“Eve you wicked woman, you done put your curse on me!”

July 30, 2015 7:37 AM

Jessica Gentile has compiled a brief-but-interesting listicle for Pitchfork: “Songs about PMS and Periods”
posted by Going To Maine (20 comments total)

Not included in the list: Type O Negative's "Wolf Moon".
posted by sukeban at 7:42 AM on July 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also missing, Laurie Anderson - Beautiful Red Dress
posted by SansPoint at 7:58 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I would be lying if I didn't post this with the hope & expectation that people would grow the list.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:00 AM on July 30, 2015 [6 favorites]

You're in luck, Going To Maine; this list somehow overlooked the awesome (and NSFW) "Shark Week" by Hand Job Academy.
posted by foldedfish at 8:29 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also missing, D-Day, "Too Young to Date" though that's more about losing one's virginity, but it does have an entire verse devoted to the subject.
posted by inthe80s at 8:42 AM on July 30, 2015

Missing something a bit more indigenous and mysterious. I suggest Luna Llena by Susana Baca. These are the lyrics in Spanish and translated. Example:

Anda muchacho a la casa
y me traes la carabina
pa' mata' este gavilán
que no me deja gallina

Go boy to the house
And bring me my rifle
To kill this chicken-hawk
That won't leave my hen alone

posted by rongorongo at 8:50 AM on July 30, 2015

"I'm going to do my best swan dive
in the shark-infested waters
I'm gonna pull out my tampon
and start splashing around"

When I came across that line in Ani Difranco's Swan Dive, it was pretty much the boldest thing that I had ever heard.
posted by redsparkler at 8:56 AM on July 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

How about "Cotex" by Bytches With Problems? Their Wikipedia page unironically refers to them as misandric, you really can't go wrong.
posted by divined by radio at 8:58 AM on July 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

This is great.

I'm astounded that the great Mary J has a song about PMS, clearly I haven't dug through her discography enough.
posted by numaner at 9:13 AM on July 30, 2015

Here's the Modern Lovers, in case you were missing the perspective from your overly earnest ex-boyfriend.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:45 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

You're in luck, Going To Maine; this list somehow overlooked the awesome (and NSFW) "Shark Week" yt by Hand Job Academy.

From novelty songs like Lena D’s "Period Piece" to the dreamy bubblegum soul of U.S. Girls "28 Days" to the cheeky rap of Hand Job Academy’s "Shark Week" and the howling rock of Bully’s "Trying" the 2010s have been a fertile (pun totally intended) time for menstrual-music.

Well, someone has overlooked it at any rate.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:05 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Somewhere around here I have a recording of a group called Rude Girls doing a song called the Rag-On Blues.

Got them dirty low down rag-on blues
rag-on, rag-on, rag-on
got them dirty low down rag-on blues
rag-on, rag-on, rag-on
dripping down my leg and right down to my shoes...
posted by elizilla at 10:35 AM on July 30, 2015

Did PJ Harvey include a song about periods on Dry or Rid of Me, or am I misremembering?
posted by pxe2000 at 11:01 AM on July 30, 2015

Big ups to the musicians who are creating songs about lady bits that don't revel in Carrie-like body horror. I'm tired of pop culture telling us to be ashamed of hormones and bleeding. Media that supports women being at home in their bodies is what's up.

Also, Tacocat is everything. Their song about UTIs doesn't have a dancing shark/crab combo in its video, but it still rocks my socks.
posted by batbat at 12:01 PM on July 30, 2015

Did PJ Harvey include a song about periods on Dry or Rid of Me, or am I misremembering?

From Dry: Happy And Bleeding, which back in 1993 I wanted to think was about periods but ended up less sure.

Pitchfork used to piss me off greatly with their whiteboy sexism, but I have to give them credit for amping up their game in the last year or two (this list being a case in point).
posted by jokeefe at 1:48 PM on July 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

There was also a Vancouver band in the early 90s called Ten Days Late; you can watch them play a half hour live set here. When I first heard the name I laughed delightedly for a couple of minutes, and then had to explain why to the father of my child, who didn't get it at all. We separated a couple of years later, though that wasn't the immediate cause.
posted by jokeefe at 1:54 PM on July 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

There was an Icelandic feminist punk band in the mid-90s called Á túr, which means both "on tour" and "menstruating". They released only one EP, which was brilliant. It was called Píka, which means "vagina". Here are the songs that I can find online, Verkur ("Pain"), which is about menstruation. The other song I can find, Drusla ("Slut") is about losing your virginity and having to deal with societal double standards. There's a brief clip of them performing in this interview clip from Icelandic television (the second artist profiled isn't connected).
posted by Kattullus at 2:36 PM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Kate Bush - Strange Phenomena (1978): 'Every girl knows about the punctual blues...'
posted by brushtailedphascogale at 3:43 PM on July 30, 2015

Aphex Twin: "Are you one of those girls for whom time stands still, once a month?"
posted by benzenedream at 5:56 PM on July 30, 2015

See also "She Doesn't Have To Shave" by Squeeze.
posted by litlnemo at 10:07 PM on July 30, 2015