This is the good stuff, this is music for girls…

Image from Lemonade fanzine

excerpt from the opening chapter of Lemonade,
a 1989 fanzine by Clare (SARAH 14)

It became clear pretty soon after we released our first single that many people had a problem with a label that not only had a girl’s name but was co-run by a woman. But that was how the world was in 1987. Four years later, though, murmurs of change were reaching the UK from the other side of the Atlantic as the first Riot Grrrl fanzines and bands began to appear, and soon the movement would spread here via groups such as Huggy Bear and Heavenly, who released Atta Girl and P.U.N.K. Girl on Sarah in 1993.

And then, the following year, capitalising on the “new lad” movement, IPC launched Loaded, a magazine that took its title from a Primal Scream song and boasted that it was “for men who should know better”. When IPC was restructured, Loaded became part of “Ignite”, IPC’s “men’s media” division… as did NME… because music, real music, isn’t for girls…

We want to write something more substantial about all this at some point… but, in the meantime, there are press-cuttings and other related items below…