BABES IN TOYLAND (BAND)

'Babes in Toyland' were a band formed in Minneapolis in 1987. Members included Kat Bjelland (guitar and vocals), Lori Barbero (drums) and Michelle Leon (bass), who left the band and was replaced by Maureen Herman in 1992.

Contents

Biography

Members

Previous Members

Discography

Albums and EPs

Other releases

Singles

Charts

Contributions

Videography

Bookography

References

External links

Biography

The band achieved notoriety through Bjelland's "baby doll" image--sometimes referred to as the kinderwhore look--which contrasted dramatically with the raw power of her singing voice and her aggressive lyrics.
The band's first major label album, ''Fontanelle'', sold around 200,000 copies. The lead song on the album, "Bruise Violet," is said to be an attack on Courtney Love of Hole: "You see the stars through eyes lit up with lies/You got your stories all twisted up in mine." (Love is a former bandmate of Bjelland's.) However, in a recent interview Bjelland has denied this, saying instead that "Violet" was the name of a muse to both her and Courtney. The song's video was shown on ''Beavis and Butt-Head'', where the band was described as "chicks" who could "rock."
The band was picked to take part in the 1993 Lollapalooza tour.
While the band was inspirational to many performers in the riot grrrl movement, they never participated directly.
The band was the subject of the 1994 book ''Babes in Toyland: The Making and Selling of a Rock and Roll Band'' by Neal Karlen, which dealt with the band's signing to Warner and the recording of ''Fontanelle''. (Bjelland described the book as being "like cartoon caricatures of us," while Herman said that Karlen "would make a great fiction writer"--Minneapolis ''Star Tribune'', August 18, 1994.) The band also appears in the 1992 documentary ''.
On April 8, 1994, Babes in Toyland played a benefit show for Rock Against Domestic Violence with 7 Year Bitch, and Jack Off Jill in Miami at the Cameo Theater, the same day lead-singer of American grunge rock band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, had been found dead in his Seattle home.
Babes were featured on the cover of ''Entertainment Weekly'', and were referenced in an episode of the sitcom ''Roseanne'' as well as an episode of Absolutely Fabulous.
The band split and reformed throughout the 1990s, losing their record label when Herman left the band in 1996. Dana Cochrane, formerly of the band Mickey Finn, played bass with the band on live gigs in 1996.^[1] Leon briefly rejoined for a short period in 1997. In 1998, the band was credited with the song ''Overtura: Astroantiquity/Attacatastrophy'' on the CD ''Songs of the Witchblade: A Soundtrack to the Comic Book'', which Bjelland co-produced. Bjelland and Barbero played with a new bassist, Jesse Farmer, in 2000 (''St. Paul Pioneer Press'', November 24, 2000). But a year earlier, Bjelland had formed a new band, Katastrophy Wife, which seemed to replace Babes as her main vehicle. Babes in Toyland (with Farmer on bass) played a reunion show billed as "The Last Tour" on November 21, 2001--released as a live album called ''Minneapolism''--and this seems to be the last official Babes activity; Bjelland played some shows in Europe in 2002 as Babes in Toyland with a new drummer and bassist, but stopped using the name after Barbero and Herman raised legal issues.^[2]

Members

★ Kat Bjelland – guitar, vocals

★ Lori Barbero – drums, vocals

Previous Members

★ Maureen Herman – bass

★ Jessie Farmer – bass

★ Dana Cochrane – bass

★ Michelle Leon – bass

★ Maggie Dunne – bass

★ Courtney Love – bass

Discography

Albums and EPs

'Title'	'Year'	'Type'	'Label'	'US Sales'
''Spanking Machine''	1989	Studio album	Twin Tone Records	70,000
''To Mother''	1991	EP	Twin Tone Records	50,000
''The Peel Sessions''	1992	Compilation album	Strange Fruit Records
''Fontanelle''	1992	Studio album	Reprise Records	220,000
''Painkillers''	1993	EP	Reprise Records	60,000
''Dystopia''	1994	Compilation album	Insipid Records
''Nemesisters''	1995	Studio album	Reprise Records	150,000
''Lived''	2000	Compilation	Almafame
''Devil''	2000	Compilation	Almafame
''Viled''	2000	Compilation	Almafame
''Minneapolism''	2001	Live album	Cherry Red Records

Other releases

'Title'	'Year'	'Type'	'Label'	'US Sales'
''Natural Babe Killers''	2000	Compilation album	Recall Records
''Collectors Item''	2001	Compilation album	Digimode Entertainment
''The Further Adventures of Babes In Toyland''	2001	Compilation album	Fuel 2000 Records

★ These releases featrues the songs on Lived, Devil, and Viled

Singles

'Year'	'Title'	'Album'	'Label'
1989	''Dust Cake Boy''	''Spanking Machine''	Treehouse Records
1990	''House''	''(None)''	Sub Pop
1991	''Handsome and Gretel''	''Fontanelle''	Insipid Records
1992	''Bruise Violet''	''Fontanelle''	Southern Records
1993	''Catatonic''	''To Mother''	Insipid Records
1995	''Sweet '69''	''Nemesisters''	Reprise Records
1995	''We Are Family''	''Nemesisters''	Reprise Records

Charts

Year	Single	Chart	Peak Position
1995	"Sweet '69"	Modern Rock Tracks	#37
1995	''We Are Family''	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	#22

Contributions

'Year'	'Title'	'Album'	'Label'
1989	"Watching Girl"	Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them	Giant Records
1991	"Handsome & Gretel"	Indie Top 20 Volume 13	Beechwood Music
1991	"Ripe"	New Season - The Peel Sessions	Strange Fruit
1991	"Fresh Crawl"	Teriyaki Asthma Vols. I-V	C/Z Records
1991	House	The Grunge Years	Sub Pop Records
1992	Handsome & Gretel	Best Of Independent	Beechwood Music
1992	Sometimes	Volume 4	Volmume
1993	Dirty	Milk for Pussy	Mad Queen Records
1993	Dust Cake Boy	Sonic Youth In 1991: The Year Punk Broke (VHS)	Geffen Home Video
1994	Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft	If I Were A Carpenter	A&M Records
1994	Say What You Want	S.F.W.	A&M Records
1995	Sweet '69	Alternative Final Mix 11	Warner Music
1995	More, More, More	Spirit Of '73: Rock For Choice	550 Music
1995	Sweet '69	Triple J: This Is Twelve - Too Louder Compilation	Australian Broadcasting Corporation
1996	Handsome & Gretel (Live)	Volume Fourteen - Reading '95 Special	Volume
1998	Overtura: Astroantiquity	Songs Of The Witchblade	Dreamworks

Videography

★ ''

★ ''The Best of Kat Bjelland and Babes in Toyland'' (DVD part contains Music videos, making of albums, and live preformances)

Bookography

'Year'	'Title'	'Author'	'Label'
1991	'Babes in Toyland Lyric Book''	''Babes in Toyland''	''Twin Tone Records''
1994	''The Making & Selling of a Rock & Roll Band''	''Neal Karlen''	Avon Books

References

1. http://citypages.com/databank/17/814/article2812.asp ''Citypages.com'' Retrieved on 05-10-07
2. http://citypages.com/databank/23/1111/article10255.asp ''Citypages.com'' Retrieved on 05-10-07

External links

★ All Music Guide: Babes in Toyland

★ article on cult cargo To Mother