She rose to prominence as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the alternative rock band Babes in Toyland, which she formed in 1987.

[2] Born in Salem, Oregon, Bjelland was raised in nearby Woodburn, and learned to play guitar as a teenager from her uncle, with whom she performed in his band shortly after graduating high school.

Upon dropping out of the University of Oregon at age nineteen, Bjelland relocated to Portland, where she became involved in the city's punk rock scene.

After the dissolution of Pagan Babies in 1985, Bjelland relocated to Minneapolis, where she formed Babes in Toyland with drummer Lori Barbero.

In the mid-late 1990s, Bjelland collaborated on other musical projects, including contributing as a bassist in the band Crunt with her then-husband, Australian musician Stuart Gray.

Babes in Toyland formally disbanded in 2001, and Bjelland began working with Katastrophy Wife, a project under which she released the albums Amusia (2001) and All Kneel (2004).

[13][14] After graduating from high school in 1982, Bjelland briefly enrolled at the University of Oregon, but dropped out after her freshman year and relocated to Portland at age nineteen.

The band name bears similarity to Vena Ray, a character from the early 1950s program Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.

After quitting The Venarays, Bjelland met Courtney Love in 1984 at the Satyricon, a Portland nightclub, and the two started a band called Sugar Babydoll.

[13] [23] After Finch left the group, they renamed themselves the Pagan Babies and introduced Deirdre Schletter and Janis Tanaka, releasing a four-track demo in December 1985 before disbanding.

[24] Hoping to form a new band, Bjelland relocated from Portland to Minneapolis around 1986, and shortly after met Lori Barbero, a bartender, at a barbecue.

[26] After signing to Reprise Records in 1991,[27] Babes in Toyland's debut single, "Dust Cake Boy" b/w "Spit to See the Shine" was well received.

After touring Europe with Sonic Youth, the band recorded their debut album Spanking Machine, which also was well- received, and was compared to the music of The Birthday Party and New York Dolls.

[28] Following this, Babes in Toyland peaked in commercial success when they performed on a portion of the Lollapalooza tour in 1993,[29] and released their second album, Fontanelle (1992), which sold over 250,000 copies.

[31] At the height of the band's fame, Bjelland and her former bandmate Courtney Love were often pitted against one another as rivals in media, with frequent comparisons between the two's visual appearances.

"[33] In 1993, Bjelland moved to Seattle and began a side project called Crunt with her then-husband, Australian musician Stuart Gray (also known as Stu Spasm) whom she married in 1992.

[34] Bjelland played bass and Gray guitar, while Russell Simins of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was the drummer.

During this time, Bjelland also co-wrote the track "I Think That I Would Die" on Hole's breakthrough album Live Through This (1994) with Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson.

[36] Bjelland suffered a nervous breakdown after the suicide of Kurt Cobain in 1994: "[I was in Seattle after he died] to hang out with Courtney and support her", she recalled.

She composed, played and produced most of songs, with many rock and metal artists like Megadeth or Peter Steele (Type O Negative), and also collaborated with a freeform musical project called Last Frenzy in England.

[42] With Babes in Toyland only performing sporadically in the late 1990s, Bjelland started the band Katastrophy Wife in 1998 as a side project with her then-husband, drummer Glen Mattson.

[44] In 2002, after the dissolution of Babes in Toyland, Bjelland produced and contributed guest vocals on the album The Seven Year Itch for the band Angelica.

[46] The new band was billed as Babes in Toyland, which resulted in Barbero threatening a lawsuit, and Bjelland ultimately scrapping the name.

[46] Bjelland later claimed that Kurt Pagan-Davies, a manager with whom she was working during this time, had been partly responsible for the decision to tour under the Babes in Toyland name, which he denied.

Katastrophy Wife's vinyl debut was on an Independent label compilation called The Tundra Sessions, featuring production by Tim Mac.

"[49] In 2014, Bjelland reunited with former bandmates Maureen Herman and Lori Barbero and began rehearsing to perform live shows.

[14] As an adult, Bjelland named Captain Beefheart, Charles Mingus, Leonard Cohen, Frightwig, Girlschool, Motörhead,[16] and other '70s bands as important to her.

[11][53] Bjelland has been noted by music critics for her unique screaming vocals,[10] which have been likened to those of Ozzy Osbourne and Diamanda Galás.

[54] Journalist Richard Cromelin noted in a 1992 Los Angeles Times profile that "She retches her enraged lyrics, her screams skid across the beat and collide with the blunt riffs.

[56] In Babes in Toyland, Bjelland's instrumentation and songwriting has been described as "ugly, crunching post-punk" supplemented by "rudimentary" guitar chords.