In one of the early-1990s riot grrrl zines, Bikini Kill threw a challenge at the young women of America: "Find the biggest bitch in town and start a band with her." Two decades later, that wise advice keeps making noise around the world, from Pussy Riot to the kids in your town who just started their band last week. BK’s 1992 debut EP remains one of the all-time great American punk statements. These rebel grrrls turn feminist rage into rowdy rock & roll fun, ranting and chanting over primal riffs like "Suck My Left One." They went on to make even stronger records, but the ballad "Feels Blind" sums them up – desperate, defiant, unkillable, inspirational. 

Listen to 'Double Dare Ya'

“The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”

The opener off the Welsh group’s The Big Roar album was an epic one, but the band was worried that track had polarized fans. “The first song is eight minutes long,” Rhydian Dafydd, the Joy Formidable bassist, said. “If you did that in the Seventies people would be, ‘Whatever.’ You do it now, people think, ‘Holy s---!’ Some people think it’s the f---ing greatest track on the entire album, and some people think it’s f---ing boring. It’s that element of needing to challenge people.” The band concluded through the song’s lyrics that love was the “everchanging spectrum of a lie.”