With Call The Doctor, Sleater-Kinney begins to sound like, well, Sleater-Kinney! Their first album was very riot-grrl, with some flashes of later beyond-riot-grrl brilliance, but Call The Doctor is the beginning of the real thing. The guitars parts are more complex, with bigger riffs and less simple chords. The rhythms are more complex. The songs are longer. The lyrics are more complicated.

Call The Doctor is a very serious album. Riot-grrl (and S-K’s first album) is always serious, of course, but it’s also enraged, angry, out of control. Punk in general, for that matter, tends to have that lack of control, that simple “pounding it out” sound. If riot-grrl is an expression of bottled-up rage, a release of pure anger at the faults of the world, Call The Doctor is more an impassioned argument. It’s rational, reasonable, intelligent – and incredibly personal. And still angry. We’re still being screamed at, but at the same time we know that we deserve it, and moreover, why.

What’s on this album?

Now for fun with stats! (Why this? I just want to know!)

Who sings, and on how many songs?
Corin: 8
Carrie: 1
Both: 3

Lora: 1?

Fast? Slow? Other tempo?
Fast (>130bpm): 6
Middling: 3
Slow (<80bpm): 2

The songs themselves

Call The Doctor

Lyrically:

A song about being different. At some level, I think it is about being gay: “this is love and you can’t make it / i’m your monster i’m not like you / all your life is written for you” It’s also about being a woman: “your life is good for one thing / … / they want to simplify your needs and likes / to sterilize you” More generally, though, it’s about deviancy, almost in a medical sense: they need to Call the Doctor to fix you.

But: You. Are. Not. Me.

Notice how the point of view shifts. They want to socialize ‘you’, but later it’s ‘my’ life. That’s the point – it’s not you or me. It’s Them. Even if you/we disagree, seem like monsters to each other, we’re in the same boat.

And then there’s the Contradiction:
“I’m your monster i’m not like you”
“I’m no monster i’m not like you”
“I’m no monster i’m just like you”

And that’s the essential argument: I’m a monster? No, you’re the monster. No, we’re actually the same.

Musically:

CtD is in a minor key. The melody is simple – most S-K melodies are – the main motif starts on the second, moves to the third, back to the second, and down to the tonic. But, the tonic is really less important than the second. CtD never really cadences – it’s uncertain throughout, right up to the end, when the song suddenly stops.

The screaming of “You Are Not Me” is highly effective here. It’s really more of an effect than an actual scream. It seems so impersonal, like the ocean, enveloping the listener. It’s as if it is saying, “you are not me, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. Just accept it.”

Hubcap

A simple song about control, setting the mood for the album. Hubcap is… utterly creepy. The drums cause this, I think; they are quite non-typical, and seem to be chasing something, or someone.

I’m not sure who exactly this song is about, but someone obviously doesn’t want them to think, to act! “you’re my co-pilot / not my god pilot” is, of course, a reference to the movie/book (god is my co-pilot) I haven’t seen the movie, but it in any case is yet another reference to control.

Interestingly, the middle of this song is sung in harmony. Not something S-K does often.

Little Mouth

Is about a prostitute. Short, and to the point. The listener is put into the position of the person buying the services of the prostitute. Very scary. It’s a different perspective – it invites you to objectify and deride her, while at the same time be horrified by the way you are treating her.

Corin’s vocal performance in this song is astonishing. The ostinato “i’m your little, i’m your little…,etc” is done in only two breaths, and the intensity never, never stops or lightens even a little bit.

Amazing.

Anonymous

Who wants to be anonymous? This woman does, apparently. She wants the easy way out, for no one to notice her, for no one to bother her. And, well – that’s not honest. That will make her unhappy.

I love the way Corin spits out the word an-on-y-mous. That alone tells us what

Anonymous is the first of many “story” songs – telling us about one particular person.

Stay Where You Are

Yet another song about being trapped. It would almost be redundant, but the vocals make it different than the previous song.

Carrie has the main vocal part, and her voice lends an almost sarcastic touch. “She’s dead if you want and that’s me if you want.” And she wants to “burn up the place”! She’s “bad because she wants to set things on fire” because, after all, we wouldn’t want to upset the status quo, would we?

Good Things

This song starts out quietly, then builds. Corin’s voice starts out softly, almost pleasantly, “got this feeling…”, and then turns immediately hard “…when I heard your name the other day”, and by the time she reaches the end of the verse “…weight crushing down on my face”, she’s almost spitting the words out.

It’s about a breakup – or perhaps a friendship ruined by romantic interest. They’re trying to fix it, but despite the last line, “this time it’ll be okay” the singer doesn’t really seem to believe it herself. Why do good thing never want to stay.

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone

The dance number on this album. It’s about… wrestling on the bedroom floor? I don’t know much about the overall cultural impact of Joey Ramone, but I thought this song was just about the singer wanting to be as important to her significant other as Joey Ramone was. It’s a slightly silly (and very danceable!) song. Tons of fun. Not too serious.

Random people on the internet did have some other theories, though, ranging from “She feels like she’s not famous because of her gender,” to “She wants to be the hot lead singer so all the straight girls will lust after her” (?!). Weird. I still think it’s simply the one light moment on a very deep album.

Taking Me Home

A song about objectification. In this case, the singer is… confused about it. She’s supposed to be free, supposed to be a real person. Why do they treat her like this? She’s “…mixed up with someone else”. Who would invite that kind of treatment.

It’s an interesting idea – the mystery of the patriarchy, if you will. Why is it like it is? Not how it came about, but why? It hurts almost everybody. Is it just confusion? It’s not supposed to be this way.

Taste Test

The Contradiction returns:
“I’m tired, I’m hurt, I’m fine.”

Another song about confusion, but desperate this time. Why can’t she find her? Why is he always making her guess? How can she make it right? Where is she, anyway?

The guitar playing is absolutely incredible on this song, especially on the chorus. It dips down into a lower registers, an underscore for the whole passage. Then, it returns to the starting point, the protagonist confused more than ever.

My Stuff

What do we teach children? Some say, indoctrinate them with the ‘right’ beliefs. Others say, let them decide for themselves. And, we don’t like our traditional beliefs. We want a “clean slate”. But than we’re “without a path”. So, “it doesn’t work that way”

It’s even more about confusion, I suppose. The underscoring guitars return. This time, though, the confusing is bigger. In Taste Test, it was confusion about one person. Now, it’s confusion about how to pass on beliefs.

I’m Not Waiting

And now, perhaps, we move to the child’s perspective. When should she grow up? What does that even mean? Is it only how you look in a swimsuit?

Musically, this song is heavy, pounding. Corin spits out every word, almost with distaste. It’s an exploration of maturity, of the anger that comes with it.

Heart Attack

My personal track on this album.

Lyrically:

Death. It could come at any time, you know. Some people are paranoid, like the in the song. You might get sick – throw everything out! Germs! Take medicine! Watch out! Live life as if it was the last moment you had – but try to stop it from ending, too!

What is death, anyway? Why do we fear it? Why don’t we want to stop existing, anyway? Or, go to the afterlife, if we believe in that? Either way, we can’t really help it. And yet, we worry endlessly about it.

Musically:

Heart Attack is very understated. There’s the ‘heart attack’ riff, a little, simple arpeggio. Then a little feedback squeal, and we’re into the second section – but it’s only a bit more intense, with none of the power one might expect from the squeal. See, worrying about death isn’t just an occasional thing – it’s constant. Not too big of a deal, most of the time, but occasionally we get that little squeal, and it comes closer.

Conclusion:

Thematic movement in Call the Doctor:

They try to control those who are differeny (Call the Doctor)
Control and prostitution (Hubcap, Little Mouth)
Control – Give in, avoid it (Anonymous)
Control – We don’t have it (Stay Where You Are)
Control of relationships (Good Things)
Interlude (Joey Ramone)
Control of bodies, lives (Taking Me Home)
Control of relationships, scared, desperate this time (Taste Test)
Control of the future (My Stuff)
Control of ourselves – do we have it (I’m not waiting)
Control of our lives – death (Heart Attack)

Call the Doctor is about control, about power. Who has it? Who wants it? And ultimately, we all lose control, die – but we can still feel, we can still do some things, even if we are limited and oppressed.

Ahem.

I intend to review the albums in order. Today: their first album, self-titled Sleater-Kinney.

This album was actually the last one I purchased, so I tend to view it in light of the other albums. In comparison to the later albums, one is struck by how much of a riotgrrrl sound Sleater-Kinney has. It is very clean, high quality riotgirrl, to be sure, and it definitely has the SK sound, but the riotgrrrl roots are extremely obvious.

For those who don’t know, riotgrrrl was an underground music scene in the early 1990’s, originating in the North-Western US. It had a very, very punk sound – simple music and vocals. The emphasis was on the
emotion behind the songs. Female independence and power, rejection of the patriarchy, sexual liberation etc., were main themes. Many songs included reclaimative use of insults aimed at women (Screaming “bitch”
and “cunt” were especially common, as were diatribes aimed at obnoxious men). Riotgrrrl was raw, powerful music. (Some examples: Bikini Kill and Bratmobile)

Sleater-Kinney is not nearly as raw or violent as most riotgrrrl albums. It was obviously produced in a professional studio, and while it sounds very comparitively *nice*, it loses much of the power of true riotgrrrl. The most riotgrrrl sounding are ‘A Real Man’ (3) and ‘Sold Out’ (7) – they are incredibly raw and strong; those two with ‘How To Play Dead’ (5) also share an abrupt sound, another a riotgrrrl characteristic. (The subjects match, too) On the other side of the spectrum, ‘Slow Song’ (8) and ‘Lora’s Song’ (9) are hardly riotgrrrl at all – the former is the most like later S-K songs, and the latter is a aberration – more on it later. The other songs are a mix of later SK style and riotgrrrl, and the result on these tracks is perhaps weaker than the tracks already mentioned.

Track Review Time!

1. ‘Don’t Think You Wanna”

I can only imagine what it would be like to hear this song before any other song. (If you did, I’d like to know what you think.) It starts out with a repeated riff. Corin’s voice starts quietly, almost half talk. A phrase later she kicks it up a notch, both in pitch and intensity. At the chorus the song explodes. Now, in the light of later songs, it sounds a little simple – the melody pretty much only has three pitches, the words express one idea only (don’t mess around with me!). Very punk, very riotgrrrl.

2: ‘The Day I Went Away”

Very similar to the last musically. I like the vocals much more, though – the beginning sounds bored, sarcastic. It’s as if she doesn’t mean it – and then the chorus, “so far. so good. so far. i would.” It sounds to me that this is justification for her actions, not regret. This track contains what I think must be Corin’s voice doubled – I don’t think Carrie was singing at this point.

3: “A Real Man”

A solid riotgrrrl song – and one the three Sleater-Kinney song that contains explicit references to sex.

4: “Her Again”

I don’t understand this song. Maybe I’m just dense, but I can’t figure it out. It sounds good, though.

5: “How To Play Dead”

This song is scary. Essentially, it’s “A Real Man” Times 10.

6: “Be Yr Mama”

The music is getting more and more S-K like. Carrie’s characteristic riff sound is coming through now. The lyrics are still rather strange. Basically, it’s saying that she doesn’t want to be a mother to someone – presumably a boyfriend/girlfriend, because she’s not really their mother.

7: “Sold Out”

A song about a girl selling her body and sleeping her’s way to the top for money. All because, “Diamond are a girl’s best friend.” I think that this is the best of 3, 5, and 7 – they are all similar.

8: “Slow song”

The riffs start changing faster here. As before, this sounds like a later S-k song, maybe a slow song on Call The Doctor, or Hot Rock. Very depressing and moving. “It dosen’t work that way”

9: “Lora’s Song”

Obviously Lora song, even without the name. The guitars and drums sound very much the same, but the melody is weird. I think it is the focus on the second degree of the scale, which I don’t hear in the chords. It sounds – odd. Carrie or Corin just wouldn’t have written it. So, it doesn’t fit. I might like it better in another context, but here it’s the weakest song on the album.

10: “The Last Song”

I like the names of the songs on this album, they’re so very… obvious. The song itself is about last things – the end of an abusive relationship. It contains some of the most desperate, angry screaming of any riotgrrrl song I’ve ever heard. At the end, it sort of turns around – and she’s taking revenge by telling everyone what happened.