Bikini Kill’s influence on feminism, punk rock, and pop culture in general is outsized compared to its output. Active for only seven years—1990 to 1997—the group only released a handful of full-lengths, and one of those was a compilation of two EPs. The band has been very protective of those records in the ensuing decades, insisting on handling its own distribution and keeping its music off of streaming services. As bassist Kathi Wilcox told The Verge in 2013:
It’s just a crappy deal for the bands, exposure or not. I know a lot of people really love those streaming services, and they say they hear about a lot of bands they would otherwise never hear, but how much of that translates into financially supporting those bands?
Let’s just say this isn’t exactly a Tupac sort of situation. So hearing new Bikini Kill songs for the first time is kind of a big deal, and fans now have the opportunity to do so with the upcoming rerelease of the band’s debut, Revolution Girl Style Now! Initially released only on cassette—which is still an option, by the way, for the tape heads out there— this time Revolution Girl Style Now! is being released on vinyl and CD as well as the aforementioned cassette. New songs on the record will include “Ocean Song,” “Just Once,” and “Playground”—or most of “Playground,” as the tape ran out during the recording session. How DIY.
Revolution Girl Style Now! is currently available for pre-order on the Bikini Kill website, and the LP and CD will hit stores September 22.