Neal Karlen - Babes in Toyland: The Making and Selling of a Rock and Roll Band

Copyright 1994 by Neal Karlen

Photographs 1994 by Neal Karlen

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

ESTATE OF LESTER BANGS : Epigraph is reprinted by permission of the Estate of Lester Bangs.

ROBERT CHRISTGAU : Various journal entries by Robert Christgau. Copyright 1994 by Robert Christgau. Reprinted by permission.

CITY PAGES : Excerpt from Bad News Babes by Jim Walsh (February 26, 1992). Reprinted by permission of City Pages, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY : Excerpt from an article by Tim Appelo and an article by David Browne. Copyright 1994 by Entertainment Weekly, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

EDWARD B . MARKS MUSIC COMPANY : Excerpt from Fine and Mellow by Billie Holiday. Copyright 1939, 1940 by Edward B. Marks Music Company. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING : Excerpt from Stephanie Says by Lou Reed. Copyright 1987 by Metal Machine Music. All rights controlled and administered by Screen GemsEMI Music Inc. (BMI). All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.

HIT IT OR QUIT IT : Excerpt from an editorial. Copyright 1994 by Hit It or Quit It. Reprinted by permission.

THE NEW YORK TIMES : Excerpts from Belting Out That Most Unfeminine Emotion by Simon Reynolds (2/9/92) and from L7s Answers to Rockers by Jon Pareles (4/6/92). Copyright 1992 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.

THE VILLAGE VOICE : Excerpt from an article by James Wolcott about CBGB from August 18, 1975. Reprinted by permission of The Village Voice.

ZOMBA MUSIC PUBLISHING : Excerpts from Blue Bell, Real Eyes, Handsome and Gretel, and Mother, all written by Kat Bjelland. Copyright 1992 by Zomba Enterprises, Inc./No Dukey Music (administered by Zomba Enterprises, Inc.). Excerpts from Spun, written by Kat Bjelland and Lori Barbero. Copyright 1992 by Zomba Enterprises, Inc./No Dukey Music (administered by Zomba Enterprises, Inc.). All rights reserved. All lyrics reprinted by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Karlen, Neal.

Babes in Toyland: the making and selling of a rock and roll band
Neal Karlen.1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-83072-2
1. Babes in Toyland (Musical group) 2. Women rock musicians

United StatesBiography. I. Title.
ML421.B23K37 1994
782.421660922dc20 94-10111
[B]

v3.1

For my parents, Charlotte and Dr. Markle Karlen, my brother, Bruce, and my sister, Bonnie

Anybody can do it. Learn three chords on a guitar and youve got it. Dont worry whether you can sing or not. Can Neil Young sing? Lou Reed, Bob Dylan? For performing rock & roll, or punk rock, or call it any damn thing you please, theres only one thing you need: NERVE. Rock & roll is an attitude, and if youve got the attitude you can do it, no matter what anybody says.

Lester Bangs

(19481982)

The Players

Were in the Times, The New York fucking Times!

T he headlining band plugged in to their amplifiers as the Saturday-night emcee approached the microphone on the apron of the darkened stage. Heavyset, sweating puddles through his Nirvana T-shirt, he stared down at the 850 people shoehorned into the smoke-filled rock club, then at the long line of would-be customers that snaked out the door into the Wisconsin winter.

You want babes, we got babes! the thirtysomething emcee finally yelled to the crowd, sounding like a carnival barker hawking peeks of Little Egypt. Theyve played here many times before, he said, but this is probably the last time youll see em before they get famous and sell out. Theyre about to cut their debut album for Warner Brothers

Shut up, you old fat wanker! heckled a young man with a pierced eyebrow who was waiting to slam-dance in the mosh pit in front of the stage. Give us the Babes!