1987–1991: Formation and early years Babes in Toyland formed in 1987 after frontwoman
Kat Bjelland met drummer
Lori Barbero at a friend's barbecue. Originally from
Woodburn, Oregon and a former resident of
San Francisco, Bjelland had moved to
Minneapolis to form a band. Bjelland was a self-taught guitarist, and at the time Barbero had no experience playing any instruments. Bjelland commented: "Hopefully, from being technically inexperienced, you can use your imagination, and play the drums like an instrument instead of just being a beat-keeper. And play the bass like you feel it, from your gut, instead of saying, 'Here's my scales. The band name refers to the
eponymous 1903 operetta and alludes to its all-female lineup. In its initial formation in 1987, in addition to Bjelland and Barbero, the band included Kris Holetz on bass and singer Cindy Russell. Following the departures of Holetz and Russell, it was believed that the band briefly recruited Bjelland's friend and former bandmate,
Courtney Love, on bass, as Love claimed to have been "kicked out" of the band. However, during a 2015 interview, Bjelland and Barbero refuted this, with Barbero stating: "She lived in my house, and one time I think when we were rehearsing she came down and probably picked up something and tried to play and we were just like, 'get out of here. However, Michelle Leon, who was hired as the group's bass player, claimed that she was briefly replaced by Love as bassist shortly after joining. After the group rehearsed with Love on "a couple" of occasions, Leon stated Barbero called her and asked her to re-join the band. It has been noted that several songs from the Babes In Toyland's debut album shared lyrics and verses with several songs by Hole, most notably Hole's first several
singles, including
B-sides from "
Retard Girl" and "
Dicknail". , Netherlands, 1991 The group began performing shows at local art galleries and other venues in late 1987. Local journalist Jon Bream, who initially disparaged the band, recalled: "They were a sort of loud, abrasive, angry, obnoxious thing at first and very amateurish in a sense. And then they developed over time into something that was pretty amazing...The shows just seemed to make more sense. There was a focus there...They were able to connect with the audience."
1992–1995: Mainstream success After touring in 1991, the band entered the studio for a second time to record their major-label follow-up to
Spanking Machine. Bassist Michelle Leon left the group in early 1992, shortly after the
murder of Joe Cole, her then boyfriend. Their second studio album,
Fontanelle was recorded in
Cannon Falls, Minnesota and in New York City, and featured production from Sonic Youth's
Lee Ranaldo.
Fontanelle was released in 1992, and sold over 250,000 copies in the United States alone. The lead single on the album, "
Bruise Violet," is said to be an attack on Courtney Love. However, Bjelland denied this, saying instead that "Violet" was the name of a muse to both her and Love. A
music video for "Bruise Violet" was shot in the
SoHo loft of photographer
Cindy Sherman, who also appears in the video as Bjelland's doppelganger. Sherman's photos appear on the covers of
Fontanelle and the group's second EP,
Painkillers, and the imagery was recreated on stage banners with the artist's permission. In 1993, the band was chosen to take part in that year's
Lollapalooza tour, playing alongside such acts as
Primus,
Alice in Chains,
Dinosaur Jr. and
Rage Against the Machine. During dates at Lollapalooza, the band released their third and final EP,
Painkillers, in June 1993. In 1994, journalist Neal Karlen began writing
Babes in Toyland: The Making and Selling of a Rock and Roll Band, which dealt with the band's signing to Warner and the recording of
Fontanelle. Commenting on the book in retrospect, Bjelland said: "I feel bad for [Karlen]. He told me he lost a lot of his notes halfway through, and he spent his advance. So he made a lot of it up. Part of it’s true. But a lot of it’s not. He’s apologized." On April 8, 1994, the band played a benefit show for Rock Against Domestic Violence at the Cameo Theatre in
Miami, alongside
7 Year Bitch and
Jack Off Jill, the same day
Nirvana lead vocalist
Kurt Cobain had been found dead in his Seattle home. Around the same time, the band were featured on the cover of
Entertainment Weekly, and were referenced in a 1995 episode of the sitcom
Roseanne. In May 1995, the band released their final album,
Nemesisters. The album received mixed reviews, with Lorraine Ali of
Spin writing: "With
Nemesisters, Babes in Toyland's molten core seems to have somewhat solidified; this album ultimately lacks the conviction, depth, and even direction of its predecessors." The band described the recording process of the album "diverse", "experimental" and "spontaneous" and that the writing and recording process was "very different" as the band were working under pressure.
1996–2001: Herman's departure, Katastrophy Wife and breakup The band lost their contract with their record label when Herman left the band due to hip problems in 1996. Dana Cochrane, formerly of the band Mickey Finn, played bass with the band on live gigs in 1996 and 1997. Original bassist Michelle Leon briefly rejoined the band in 1997, when Babes in Toyland were constantly breaking up and reforming and planning on releasing a fourth studio album. In 1998, the band was credited with the song "Overtura: Astroantiquity/Attacatastrophy" on the CD
Songs of the Witchblade: A Soundtrack to the Comic Book, which Bjelland co-produced. Bjelland and Barbero played with a new bassist, Jessie Farmer, in 2000. However, a year earlier, Bjelland had formed a new band,
Katastrophy Wife. Babes in Toyland performed a reunion show billed as "The Last Tour" on November 25, 2000which was released as a live album called
Minneapolismand this was not only the last Babes in Toyland show, but also the last official activity at the time. Bjelland played a number of shows in Europe in 2002 under the name Babes in Toyland with a new drummer and bassist from the British band
Angelica; however, Bjelland stopped using the name after Barbero and Herman raised legal issues.
2014–2020: Reunion, tour and second breakup 2015 in
Porto In an interview with Lancer Radio at
Pasadena College on July 26, 2014, Kat Bjelland and Maureen Herman confirmed that they were getting back together to write new material and play shows. They played their first reunion show in Pioneertown, California at Pappy And Harriet's Pioneertown Palace on February 10, 2015. They played their second show at
The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, California on February 12, 2015. They were introduced by
Tom Morello of
Rage Against the Machine, who recalled his experiences performing with the band at
Lollapalooza in 1993. The show's other celebrity guests included
Patty Schemel,
Eric Erlandson,
Brody Dalle, and
Donita Sparks. The band embarked on an international tour in May 2015, beginning with shows in England, Scotland, Spain, and Italy, followed by a North American tour, which included performances at Seattle's
Bumbershoot festival and the
Montreal Pop festival. In Minneapolis, where the band formed, the trio played on the Walker Art Center's lawn for the two-day
Rock the Garden festival, June 20–21, 2015. In August 2015, midway through the band's tour, bassist Herman was fired from the band, for originally unspecified reasons, and replaced with Clara Salyer. In December 2015, Herman claimed the reason she had been asked to leave the band was due to an article she had written for the website
Boing Boing on the sexual assault of
Runaways bassist
Jackie Fox by manager
Kim Fowley in 1975 and
Joan Jett's denial of having witnessed it. Herman stated that because of Barbero's business connections with Jettnamely Barbero producing an album for a band under Jett's record label,
Blackheart RecordsHerman was kicked out of the band. ==Legacy==