Women keep secrets that we like to share only with one another. There are things we’ll talk about together but rarely, if ever, in mixed companyfeelings, a horrifying range of bodily functions and yes, the partners we love and hate. But Greensboro’s Daddy Issues have never minded addressing these grievances and delights in public. In fact, their first, and farewell, LP, Fuck Marry Kill, hits on all of these “taboo” topics and pays no mind to who may or may not be listening. On Fuck Marry Kill, Daddy Issues serves up gleeful helpings of sass, surf-driven riffs and real talk for an infectious and attitude-heavy romp about the concerns of being a woman.
Daddy Issues played their last show in August, splitting after only two years due to a few members’ cross-country moves. Wasting no time, Fuck Marry Kill rips from the start with “Glue Sniffer,” an anti-ode to a shitty dude and the woman who can do better than him. It’s an extension of TLC’s “No Scrubs,” updated for the modern age thanks to a reference to Tinder matches. “Pissed” is a hilarious, quick tune about peeing your pants, spotlighting Daddy Issues’ sense of humor while proving they never let it trump a great hook.
Daddy Issues has plenty of fun throughout Fuck Marry Kill, but they’re hardly just jokesters. “Wild Thing” is a sexy, slinky appreciation of a partner, and “Riot Grrrl” boasts a frank and breezy chorus about sex in the backseat of a car. Closing track “All My Girls,” however, cements the best thing about girl talk and female friendship, and perhaps what was best about Daddy Issues during their short, productive life: When you’re surrounded by your girlfriendsthe women who keep your secrets and whose secrets you guard, tooyou feel like you don’t need anything else in the world. The song’s chorus serves as a mission statement for the LP, the band, maybe even life itself: “I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do when I’m young/I don’t need anyone to have me when I’ve got all my girls.”
For all its tongue-in-cheek lightness and unabashed attitude, Fuck Marry Kill cuts to the core of what life can be like as a young womanfun and frustrating, vibrant and strange. Most of us wouldn’t trade it for anything.
