The first line off Team Dresch’s debut album (
“Well how do I do, not good, fuck me”) is textbook 1990s angst, no two ways about it. It makes sense in context. Personal Best was released in 1995, right around what’s considered the end of the mainstream grunge takeover (of sorts). And as with any trend almost out the door, a slew of acts looking to target the hottest thing (in this case, volatile teenage anger) started cropping up, looking for their piece of the pie while they still could. Many of whom ended up sounding completely disingenuous, in my opinion.
An album like Personal Best, which is loaded with the same style of “anger-forward” lyricism, could have just as easily fallen into the same trap many of their contemporaries did. And maybe for some listeners, they did. But unlike a lot of those other acts, Team Dresch’s angst was well-earned and meaningful. It wasn’t a vague call to some nebulous action. No, their message was unambiguous, to say the very least.
All the proof you need is in the lyrics. “She’s Crushing My Mind,” a messy rocker of a track, matches the internal chaos of a young woman struggling to understand her feelings. The song “Growing Up In Springfield” chronicles singer Kaia Wilson falling in love with a religious girl and dealing with bigotry. “D.A. Don’t Care” is a short song about sexual abuse and victim blaming.
It’s for reasons like this that I’ll say Personal Best may not be the easiest listen. Despite being enveloped in a solid riot grrrl/grunge/post-hardcore shell, with stellar playing all-throughout, it’s a heartbreaker of a record. Honestly, I’d be hard-pressed to find any album that even comes close to this album’s venom. And depending on the person, that fact may pique your interest or completely turn you off.
No matter which camp you fall in, one thing is undeniable: in a sea of middling grunge trend-riders and angst farmers, Team Dresch deserved to shine brighter than they did. Personal Best, even decades later, remains unparalleled in terms of real intensity. And while the messages of their contemporaries continue to become more antiquated with time, Team Dresch’s endures.
