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Babes In Toyland
Babes in Toyland were a riot grrl band, formed in Minneapolis in 1988. The band was comprised of Kat Bjelland (guitar and vocals), Lori Barbero (drums), and Michelle Leon (bass), who was replaced by Maureen Herman in 1992; Herman left the group in 1996.
Emerging as the grunge movement gained momentum and at the forefront of the so-called riot grrrl scene, the female power-trio Babes In Toyland slashed their way through the underground with a venom and ferocity rare in either sex. With brittle, grinding guitar and a sure-footed rhythm section, their most immediately jarring feature is singer/guitarist Kat Bjelland (pronounced be-yellin, wouldn't ya know) and her whisper-to-a-scream vocal purge.
Much is made of Bjelland's late-'80s band Sugar Baby Doll, which featured riot-grrrls-in-waiting Jennifer Finch (L7) and Madame Media herself, Courtney Love. While the hype continues, the band never recorded a note. Bjelland took off to (then) indie hotbed Minneapolis, and formed BIT with novice drummer Lori Barbero. The line-up finally settled in with the addition of bassist Michelle Leon, and the trio began the '90s with their debut Spanking Machine on local indie stronghold Twin/Tone. A tour opening for Sonic Youth and an (at first) Europe-only EP helped build a loyal European fan base early on. In '92, Leon's boyfriend (and Henry Rollins's roommate) Joe Cole was killed by robbers, and she left the band. She was replaced by Maureen Herman, and later that year BIT's major-label debut Fontanelle (produced by Kat with Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo) was released. Like White Zombie, the band gained national attention thanks to those cultural watchdogs Beavis and Butt-head, who thumbed-up their video for the Courtney-bashing song "Bruise Violet."
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Artist Biography - Babes In Toyland
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 After two years of touring, the band returned with Nemesisters, garnering mixed reviews. Bjelland had also been involved with side-project Crunt, a band featuring Russell Simmins of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Bjelland's husband and Lubricated Goat frontman Stuart Gray, released on Butthole Surfer drummer King Coffee's Trance Syndicate label.
The band achieved notoriety through the "baby doll" (kinderwhore) image of Kat Bjelland, dramatically contrasted by the raw power of her singing voice and the aggressive nature of the lyrics. Their fame peaked in 1993 when they took part in Lollapalooza. Their song "Bruise Violet", from the album Fontanelle, is an attack on Courtney Love of Hole.
The band split and reformed throughout the 1990s. Bjelland went on to form Katastrophy Wife in 2000 and later Angelica.
Discography
Spanking Machine (1989, Twin Tone Records)
To Mother EP (1991, Twin Tone Records)
Fontanelle (1992, Southern Records / Reprise Records)
Painkillers EP (1993, Reprise Records)
Nemesisters (1995, Reprise Records)
A number of live albums have also been released.
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For more information , enjoy the official homepage of Babes in Toyland
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