Where Do I Start With Sleater-Kinney?
Photo by Pat Castaldo / Flickr
Elsewhere in Slate, read Jack Hamilton on why Sleater-Kinney was once the best rock band in America.
Monday’s announcement of a forthcoming Sleater-Kinney album, No Cities to Love (out Jan. 20, 2015), marks the phoenix-like return of one of rock and roll’s most unique and cultishly beloved bands.* From 1995 to 2005, Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein, and Janet Weiss made music with teeth and guts and brains and humor and overwhelming amounts of heart, from the Riot Grrrl scorch of their self-titled debut to the loud and gorgeous grandeur of 2005’s The Woods, their most recent full-length release.
A list of Sleater-Kinney’s greatest hits can quickly start to resemble a list of Sleater-Kinney’s entire catalogue, but here are 11 tracks—my editor and I got in an argument and couldn’t cut it down to 10—to get you on your way.
“Slow Song” (Sleater-Kinney, 1995)
“I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone” (Call the Doctor, 1996)
“Dig Me Out” (Dig Me Out, 1997)
“Dance Song ‘97” (Dig Me Out, 1997)
“The Size of Our Love” (The Hot Rock, 1999)
“Get Up” (The Hot Rock, 1999)
“Step Aside” (One Beat, 2002)
“Modern Girl” (The Woods, 2005)
*Correction, Oct. 21, 2014: Due to an editing error, this post originally misstated the new album’s release date. It is due out Jan. 20, not Jan. 1.