Shouting Out Loud
Lives of the Raincoats
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
The first biography of legendary and influential British punk band The Raincoats, who are long revered by those in the international punk scene.
The Raincoats were formed in London in 1977 as an experimental punk band synonymous with their indie label, Rough Trade. They went on to create what Vivien Goldman called “a new legacy of punk” and arguably became the most pioneering female band of the post-punk era while inspiring a new wave of DIY and queercore artists. Introduced by Kurt Cobain to a new generation in the 1990s, The Raincoats were invited to tour with Nirvana, and were known as the “godmothers of grunge” and "godmothers of Riot Grrrl" before eventually becoming label mates with Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Hole, Bikini Kill, and Elastica. In the 21st-century, The Raincoats singularly inspired Bikini Kill to reform after a 20-year hiatus.
Featuring exclusive interviews and brand new photos from the Raincoats' archives, as well as reproduced ephemera, Shouting Out Loud is the first ever biography of this groundbreaking band and shows how this pioneering group of women paved the way for those that followed in their footsteps. Additionally, the book features original interviews with members of Sonic Youth, Hole, Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Big Joanie, Liz Phair, and many more.
Meticulously researched and sweeping in scope, Shouting Out Loud is the must-have account of a band that became the linchpin of feminist music in the 20th century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this admiring account, music journalist Golden (I Thought I Heard You Speak) frames overlooked British post-punk group the Raincoats as a galvanizing force in alternative music. Founders Ana da Silva and Gina Birch met at Hornsley School of Art in London in 1977 as the city entered a period of creative ferment. Empowered by such all-female groups as the Slits, they formed a band that harnessed punk's "tremendous energy" for an uncommercial and sometimes unorthodox sound. The group started out in London squats before accruing a modest but devoted following. Later, they even spurred Bikini Kill to reunite to play at a Raincoats show in 2017—Kathleen Hanna remembers thinking, "We'd do ANYTHING for The Raincoats! Even get back together after twenty years!" The author highlights the band's squatter-art-student origins, their influence on Nirvana and other groups, and the challenges of negotiating sexism as an all-female band, with members debating whether their lyrics had to be overtly political to convey a feminist message and whether the term feminist itself was pigeonholing. Such discussions are effectively contextualized against the broader cultural shifts of the period, though Golden's attempts to bring to life the band members themselves often feel belabored ("The fact that Ana and Vicky didn't always see eye to eye... reveals their humanity; they'd had different experiences, and while they saw the world in similar ways, they also saw it differently"). It's an ardent if imperfect ode to post-punk trailblazers.
