# Babes in Toyland (band)
**Babes in Toyland** was an American punk and alternative rock band formed in [Minneapolis](https://www.edgepedia.org/minneapolis), Minnesota, in 1987, known for an abrasive, confrontational sound built around Kat Bjelland's guitar and vocals, Lori Barbero's drums, and a shifting bass chair, and for three studio albums: *Spanking Machine* (1990), *Fontanelle* (1992), and *Nemesisters* (1995).[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) • [2](https://letsgopunk.com/babes-in-toyland/) The band became one of the most prominent all-female rock groups of the early 1990s and is widely credited as an influence on the riot grrrl movement, though its members did not consider themselves a riot grrrl band.[3](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Formed | Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1987; trio of Kat Bjelland (guitar, vocals), Lori Barbero (drums), Michelle Leon (bass)[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) |
| Studio albums | *Spanking Machine* (1990, Twin/Tone); *Fontanelle* (1992, Reprise); *Nemesisters* (1995, Reprise)[3](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/) • [4](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/22/babes-in-toyland-reunion-interview) |
| Best-selling album | *Fontanelle* sold about 50,000 copies by the start of 1993 and went on to sell over 200,000 after Beavis and Butt-Head praised "Bruise Violet" and the band joined Lollapalooza 1993[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) |
| Signature song | "Bruise Vintage," actually "Bruise Violet" (1992), widely understood as a diss track aimed at Courtney Love, though Bjelland never explicitly confirmed it[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) |
| Active years | 1987 to 2001 as a working band, with a reunion from 2014 through the mid-2010s[4](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/22/babes-in-toyland-reunion-interview) • [6](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3600) |
| Bassists | Michelle Leon (1987–1992), Maureen Herman (1992–1996, 2014–2015), Jessie Farmer (from 1996)[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) • [6](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3600) |
| Legacy | Named by critics as an inspiration to the riot grrrl movement; the band said it was not part of that movement[3](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/) |
## Origins
The band's roots reach back to mid-1980s San Francisco, where Oregon-born Kat Bjelland and [Courtney Love](https://www.edgepedia.org/courtney-love), high-school friends, played with future L7 bassist Jennifer Finch in a band known at various points as Sugar Babydoll, Sugar Babylon, and Pagan Babies.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) • [3](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/) Bjelland and Love then moved to Minneapolis. Accounts differ on whether Love was ever actually a member of Babes in Toyland, but every account agrees that an attempted reunion with her ended badly; Bjelland and Barbero then recruited Michelle Leon, a 19-year-old novice musician, on bass.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/)
An earlier iteration formed in 1986 with Bjelland, Barbero, singer Cindy Russell, and bassist Chris Holetz; the band cohered as the Bjelland, Barbero, and Leon trio in 1987.[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) Barbero had never played drums before deciding she wanted to.[7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/babes-toyland)
## Recording career
**Twin/Tone years.** In 1989 the trio signed with the Twin Cities indie label Twin/Tone, known for launching the Replacements and [Soul Asylum](https://www.edgepedia.org/soul-asylum), and released its debut album, *Spanking Machine*, in spring 1990.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) Produced in Seattle by Jack Endino, the record mixed tribal punk rhythms with Bjelland's screaming vocals on songs such as "He's My Thing," "Dust Cake Boy," and "Fork Down Throat."[3](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/) The British DJ John Peel named it his favorite album of 1990, and the band recorded four Peel Sessions between 1990 and 1992. [Sonic Youth](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonic-youth) tapped the band to open their European tour for *[Goo](https://www.edgepedia.org/goo-album)* in September 1990.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) The second album, *To Mother* (1991), was recorded in London.[3](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/)
**Fontanelle and the major label.** Leon left the band in early 1992 after the unsolved December 19, 1991 murder of her boyfriend [Joe Cole](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-cole) in Los Angeles; Maureen Herman, a Minneapolis music-scene veteran, joined just before the recording of the next album.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-15-ca-623-story.html) *Fontanelle*, released on Reprise in August 1992, was produced by Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo and featured a cover photo of a doll by the artist [Cindy Sherman](https://www.edgepedia.org/cindy-sherman).[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-15-ca-623-story.html) The Los Angeles Times critic [Jonathan Gold](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonathan-gold) called it possibly "the rawest performance ever released by a major label."[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) MNopedia records 220,000 copies sold in the United States; Pitchfork's retrospective puts the figure at over 200,000.[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) • [5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/)
**Peak visibility.** Commercial momentum came in 1993 from two places at once. On June 23, MTV aired a [Beavis and Butt-Head](https://www.edgepedia.org/beavis-and-butt-head) episode featuring the "Bruise Violet" video, and the band joined the third [Lollapalooza](https://www.edgepedia.org/lollapalooza) festival that June.[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) The label serviced a "Babes and Beavis and Butt-Head in Toyland" version of the song to radio, and Herman appeared on the Lollapalooza '93 cover of [Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly).[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) The band released the *Painkillers* EP on June 21, 1993, to coincide with the tour dates.[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) • [5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) The endorsement proved short-lived: after an October 1993 incident in Ohio in which a mother blamed the cartoon for her son's fire-setting, MTV altered episodes referencing fire, and the "Bruise Violet" video was replaced by a Butthole Surfers video in re-airings.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/)
**Decline and dissolution.** *Nemesisters*, released May 5, 1995, drew mixed reviews; Spin's Lorraine Ali wrote that the album "ultimately lacks the conviction, depth, and even direction of its predecessors."[9](https://www.showrock.com/babes-in-toyland-en/) Herman left in 1996, replaced by Jessie Farmer, and Bjelland, Barbero, and Leon performed together through 1997.[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) The band played its last official show in November 2001, released afterward as the live album *Minneapolism*.[6](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3600) During the hiatus Bjelland formed Katastrophy Wife with her husband Glen Mattson, and Reprise issued the compilation *Lived* in 2000.[6](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3600)
## Reunion and final breakup
Babes in Toyland re-formed in 2014 and played its first official reunion show in eighteen years in California in February 2015, with Bjelland, Barbero, and Herman.[6](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3600) • [1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) The Guardian's 2015 interview framed the reunion as being "all about the friendship," supported by backing from Powersniff, a company of three former Google employees.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/22/babes-in-toyland-reunion-interview) As with earlier incarnations, the reunion was unstable: Herman was fired in 2015, no new material appeared, and the band compiled the career-spanning collection *Redeux* in 2016.[6](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3600)
The end date depends on the source. Barbero said in a 2020 podcast interview that the band had broken up in 2017, saying of Bjelland, "Quite honestly, Kat is an addict and she is not a functioning addict anymore."[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) Rock Era Insider records the official breakup as announced in 2020.[10](https://rockerainsider.com/bands/babes-in-toyland-band-history/)
## Image, genre, and influence
The band's visual identity paired childhood imagery with violence: dismembered dolls, fairytale song titles, and Bjelland's baby-doll dresses and platinum blonde hair, a style the press dubbed "kinderwhore." Bjelland and Love feuded publicly over who had originated the look.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/babes-toyland) The band frequently appeared alongside riot grrrl acts in press coverage and academic accounts of feminist punk, and historians describe it as an inspiration to that movement.[5](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/) The band itself rejected the label, pointing out that it predated the movement.[3](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/)
By 1996, alongside three full-length albums, the band had released two EPs, seven singles, seven music videos, and eight compilation records.[1](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland) Its influence has resurfaced in later generations: [Olivia Rodrigo](https://www.edgepedia.org/olivia-rodrigo) named Babes in Toyland a core influence on her 2023 album *[Guts](https://www.edgepedia.org/guts-olivia-rodrigo-album)*, saying she fell asleep to *Fontanelle* as a teenager.[11](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/why-olivia-rodrigo-loves-alternative-rock)
## References
1. [Babes in Toyland (band), MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society](https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/babes-toyland)
2. [Babes in Toyland, Lets Go Punk](https://letsgopunk.com/babes-in-toyland/)
3. [Babes in Toyland, Trouser Press](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/babes-in-toyland/)
4. [Babes in Toyland: 'Our reunion is all about the friendship', The Guardian, February 22, 2015](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/22/babes-in-toyland-reunion-interview)
5. [Babes in Toyland: Fontanelle Album Review, Pitchfork, February 16, 2025](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/babes-in-toyland-fontanelle/)
6. [Babes in Toyland — Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3600)
7. [Babes in Toyland, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/babes-toyland)
8. [Year of the Kat, Los Angeles Times, November 15, 1992](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-15-ca-623-story.html)
9. [Babes in Toyland timeline, Showrock](https://www.showrock.com/babes-in-toyland-en/)
10. [Babes in Toyland Band History, Rock Era Insider](https://rockerainsider.com/bands/babes-in-toyland-band-history/)
11. [Why Olivia Rodrigo loves alternative rock, Louder Sound](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/why-olivia-rodrigo-loves-alternative-rock)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Rock, indie, and pop groups › Indie and alternative bands › Noise and experimental rock bands*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license