Music of Olympia, Washington

A young woman with short dark hair, holding a paper cup
Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney in Olympia, between 1994 and 2001

The port city of Olympia, Washington, has been a center of post-hardcore, anti-folk, and other youth-oriented musical genres since the late 1970s. Before this period, Olympia's The Fleetwoods had several Billboard chart successes between 1959 and 1963. Olympia saw a rise in feminism in the music industry, where artists commonly addressed rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism, and female empowerment in their songs.[1] It was a center for the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s, which featured Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.[2]

Olympia's downtown Capitol Theater hosted the punk and indie-rock International Pop Underground Convention in 1991 and the Yoyo-A-Go-Go festival in 1994, 1997, 1999 and 2001.[3] The city has several record labels and companies, including K Records and Kill Rock Stars; Kill Rock Stars has signed Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Unwound and Elliott Smith.

  1. ^ Lowndes, Sarah (2016). "Rebel Girl You Are My World: Riot GRRRL in Olympia, Washington, after 1991". Rebel Girl You Are my World: Riot Grrl in Olympia Washington after 1991. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315732664-22. ISBN 978-1-315-73266-4.
  2. ^ Schilt, K (2004). "Riot Grrrl is…': Contestation over meaning in a music scene. Music scenes: Local, translocal, and virtual" (PDF). Bennett Peterson Music.
  3. ^ van Horn, Teri (June 25, 2001). "Bratmobile, Need, Gossip Playing Yoyo A Gogo Festival". Mtv.com. MTV. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.