The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band

Naomi Weisstein in concertIn the Realm of Utopian Desire: The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band pioneered in challenging everything about male rock and roll. Using comedy, satire, and a diversity of song styles, it overturned the grim macho of a standard rock performance. Audiences danced and shouted and sang along with it, and when the performance was over, still shouting, the audience stormed the stage, hugging the band members and their instruments and sometimes even the amplifiers.

But the Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band went further than just confronting pig rock. Every time it played, the band summoned up the ecstasy of a utopian vision of a world without hierarchy and domination. Audience and performer, gay and straight, two-year-olds and eighty-two-year-olds, black teenage girls and Latino transvestites: for a moment in history as brief as a shiver, we were, all of us, transformed and astonished.- Naomi Weisstein, former Rock Band member

The Rock Band album is now available in a newly remastered version from Rounder Records.

Visit the Rounder Site



Vintage Video of the Rock Band

Consumer video was still in its infancy in the early 1970's, but some video of Rock Band performances do exist.

Read more... [Vintage Video of the Rock Band]
 
Who We are and How We Got Here
These are the 1972 liner notes from the album Mountain Moving Day which featured both the Chicago and the New Haven Women's Liberation Rock Bands
Read more... [Who We are and How We Got Here]
 
Suffragette City: The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band
by Ben Kim(1994): This is a somewhat abridged version of an article that appeared in Chicago's alternative paper, New City in April of 1994).
Read more... [Suffragette City: The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band]
 
"One By One You're Gonna Know Our Power"

The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band and the Politics of Cultural Transformation
by Hillary Reser (2004)
: This is a seminar paper written by Hillary Reser of the University of Chicago under the direction of Professor Amy Dru Stanley.

Read more... [One By One You're Gonna Know Our Power]
 
Rock Band Photos and Graphics
Browse photos and graphics for the Chicago and New Haven Women's Liberation Rock Bands.
Read more... [Rock Band Photos and Graphics]
 
Song Lyrics
Lyrics for the Chicago and New Haven songs are available.
Read more... [Song Lyrics]
 
Listen to the Mountain Moving Day Album
The Mountain Moving Day album had songs by both the Chicago and the New Haven Women's Liberation Rock Band. We have converted all of the songs to MP3 audio so that you may hear both the Chicago and the New Haven Bands. 
Read more... [Listen to the Mountain Moving Day Album]