Girl power is a slogan that encourages and celebrates women's empowerment, independence, confidence and strength. The slogan's invention is credited to the US punk band Bikini Kill, who published a zine called Bikini Kill #2: Girl Power in 1991. It was then popularized in the mainstream by the British girl group Spice Girls in the mid-1990s. According to Rolling Stone magazine, the Spice Girls' usage of "girl power" was one of the defining cultural touchstones that shaped the Millennial generation. Early usage and origins In 1990, US punk band Bikini Kill started to make their own self-titled feminist zine. Its first issue had the subtitle, A color and activity book. A year later the band published the second issue of their Bikini Kill zine, with the new subtitle Girl Power. The band's lead singer, Kathleen Hanna, said it was inspired by the Black Power slogan. The authors of Young Femininity: Girlhood, Power and Social Change argue that the term also draws inspiration from 80s Black female, hip hop vernacular, "You go girl". The term became popular in the early and mid 90s punk culture. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll credits the zine with coining the slogan: "In their feminist fanzine Bikini Kill they articulated an agenda for young women in and outside of music; the band put those ideas to practice. Bikini Kill earned a reputation in the punk underground for confronting certain standards of that genre; for example, asking people to slam at the side of the stage, so that women would not get pushed out of the front, and inviting women to take the mic and talk about sexual abuse." The phrase is sometimes sensationally spelled "grrrl power", based on the spelling of "riot grrrl". Some other musical artists who have used the slogan in their music are Welsh band Helen Love, with it appearing in the chorus of their 1992 song "Formula One Racing Girls", and pop-punk duo Shampoo, who released an album and single titled Girl Power in 1995. Spice Girls British pop quintet Spice Girls brought the mantra into the mainstream consciousness in the mid-1990s. The Spice Girls' version of "girl power" focused on the importance of strong and loyal friendship among females, with a message of empowerment that appealed to young girls, adolescents and adult women. According to Billboard magazine, they demonstrated real, noncompetitive female friendship, singing: "If you wannabe my