It seems common sense to pair these two West Coasters, the Lennon and McCartney of the late nineties, who for more than five years have been making music together. Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein were both raised by single fathers; Tucker's was a folk musician. They both showed an early interest in music and Brownstein was classically trained as a pianist.

They met at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington in the early nineties in the midst of the Riot Grrl boom. Tucker formed a two-woman band, Heavens to Betsy, and the younger Brownstein, inspired by the movement around her, learned to play guitar and started a band too. It was when Brownstein came up to Tucker to ask about a grassroots feminist movement Tucker was involved in that musical history was made. The two, despite differences in personality (Tucker is more extroverted, Brownstein quieter), hit it off and began dating.

One day when they were sitting around the kitchen table, Tucker suggested that she and Brownstein start a side project band, and before they knew it, they had written songs and were auditioning for a drummer. They decided on the name "Sleater-Kinney", after a street near their practice space. There were a number of different percussionists for the band before they finally settled on Janet Weiss in '97, but Brownstein always wrote the music and Tucker always wrote the lyrics.

The women went through a painful breakup just after their breakthrough album, Call The Doctor, made the top of the Village Voice pazz and jop critics' poll. They both made a commitment to the band, however, and worked through their personal troubles to remain friends and co-songwriters. The critically acclaimed Dig Me Out, and the softer, more introspective The Hot Rock followed.

"Sleater-Kinney", which explores punk and classic rock with innovative, often dissonant harmonies and Tucker's wailing voice with Brownstein on backups, has consistently been named the best American band of the last half-decade. Despite the call of major labels, they have stayed independent, and they most recently toured behind their more raucous, poppier album All Hands on the Bad One.

"Sleater-Kinney" declared 2001 to be a year of rest, and Brownstein and Tucker pursued side projects, the former taking more classes and acting in a film, the latter giving birth to her first child. The band released a fifth LP, One Beat, in late 2002.