Things I’ve Loved is a celebration of things from the near or distant past, either overlooked or forgotten by the unforgiving eye of popular culture. It is a venue to both reminisce and profess about this one thing that you’ve loved and think others may love too.

I love girl rock, all kinds: poppy, happy, mushy, sad, sappy, angry, screaming girl rock. I discovered my love for girl bands in the best decade possible, the ’90s. I was in the eighth grade when my parents finally caved and got cable and the Internet. Growing up in a small town with an interest in alternative music and lifestyles, the Internet is pretty crucial.

I would sit in my parents’ basement and watch The Wedge on MuchMusic, which was then hosted by Sook-Yin Lee. Periodically I would look up a band I saw and try to learn more about them — these were the days before Myspace and Wikipedia, mind you, so my searches depended mostly on fan made GeoCities websites.

I think it was the Lunachicks’ video for “Light as a Feather” that first caught my attention. “What is this?” I thought. “Girls fronting a band? Playing guitars? Not slathered with make-up and adorning pretty clothes?” A quick Yahoo search landed me with a goldmine filled with wonderful, gut-wrenching music called Riot Grrrl.

When you ask someone to name a Riot Grrrl band for you, they will probably name Bikini Kill. Bikini Kill was originally the name of a “fanzine” (a self-published magazine, usually done by photocopying and stapling booklets together) put out by soon to be bandmates Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail. Zines were something that started to appear in the late ’70s along with the punk movement, but in the early ’90s Riot Grrrl encouraged a boom in the do-it-yourself publications; the content was of a much more raw and confrontational nature. Feminist zines were the feminist blogs of the ’90s; they were an immediate way of spreading ideas.

The music itself was also raw and confrontational. The topics at hand were things that the male-dominated punk scene didn’t previously cover: rape, abortion, body image, eating disorders, incest and patriarchy. Many bands had a grunge vibe to them and many of them also utilized surf-inspired riffs. Some girls sang nicely, some screamed and growled, and the recordings were often pretty lo-fi.

I was obsessed. There were very few kids in my high school who were into punk rock, let alone girls. The female representation in the scene meant so much to me. Who cared if I was an outcast in my community? There was a whole world of awesome grrrls out there just like me! I felt accepted. The DIY quality of their music and their zines made me feel like I could be just like them and accomplish anything. I considered myself a disciple to bands like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, the Frumpies, L7, Heavens to Betsy, Sleater-Kinney, the Runaways, Babes in Toyland and the Lunachicks. Down with rape! Down with patriarchy! Rebel! Rebel!