October 5, 2015

Bikini Kill’s Classic Demo Finally Reissued


Bikini Kill
Revolution Girl Style Now
Bikini Kill Records

Loud, surly and thrilling, Revolution Girl Style Now reissues the raw 1991 demo tape by the Olympia, Washington, punk quartet widely considered to have launched the Riot Grrl scene, leading the way for a host of other women not content to stay quiet. Feral singer Kathleen Hanna mixes performance art and old-fashioned show-biz charisma in confrontational outbursts like “Daddy’s L’il Girl” and “Suck My Left One,” addressing feminist concerns with surges of fabulous noise. For longtime followers, this essential set offers three previously unreleased tracks, including the sludgy “Playground.” Recommended for fans of Sleater-Kinney and Screaming Females, and anyone else who appreciates rock and roll at its primal best.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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