up for it with early Hole like-like energy. While vocally this is more akin to the Mike Patten of Faith No More & Mr. Bungle whose vocalizing may not be the melodic or necessarily singing at all. Low production quality, or maybe they wanted the vocals to sound like they are sung from the back of a tube, doesn't help anyone's cause, let alone indecipherable screaming (i.e. "Tell Me So", "Star Bellied Baby") which I often decry on this blog as more hurtful than helpful. But, where BK lack in technical fireworks they make up with primitive energy. It's almost as if they have so much energy that they don't have the concentration to worry about how the music sounds. They've just gotta pour out that energy before it vanishes forever. L7 & 7 Year Bitch are feminist activists sending out a message while Bikini Kill is called to get the crowd roaring before hand. This is the music Courtney Love wanted to make with Hole but also wanted to have an MTV hit. A lot of people might be turned off by the punk attitude & seemingly near disregard for musical quality, but if you want to listen to the spectrum of riot grrrl & the historic movers & shakers you cannot ignore BK. Pussy Whipped is oft considered their superior release, but Reject All American is the more palatable with the energy restrained from the almost near chaotic earlier recording & the music more melodic. 
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