SPIN Magazine
January 1997
50 Most Vital Artists of Today
#10 : PJ Harvey
"I'll make you lick my injuries"—"Rid Of Me," 1993.
Musicians have escorted us through the dark side of their moons before,
but it took Polly JeanHarvey— eating-disorder poster-child? sexual-assault
survivor? Goth-groupie with genius execution?—to blend victim and victimizer,
the monsters she fears and craves with the rock goddess she can almost
instantly become. Her 1996 collaboration with John Parish, Dance
Hall At Louse Point, confirmed a weakness in choosing men, but from
the guitar rant and mythical imagery of Rid Of Me to To Bring
You My Love's taut live cabaret, PJ Harvey remains rock's most unnerving
hunger artist.