Review: Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution

Sara Marcus explores one of the most important eras in women's music history

By Allison Ford
Published: September 28th, 2010 | 10:00am

Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus, a riot grrrl herself, is more than just a historical account of the riot grrrl movement. It is a reliving. For those who missed the happenings of that era, this book will make you feel as though you were right there.

The picture Marcus paints on the page gives more than front-row tickets to the bands of riot grrrl (Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, and others), but also reveals their inspirations, their formations, and their disintegrations. Marcus goes beyond the musical aspect of the movement by providing glimpses into the lives of riot grrrl zinesters—Tobi Vail (Jigsaw), Nomy Lamm (I’m So Fucking Beautiful), convention creators (Ann Carroll and Andrea “Andee” Davis: Omaha Riot Grrrl Convention)—and the women who had the courage to get up on the stage at a rock concert and demand “girls to the front” to discourage the bullying of women in mosh pits.

Yet band breakups aren't the only negative outcomes of the movement Marcus covers. Riot Grrrl branches across the country found out the hard way that the mainstream press, like Newsweek and USA Today, will twist a story anyway that they please. Few outlets were kind to riot grrrls. This caused some branches to call for a complete media blackout. Those who talked to the media were outcast, like Jessica Hopper of the Twin Cities Riot Grrrls, when she spoke with Newsweek in 1992. Unintended racial and class barriers were formed. When a group is maid up mostly of white, middle-class females, it’s hard for those of other races and socioeconomic backgrounds to feel welcome. For some, however, the “who” part of riot grrrl was easy to define, as Ananda La Vita of the NYC zine Swallow Your Pride pointed out, “every girl is a riot grrrl.”

The book’s postscript offers a great where-are-they-now ending. It is interesting how the grrrowl of riot grrrl lead these phenomenal women in so many different directions, like studying classics and renaissance (Carroll) and running a catering business (Bratmobile's Molly Neuman).

Marcus reminds readers that even though the moment in history known as the Riot Grrrl Revolution has reached its somewhat official end, its message will constantly flow through our veins: when something makes you angry, do something about it. Make art. Protest. Scream until you feel like you’ve had your message heard by all ears. Never passively let the world do whatever it wants to do to you. Act now. That is the message of riot grrrl and it will last forever.

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