-Take Back Thursdays- Sleater-Kinney “Call the Doctor”

Call the Doctor is an essential punk-rock album full of unhinged and fully honest songs. That’s one of my favorite things about Sleater-Kinney—they’re raw, real, and unapologetic.

Harsh vocals line the skin of the entire album (and discography)—forcing the listener to hear the words being spoken. The album begins with the title track, specifically the words “they want to socialize you, they want to purify you”. (Pretty bold to begin an album with). This is essentially what the track is about: the attempt to sterilize ‘rebels’ into being clean and pure. Sleater-Kinney, though, dares them to “call the doctor!” As is yelled with vigor in the end part of the song. “Little Mouth” later into the album resembles this song in style, with “Call the Doctor’s” ending matching the entirety of the former. There’s this sort of mad woman image that many Riot Grrrl performers fed into instead of straying away from, and these songs perfectly encapsulate that.

The second song on the album “Hubcap” leans more into the feminist side of the band’s views. It describes a relationship between a man and a woman in which the partnership is meant to be equal (“you’re my co-pilot”), but is very much the opposite (“Not my God pilot”). After this, “You take everything, you take what I want”. Another feminist track on the album is “I’m Not Waiting”. This song is about growing up as a young girl and being expected to be submissive while simultaneously being sexualised by older men—and you’re expected to take it. The satire used in this song is classic Sleater-Kinney style.

“Anonymous” is about female writers. Some choose to be anonymous out of fear or to avoid ridicule for being women. These women “swallowed a spider to catch that fly”, meaning that they wanted their works published so badly they were willing to give up their claim to it. Fully summarizing female punk in the end of the song: “These words are all I have/ These words are who I am”.

Where the band really gets bold though is on “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone”. The song pokes fun at the very audiences that their music attracts (ironic, isn’t it?). The song points out the issues with idolizing artists to a point of obsession—while also being the catchiest track on the album.

In addition to a bunch of political statements—Sleater-Kinney also have a number of personal songs on the 12-track collection. “Heart Attack” is my favorite; it’s a classic ‘sad song’ about the unpredictable qualities of life—but with an agonizing scream thrown in on some of the words for emphasis, it is anything but predictable.

Sleater-Kinney still makes music with their two remaining members, although I can’t say it lives up to their original work. Specifically with this album, it feels like every song was written to compliment the last. The instrumentals are cohesive and lay in a perfect middle-ground between boring and over-complicated. Between the messages in the songs and the addictive quality of their music, this album has been perpetually on repeat.