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WATCH: Riot Grrrl Retrospectives - 'Girl Night' at the 1991 International Pop Underground Convention
In a 1999 oral history interview with the Museum of Pop Culture, leaders of the Riot Grrrl movement, including Allison Wolfe, Nikki McClure, Sharon Cheslow, and Corin Tucker, reminisce about 'Girl Night' at the 1991 International Pop Underground (IPU) Convention.
Allison Wolfe: The International Pop Underground festival happened in August of 1991. It was a really exciting time for everyone. So many people who had been networking with each other or maybe had just been talking on the phone and were meeting each other for the first time. And the first night was really exciting because it was girl night, the opening night of the festival.
Nikki McClure: For me playing for the first night of IPU it was really special for me and something I will probably always remember because it was my first performance ever.
Sharon Cheslow: And it was such an inspiring moment because it was just a whole night of music dedicated for and by women.
Corin Tucker: I had started telling people that I was in a band that spring of 1990 called Heavens to Betsy. And then we had never played a show and we started practicing over the summer in Eugene, myself and Tracy Sawyer. Michelle called us and said, "Well, why don't you play this girl night? It's all girls." All these people from D.C. came all the way out for it. And you know, we got on stage and it was a really intense thing, being the first show we ever played.
Allison Wolfe: I was so excited to see her playing in a band and to see her on stage and their songs were so beautiful. I remember crying when Heavens to Betsy played.
Nikki McClure: So I sang these songs in front of all these people. And actually, in the Capitol Theatre there's this one opening room for the backstage where they put all the setlists up and you can still see the setlist for the girl night at IPU. I'm like "Nikki McClure, girl scientist." So every once in a while, like when somebody puts up, you know, some stupid punk band thing over it, I kind of peel it back so you can see the lady list there. So we're all there.
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