Beat Happening was an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi movements, noted for their use of primitive recording techniques, disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship, and songs with subject matters of a carefree or coy nature.
Calvin Johnson is an American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, music producer, and disc jockey. Known for his uniquely deep and droning singing voice, Johnson was a founding member of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System, The Go Team and The Halo Benders.
Bratmobile is an American punk band from Olympia, Washington, formed in 1991. They are known for being one of the first-generation "riot grrrl" bands. The band was influenced by several eclectic musical styles, including elements of pop, surf, and garage rock.
Tobi Celeste Vail is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zine Jigsaw. A drummer, guitarist and singer, she was a founding member of the band Bikini Kill. Vail has collaborated in several other bands figuring in the Olympia music scene. Vail writes for eMusic.
The Microphones were an American indie folk, indie rock, and experimental project from Olympia, Washington. The project was founded in 1996 and ended in 2003, with a short reunion following in 2007 and revivals in 2019 and 2020. Across every iteration of the Microphones, it has been fronted by Phil Elverum. Elverum is the principal songwriter and producer behind the band's albums, but he has also collaborated with other local musicians on his other recordings and tours. Many of Elverum's recordings from the project's initial period were released by the label K Records.
Indie pop is a subgenre of alternative rock and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.
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. It was a center for the riot grrrl movement of the early 1990s, which featured Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.
Heavens to Betsy was an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1991 with vocalist and guitarist Corin Tucker and drummer Tracy Sawyer. The duo were part of the DIY riot grrrl, punk rock underground, and were Tucker's first band before she co-formed Sleater-Kinney.
The Go Team was a 1980s band from Olympia, Washington, consisting of Tobi Vail and Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening.
Cool Rays was a rock band formed by five Evergreen State College students in late 1980. The band is especially notable as Calvin Johnson's first ensemble and one of the earlier expressions of the Olympia music scene that developed in the 1980s and 1990s.
Allison Wolfe is a Los Angeles–based singer, songwriter, writer, and podcaster. As a founding member and lead singer of the punk rock band Bratmobile, she became one of the leading voices of the riot grrl movement.
Beat Happening is the debut album of the American rock band Beat Happening that was released in November 1985 through K Records. After the end of their previous band, guitarist Calvin Johnson and drummer Heather Lewis formed Beat Happening, and guitarist Bret Lunsford joined them soon after. Between November 1983 and February 1985, the band recorded several tracks that appeared on different versions of their debut album. Greg Sage of the Wipers produced two of the recording sessions, which occurred at the studios The Firehouse and Yoyo, both of which are in Olympia, Washington. Other tracks were recorded at Johnson's residence at the Martin Apartments and with friend Pat Maley in a recital hall at Evergreen State College.
International Pop Underground Convention is a live compilation LP/CD/cassette which documents the 1991 music festival of the same name. Various recordings from the festival were compiled by K Records and released as a double album and CD, featuring music by twenty-one different bands.
Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States. Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term riot grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement.
Heather Lewis is an American multi-instrumentalist and founding member of Beat Happening. Prior to her work with Beat Happening, Lewis was a member of the Supreme Cool Beings, who are notable for having the first ever release on K Records, 1982's Survival of the Coolest. She appeared as a guest vocalist on several songs from Land of the Loops, as well as the Wedding Present's album Watusi.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington, and the greater Pacific Northwest, and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. A subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics, it is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less commonly for women.
The International Pop Underground Convention was a 1991 punk and alternative rock music festival in Olympia, Washington. The six-day convention centered on a series of performances at the Capitol Theater. Throughout August 20–25, 1991, an exceptionally large number of independent bands played, mingled and collaborated at the Capitol and other venues within the Olympia music scene. A compilation of live music from the event was released later by the local record label K Records.
The discography of Bikini Kill, an American punk rock band, consists of three studio albums, one split studio album, two compilation albums, one extended play (EP) and four singles.
Yoyo A Go Go, usually abbreviated to Yoyo and often typeset in various ways, was an independent music festival in Olympia, Washington, first held in 1994 and followed by successor festivals in 1997, 1999, and 2001. Five- and six-day concert marathons featured dozens of punk and indie rock acts stacked back to back, as well as a variety of associated entertainment and small-scale local retail. The concerts took place at the historic Capitol Theater and showcased performers from the local Olympia music scene, while also including national and international artists.
Suture was an American punk rock and indie rock trio based in Washington, D.C., affiliated with early riot grrrl. Suture consisted of Kathleen Hanna, Sharon Cheslow, and Dug E. Bird aka Doug Birdzell.
