PHOTO ESSAY

Rebel Yells

A protest music mixtape

By Matthew McKinnon

August 12, 2005

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Sleater-Kinney. Photo Getty Images/Jana Birchum.

Combat Rock, Sleater-Kinney

(One Beat, 2002)

U.S. voices of dissent held a respectful silence in the months that followed the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Riot grrl pioneers Sleater-Kinney were among the first to break the collective quiet. Combat Rock (also the name of a 1982 album by the Clash) declared love for “dirty Uncle Sam,” but also harsh skepticism of President Bush’s black-and-white worldview (i.e., “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”). The band’s vitriol rivalled the folk fury of Woody Guthrie: “They tell us there are only two sides to be on / If you are on our side you’re right, if not you’re wrong / But are we innocent, paragons of good? / Is our guilt erased by the pain that we’ve endured?”