Sleater-Kinney’s One Beat — Anger & Survival in a Violent World
Sleater-Kinney’s One Beat gives a female and feminist voice to anger for a violent and anxious world. The album was produced and released in 2002, and reflected the new reality of the just-declared War on Terror set against female experiences of structural oppression and personal disappointments. One Beat denounces and refuses to accept this violent world and offers timeless guidance to survive.
The centrepiece of the album is ‘Combat Rock.’ With this song, Sleater-Kinney did what many American artists and musicians did not dare to do — call out American aggressive patriotism. They denounced American politicians for demanding that each individual, group, and institution pick a definitive side between the forces of ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ at play in the War on Terror. Set against Janet Weiss’ drumming which evokes a nation marching to war, the lyrics of the song linger like a pungent aroma.
“They tell us there are only two sides to be on
If you are on our side, you’re right, if not, you’re wrong
But are we innocent, the paragons of good?
Is our guilt erased by the pain that we’ve endured?”
‘Combat Rock’ challenged the binary narrative at a vital time — were these sides as clear-cut as politicians wanted people to believe? Through their lyrics, Sleater-Kinney interrogated how America went from being a survivor of trauma to becoming a violent perpetrator of war.
Politics permeates the entire album, not just ‘Combat Rock’. The record opens with a title track that speaks about nuclear energy in an era of imminent war. Nuclear technology promises cleaner energy, but Sleater-Kinney question whether nuclear energy can ever be safe in a world driven by aggressive politics. “If I’m to run the future/you’ve got to let the old world go.”
‘Step Aside’ centres working women and mothers and grapples with gendered structures of oppression. It is a powerful reminder that women work double time doing capitalist labour for money and emotional labour for the family, while often receiving miserable wages and being subjected to gender discrimination.
‘Hollywood Ending’ illuminates the impossible female body image promoted by the media which haunts girls and women. “I’ve held my tongue/And I’ve hid my sores/If I’m less of myself/Will you love me more.” As women protesting against patriarchy in the late 1960s remind us, makeup cannot cover the wounds of our oppression.
Encompassing both the personal and political, One Beat also contains references to the challenging experience of premature childbirth and mothering that vocalist/guitarist Corin Tucker was going through at the time of recording.
Closing number ‘Sympathy’ is a prayer to an almost-forgotten God to save and look after her son, her “precious baby” whose “life is hanging by a thread.” The song brings you close to the torments of a mother whose child is fighting to start a life.
The expression of Tucker’s feeling of inadequacy for terminating the pregnancy prematurely is profoundly touching.
“I’ve got this curse in my hands
All I touch fades to black
Turns to dust turns to sand
I’ve got this curse on my tongue
I’ve got this curse on my tongue
All I taste is the rust
This decay in my blood”
The intersection of motherhood and politics is one that recurs throughout the album. Written in response to the events of 9/11, ‘Far Away’ finds the protagonist nursing their baby while the world is on fire and “explodes in flames.” It expounds on the frustration and anger that occurs when those in positions of power are so far removed from their people and humanity that their policies kill fathers and working men.
Ultimately, One Beat was a survival guide. It was an album about coming to terms with a violent world as it was becoming more violent — and finding ways to endure and enjoy. It made space to verbalise and denounce incidental, structural, and personal violence, and invited ways to let go within it.
‘Step Aside’ declares that dancing and moving up is the only “way to keep on feeling” when the world gets hard. “These times are troubled these times are rough/There’s more to come but you can’t give up”.
‘Light Rail Coyote’, meanwhile, invites listeners to experience and enjoy the city, a place of youthful rebellion and friendship as much as one of hardship and disappointment. “To gain the hope that the city brings.”
One Beat deals with heavy themes: politics, violence, war, sorrow, and the challenges of motherhood in the midst of it all. But, it never despaired. Even as it challenged narratives few other artists of the era dared approach, it invited listeners to dance and shake off the violence. In this way, it gave expression to a strange and vital balance — invigorating, but never escapist.
