BitchTapes

May Day is Saturday, the international worker's day. It's a holiday remembering the murder of protesters in Chicago in 1886 who were on strike for the 8 hour work day, but has grown to be a day for calling out against systems of oppression, and particularly war and capitalism.

It's celebrated almost everywhere around the world, although notably not here in the United States where the murders took place.

May Day is also an important pagan holiday (more widely known as Beltane).

 

A track list follows...

Kelsey's postings of the "Feminist Rappers" videos drew more than laughs--it had some commenters asking, "But what about the real feminist rappers?"

So here's a genre- decade-spanning compilation of feminist rappers, hip-hoppers, and spoken word artists, from the 90s beats of Yo Yo to the indie crossover of Mirah and Katastrophe. Don't forget to add your recs!

Food is awesome, so it's no surprise that there are some awesome jams about food out there. This installment of BitchTapes is dedicated to those jams, and the songs are organized in menu order for your dining convenience. I chose these particular songs because each one is about a different kind of food, and combined they make for a pretty satisfying day of eating. Bon appetit!

"Now when I listen to a really good song, I start nodding my head like I’m saying yes to every beat. ‘Yes! Yes! Yes, this rocks!’ And then sometimes I switch up with ‘No! No! No, don’t stop a’rockin!’" –Homer Simpson Give it up for the power of yes! And the power of no! Give it up for choice!

                        

A recently revived obsession with Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ inspired me to share my fave songs penned with a named woman in mind. But of course, the mix has been done, and quite well. So I got to thinking (yes, in that Carrie Bradshaw kind of way) and wondered what the general feeling was of songs penned by women about men. Conclusion? Unlike the lovelorn narrators of Mandy, Help Me Ronda, and Roxanne, the songs on this BitchTapes deal not only with the kind of love that makes you want to scream another’s name until someone calls the police, but engage also with the other relationships that women can have with men – from concerned anti-drug sister to a pupil of punk rock to the naïve straight girl who just doesn’t get Johnny. Enjoy!

My last pop punk BitchTape was so much fun to compile, I just had to make a sequel (plus I somehow forgot Lemuria before - an egregious oversight). Enjoy!

Here's a sampling of tracks from most of the bands we've mentioned on the B-Sides blog in the past couple of weeks, plus some more new songs!

You asked for it (well, one person asked for it): a pop punk edition of BitchTapes! Punk pop, power pop, bubblegum punk - call it what you will, as long as you pogo your butt off and sing along in your brattiest sneer. Warning: pop punk is contagious.