Sleater-Kinney

Call the Doctor (ChainSaw)
by Cunt Rock Girl

After the Riot Grrrl movement broke in the mainstream press, one of the oft-made statements by journalists was “Learn your instruments, girls,” a comment that both established their ignorance and missed the point of the whole bloody thing. That a RG band can express more in a scream and a few ragged chords than Dream Theater can do in a whole score is something that doesn’t need to be spruced up with a couple of bridges.

I’m not sure if Sleater-Kinney took the words of those critics to heart or not, but they definitely have more complexity than your average RG band (Note: For all I know, Sleater-Kinney retches at the label “riot grrrl” and wants nothing to do with it. Too late now). Most of the songs have a call-and-response between the two guitars and drumming that includes a cowbell or something. Overall, I was not into the CD, but it is not to be discounted. “i wanna be your joey ramone” is a push-forward/pull-back song that gives jaded groupiedom a gender twist: “invite you back after the show/i’m the queen of rock ‘n’ roll.” Pulsing song number 2 is “little mouth,” which is about selling one’s feminine charms to get ahead (possibly a commentary on women musicians who strike sexy poses in the likes of Spin and Rolling Stone to sell records). “good things” is achingly truthful, the perfect song for the end of a sucky day. Now that I think about it, I did like the song “taking me home,” which means I liked one-third of the album exactly. Should you buy Call the Doctor? Why are you asking me? I don’t have all the answers. I like one-third of it, take it for what it’s worth.