Babes In Toyland was an American punk rock band, originally formed in Minneapolis in 1987. They released three albums, Fontanelle (1992) being their most recognizable, before becoming inactive in 1997 and officially disbanding four years later. They reunited in 2014 and started playing live again for a short period, but announced their definitive breakup in 2020.

Founded by vocalist and guitarist Kat Bjelland, the band had an intrinsic punk quality to it, since the members were deliberately recruited on the basis of their lack of musical expertise: Bjelland believed that this would make the music come from the guts and help avoid traditional, heard-before patterns. The experiment resulted in the creation of the band’s signature sound, an enigmatic mix of psychedelic, punk, and old-school rock.

Babes In Toyland is also famous for popularizing, together with Hole, the kinderwhore aesthetic: Bjelland appeared both in photoshoots and onstage wearing doll-like dresses and accessories, mid-century makeup and childish hairstyles, juxtaposing it with a rough, unapologetically angry musical style, with the intention of subverting the traditional idea femininity.