Call the Doctor

Call the Doctor is the second studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on March 25, 1996 by Chainsaw Records. The album has received critical acclaim from music journalists.

Recording and release

Call the Doctor was written in three weeks and recorded in four days. According to singer and guitarist Corin Tucker, the writing was inspired by a "crap" job she had and how people are "consumerized and commodified" by society. The album contains no bass player. As Tucker explained, "We started writing songs with two guitars, and we liked the way it sounded. It gives us a lot of freedom to write these lines that go back and forth." The album is occasionally considered to be Sleater-Kinney's first proper album because Tucker and co-vocalist and guitarist Carrie Brownstein had left their previous bands, Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17, at the time of its recording.

Call the Doctor was produced by John Goodmanson and released on March 25, 1996 by the queercore independent record label Chainsaw Records, which also released the band's previous album, Sleater-Kinney. Drummer Laura Macfarlane, who was based in Australia, had to leave the band shortly after the album's release when her visa ran out. As a result, the band asked Toni Gogin of CeBe Barnes to fill in on the drums while touring the album. As of March 1997, the album has sold 6,000 copies. As of February 2015, Call the Doctor has sold 60,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan.