Photos of 'Untypical Girls' and the Radical Stages of Revolution
Punk girls with Belinda Carlisle from the Go-Go’s in the center. Los Angeles, 1978. Photo by Mike Murphy

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

Photos of 'Untypical Girls' and the Radical Stages of Revolution

See excerpts of Sam Knee's forthcoming book, 'Untypical Girls: Styles and Sounds of the Transatlantic Indie Revolution,' featuring Kim Gordon, The Wrecks, Slant 6, and more.

This story appears in VICE magazine and Noisey's 2017 Music Issue. Click HERE to subscribe to VICE magazine.

These rarely seen, personal photographs, taken from Sam Knee's forthcoming book, Untypical Girls: Styles and Sounds of the Transatlantic Indie Revolution, chart the rise of women in alternative music. From the advent of punk in late-70s Britain to grunge via no wave, indie, and hardcore, Untypical Girls traces the evolution of indie girl styles, and, more important, the transformation and explosion of voices long suppressed in the music industry. As Knee writes in the introduction, "This book is by no means an indie girl A-Z. Merely a glimpse into a journey from nascent radical stages to the full flower of revolution, the looks and attitudes of which are frighteningly relevant today."

Advertisement

Kim Gordon. Somewhere in Connecticut, 1987. Photo by Scott Munroe.

Poly Styrene from the X-Ray Spex at the Red Cow. London, 1977. Photo by Jeremy Gibbs.

Two riot girls at the March for Women's Lives. Washington, DC, 1992. Photo by Pat Graham

Gee Vaucher of CRASS at Eric's Club. Liverpool, England, 1979. Photo by Mark Nick Jordan.

Hüsker Dü fan. Somewhere in New Jersey, 1984. Photo by David McKenzie.

Slant 6 at the Embassy. Washington, DC, 1992. Photo by Pat Graham.

The band Dolly Mixture. Doncaster, England, 1981. Photo by Rich Gunter

Riot girls at the March for Women's Lives. Washington, DC, 1992. Photo by Pat Graham

Stef Petticoat of post- punk band the Petticoats. London, 1980. Photo by Stefanie Heinrich.

Two post-punk fans pose. Wimbledon, London, 1980. Photo by Anita Corbin.

Clare Kearney and Liz Gutekunst of the Cancer Girls. Washington, DC, 1979. Photo by Peter Muise

Riot grrrls performing. Washington, DC, 1992. Photo by Pat Graham.

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth at Maxwell's. Hoboken, New Jersey, 1984. Photo by Dave Rick.

Neo Boys, likely Portland's rst all-girl punk group. Portland, Oregon, 1981. Photo by K Saul

Dancing to the Big Boys. Houston, 1980. Photo by Ben Tecumseh DeSoto

Untypical Girls will be released this December on Cicada Books.