Barbie is NOT your friend

With the onslaught of talentless, trashy pop tarts all over the charts and tabloids, the image of women in rock is in need of serious rehab. Of the voluntary kind, not court ordered. I’m tired of pre-packaged Barbie dolls lip-synching songs they never wrote, busting out moves from their choreographer, and wearing the latest fashions selected by their stylist.

Enough is enough.

The record industry as we know it is going down in flames, and I personally am ready to dance around the bonfire. For years, they’ve been force feeding us generic crap in all genres, but the absolute worst has been the so-called “revolution” of female artists - Britney Spears, Ashlee Simpson…and the so-called “punk” Avril Lavigne. (Oh, please.)

Revolution? Hardly. Sex over substance has been around as long as the oldest profession.  You record execs are just never gonna get it, are you? We want the real thing.

The Riot Grrl movement gave us some hope for a real change. Bands like Babes in Toyland, Bikini Kill, L7, 7 Year Bitch and Hole showed us that not only could the girls rock as hard as the boys, but they were just as talented, driven…and pissed off. Their guitars were more than props. Their anger wasn’t a calculated marketing ploy for a certain demographic.

It was real.

I had thought the riot grrls were long gone, with the breakup of all those bands, and the plastic-surgeried, mainstreaming of Courtney Love. But just as Love is coming back with a new album, closer to her roots, I am browsing through myspace for new bands, and I see the seeds of the new generation coming to fruition. Love’s video for “Mono” has a certain prophetic quality -- she lifts her skirt to reveal little girls in frilly dresses and princess crowns, who in turn life their skirts to reveal…power tools. And use said tools to go on a rampage.

The riot grrls gave birth to this new generation that is finally coming of age. And ready to kick some ass -- starting with the pop tarts, whose 15 minutes of fame isn’t only over, but never should have begun.

I don’t know if this revolution will be televised, but it will sure as hell be blogged.