Heavens to Betsy

Heavens to Betsy was an American punk band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1991 with vocalist and guitarist Corin Tucker and drummer Tracy Sawyer.<ref name="RollingStone-March2020">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":0" /> The duo were part of the DIY riot grrrl, punk rock underground, and were Tucker's first band before she co-formed Sleater-Kinney.<ref name="Guardian2011">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="RollingStone-March2020" />

Both The New York Times and Rolling Stone included Heavens to Betsy in essential riot grrrl lists.<ref name="NYTimes-May2019">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="RollingStone-March2020" /> In 2018, a music writer noted, "This band's primal punk sound and powerful expressions of young female rage and desire retains the power to startle decades after their creation."<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

Corin Tucker and Tracy Sawyer met in middle school in Eugene, Oregon and became friends.<ref name=":2" /> Sawyer said, "We kind of goofed around. ...We were like, ‘Let’s start a band!’ But it was always kind of a joke."<ref name=":2" /> Tucker came up with the band name Heavens to Betsy - originally an idiom - during the spring of 1990.<ref name=":0" /> That summer, before Sawyer's senior year in high school and Tucker's freshman year at college, the friends went on a "music pilgrimage" to Athens, Georgia by train.<ref name=":2" /> There, Sawyer bought a used drum kit for $100.<ref name=":2" /> Tucker's father gave her a guitar he built and bought her an amplifier.<ref name=":2" /> The two started learning to play their instruments, practicing at Tucker's parents' house.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

In the fall of 1990, Tucker went to Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.<ref name="Monem-2007">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":2" /> She found an active music scene with bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Monem-2007" /> Tucker says, “I was able to finally connect with a group of people that were all in bands and they were all playing house shows. It was all happening so I just said, ‘Well, I have a band, too!’”<ref name=":2" /> In 1991, Tucker's band was invited to play at the International Pop Underground Convention by Michelle Noel of the college's KAOS radio station.<ref name=":2" /> Tucker said, “She called my bluff. I said yes, even though I don’t think we’d even written a song. I think Tracy had just graduated high school, and I was like, ‘Great, we’re playing a show.’”<ref name=":2" />

Heavens to Betsy's first public appearance was a three-song set at the International Pop Underground Convention organized by independent record label K Records in August 1991.<ref name="Monem-2007" /><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Guardian2011" /> The first night of the six-day festival had an all-female bill.<ref name="Guardian2011" /> Dubbed "Love Rock Revolution Girl Style Now," the fifteen bands included Bratmobile, Suture, Heavens to Betsy, Jean Smith of Mecca Normal, and 7 Year Bitch.<ref name="Guardian2011" /><ref name=":8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This show is considered pivotal in advancing the riot grrrl movement.<ref name="Guardian2011" /><ref name=":8" />

Heavens to Betsy was conceived as a two-person band—Tucker played guitar and sang vocals, and Sawyer was on drums and occasionally bass guitar.<ref name="RollingStone-March2020" /><ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Tucker says her wailing vocals were modeled on Kathleen Hanna and Sinead O'Connor.<ref name=":8" /> Rolling Stone notes, "Tucker made no effort to prettify her massive wail…"<ref name=":9">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The band's songs were female-centric and covered intersectional politics, with lyrics about body shaming, terrorism, patriarchy, white privilege, periods, rape culture, racism, queerness, the plight of working people, avenging sexual abuse, and frenemies.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="RollingStone-March2020" /><ref name="Guardian2011" /><ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":9" /> Tucker said, "I think as a 17- or 18-year-old girl, you really feel the kind of injustice that’s done to young women really personally, that kind of scrutiny of your own body that’s done to women and your sexual power."<ref name=":2" /> Tucker wrote the lyrics on her own; she would compose the music either with or without Sawyer.<ref name=":2" />

Their first album was an eight-song cassette recorded by fellow Evergreen student Molly Neuman from Bratmobile.<ref name=":2" /> Conceived as a demo, the cassette ended up being released and distributed by K Records.<ref name=":2" /> It has not been reissued in other formats because the master is missing.<ref name=":2" /> Next, they released "My Secret" on a split single with Bratmobile, also on K Records.<ref name=":2" /> In addition to their self-titled demo, Heavens to Betsy recorded two seven-inch records with four-songs each, and one LP, Calculated.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Rolling Stone included Calculated in its "Riot Grrrl Album Guide" with a going deeper rating.<ref name="RollingStone-March2020" /> The band also contributed songs to many compilations.<ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1992, Heavens To Betsy played a show in Bellingham, Washington and met Carrie Brownstein who attended Western Washington University there.<ref name=":8" /> Heavens to Betsy went on a United States tour with Bratmobile.<ref name=":2" /> Touring in the days before cell phones, Sawyer recalls, "We went with two cars and got walkie-talkies."<ref name=":2" /> Next, they toured England.<ref name=":2" /> Later, they went on another national tour with Brownstein's band, Excuse 17, before disbanding in the mid-1994.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> The bandmates say their relationship and personalities changed as the music got serious, and they lacked the maturity and communication skills for a business relationship.<ref name=":2" />

Post break-up

After Heavens to Betsy ended, Tucker and Brownstein created the band Sleater-Kinney.<ref name="NYTimes-May2019" /><ref name="RollingStone-March2020" /> Tucker's other projects include Heartless Martin, Cadallaca, The Corin Tucker Band, and Filthy Friends.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Cash, Andy (March 1, 2017). "Hear "Any Kind Of Crowd," A New Song From Sleater-Kinney/R.E.M. Supergroup Filthy Friends". SPIN. Retrieved January 23, 2022.</ref>

Sawyer would go on the play in numerous bands, including The Flying Tigers, KaraNEEDoke, The Lies, and Motel No-Tell.<ref name=":7" />

Pop culture

Heavens to Betsy's music was included in the 1993 film I Was A Teenage Serial Killer, 2007 film Itty Bitty Titty Committee,<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> and the 2013 video game Gone Home.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> In October 2011, English artist Katie Hare created an art installation in London with videos, audio, and zines related to Heavens to Betsy album Calculated.<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hare chose Calculated “because, to me, it seems to really capture the moment an individual, in this case, a young woman’s, belief system is shaken and they begin to start questioning the world around them. ...Its directness is almost shocking. I remember being kind of uncomfortable by its honesty when I first listened to the record."<ref name=":6" />

In 2017, actresses Mackenzie Davis and Carrie Coon recorded an acoustic cover of the Heavens to Betsy track “Axemen" for their film Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2021, the band Whisper Hiss covered the Heavens To Betsy song "Firefly" for Stars Rock Kill (Rock Stars), the 30th-anniversary celebration of the label Kill Rock Stars.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Discography

Albums

• Heavens To Betsy, cassette, K Records (1992)<ref name=":2" />
• Calculated CD/LP. Kill Rock Stars (1994)<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

Seven inch recordings

• PUNK1 "My Secret" Heavens to Betsy/Bratmobile split, K Records (1992)<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":7" />
• These Monsters Are Real, Kill Rock Stars (1992, remastered and re-released in 2018)<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" />
• Direction, Chainsaw Records (1994)<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

Compilations

• Kill Rock Stars compilation, CD/LP, "My Red Self" Kill Rock Stars (1991)<ref name=":7" />
• Throw Yoyo Compilation, CD, "Baby's Gone" Yoyo Recordings (1992)<ref name=":7" />
• Julep Another Yoyo Compilation, CD, "She's the One" Yoyo Recordings (1993)<ref name=":7" />
• Free to Fight compilation, a double CD/ triple LP, "Get Out of My Head" (co-release on Candy Ass Records and Chainsaw (1995)<ref name=":7" />
• Yo Yo A Go Go compilation CD/LP, "Axemen" live, Yoyo Recordings/Natch (1996)<ref name=":7" />
• Some Songs compilation, CD, "Firefly", Kill Rock Stars (1997)<ref name=":7" />

Soundtracks

• "My Secret", featured in I Was A Teenage Serial Killer (1993)<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• "Complicated" featured in Gone Home (2013).<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Heaven to Betsy