Swimsuit Issue

The second song on the album Dirty is called "Swimsuit Issue"

The name says it all.

"I'm not here for tempation, i'm not your summer vacation, i don't wanna be a sensation!" Are these cries for help? I've always thought that Kim was defending the girls of the 1992 Sports Illustrated Swin Suit Issue or singing in repulsion for the display of human flesh. Either way, this song is another example of Kim taking the role of the feminist and voicing her opinion. For more clarification read the Shoot entry. Another great line is "now your moving your wrists, and i'm not giving you head." I think its repulsion and I think this because at the end of the song, Kim calls out the first name of every model that appears in the 1992 edition. I also like to think that Kim is expressing that these women have names and are not just bodily objects of lust.

This song is very tight and dynamic. The intro is a very tight syncopated guitar riff with nothing but 16th note downstrokes. Being the 2nd song, it wastes no time into launching into the sonic onslaught of noisy rock that the album Dirty represents. Most of Dirty was done with the infamous F#F#F#F#eb tuning.

This one was played nightly during the 1992 tour. It comes back every now and then for one off shows, but has never really resurfaced in the setlist. Not even when Dirty was rereleased.

Shoot

The third song on the LP Dirty is called "Shoot."

I've always held this song in high esteem and I've always referred to it as fan favorite.

"Shoot" is one of my favorite Kim vocal songs because she uses her very sensual/sexy/whisper voice. The vocal performance is what makes this song what it is. The lyrical content is very teen angst driven an Kim's vocals allows the song to have that flare. In 1992, Kim Gordon was 39 years old, I find it kinda funny that she's singing "can I have the car keys? I wanna go for ride/can I have the car now? I wanna leave this town." Then again, the band was in the their 30's, and they had the weird YOUTH in their name. Go figure.

The song is not all teen angst driven. The song actually depicts a toxic relationship. This theme seems to be re-occurring from time to time. I t was around 1991-92 Kim Gordon began carrying the female rocker torch. The 90's were a very interesting time for music as the underground of he 80's were beginning to emerge in the mainstream of pop culture, and with that, came women in rock bands. But not just women, women playing side roles and not just fronting a band. Kim Gordon, Kim Deal, D'arcy, Juliana Hatefield, and many more were stepping in filling out major roles in rock bands. Kim seemed to be Queen of indie rock.

I like to think that this song, even though it depicts a toxic relationship, isn't about that all the way. Kim was never really the loudmouth Kathleen Hannah of the Riotgrrl movement, but had her own ways of displaying the power of the woman. "Shoot" is example of a woman doing what she wants and deciding not to take No for an answer. Whether the character in the song wants to play bass in a band or leave her lover, she is taking the power away from the over powering male and using it to make herself who she really is in the world.

Stop me if this isn't making any sense.

"Shoot" was regularly played nightly on the Dirty tour of 1992. It was normally the set opener. This is another song that has yet to resurface from that era. I always felt it would make a nice encore piece with the newer material.

Purr

The second to last song on the album Dirty is called "Purr."

Thurston once said that the album Dirty was made in response to touring with Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr in 1991. He claimed that the band felt like it was competing night after night to hold their own against the two up and coming super bands. Being that Daydream Nation and Goo both took influence from Dinosaur Jr, it also safe to say that Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr also evolved themselves as a result to playing with Sonic Youth. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" and pretty much the entire In Utero album is a good example of the Sonic rubbing off onto Nirvana.

"Purr" is such a song that takes away from that experience. It has a melody, a verse/chorus and even something that resembles a guitar solo using a very nasty sounding flanger! Pretty cool huh?

This was one of the earliest songs written for Dirty. It was debuted in 1991, probably during the Goo tour. "Purr" is a great example of the band showing its punk rock roots. The riff is simple and the song comes together with a very cohesive three chord change up. The beginning starts off almost like a Dammed song. Steve Shelley rocks the hell out of those drums, which is something new for the Dirty album. I always wondered why this one never got as much play. It was played during the Dirty era, but has not been touched since. I always looked at it as a show closer.