The Riot Grrrl movement of the 1990s was essential to my youth, when I’d left West Auckland and (temporarily) the metal scene, and moved into the city to study at Auckland University. Modern feminist literature was top of my reading list, and I was a huge fan of author Kathy Acker in particular.
Another major Acker fan on the other side of the world was Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill, Julie Ruin and Le Tigre; and well-known punk feminist. Hanna soon rose to international attention as the reluctant but never shy voice of the Riot Grrrl movement, and she became one of the most famously outspoken feminist icons for a new generation of women and a cultural lightning rod.
Many years later her story has been told by Sini Anderson in tonight’s doco THE PUNK SINGER, and it’s a great - and at times, sad – story at that. Boasting ample archive footage and insightfully intimate interviews, Anderson's film covers Hanna's battles against sexism, press misrepresentation, and (in its later stages) Lyme disease, all of which she confronts head on as she did hecklers in the mosh all those years ago. It is a great watch all round, and comes highly recommended.
The Riot Grrrl movement of the 1990s was essential to my youth, when I’d left West Auckland and (temporarily) the metal scene, and moved into the city to study at Auckland University. Modern feminist literature was top of my reading list, and I was a huge fan of author Kathy Acker in particular.
Another major Acker fan on the other side of the world was Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill, Julie Ruin and Le Tigre; and well-known punk feminist. Hanna soon rose to international attention as the reluctant but never shy voice of the Riot Grrrl movement, and she became one of the most famously outspoken feminist icons for a new generation of women and a cultural lightning rod.
Many years later her story has been told by Sini Anderson in tonight’s doco THE PUNK SINGER, and it’s a great - and at times, sad – story at that. Boasting ample archive footage and insightfully intimate interviews, Anderson's film covers Hanna's battles against sexism, press misrepresentation, and (in its later stages) Lyme disease, all of which she confronts head on as she did hecklers in the mosh all those years ago. It is a great watch all round, and comes highly recommended.
To get you up to speed before you tune into this compelling doco, here are ten things you may not know about Kathleen Hanna:
1. Hanna first became interested in feminism around the age of nine, when her mother took her to a rally in Washington D.C. where feminist icon Gloria Steinem spoke.
2. To support her band she once worked as a stripper, which Hanna said was not any kind of statement, just sheer desperation for cash. In her words, “I once worked at McDonalds and I’m a vegetarian, so I worked as a stripper and I’m a feminist”.
3. Ironically, Hanna is married to Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys – one of the men responsible for the tongue-in-cheek (one hopes) sexist classic, Girls. (Lyrics include Girls - to do the dishes/ Girls - to clean up my room/ Girls - to do the laundry/ Girls - and in the bathroom)
4. Although she did so unintentionally, Hanna came up with the name for Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". She wrote "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on old friend Kurt Cobain's wall one night after much alcohol and drugs were imbibed. At the time, Kurt was unaware that Kathleen was referring to a deodorant marketed specifically to young women, and thought that the phrase would anchor the song's theme.
5. Feminism really informs THE PUNK SINGER, down to the fact that Hanna insisted no male “experts” be interviewed. Reportedly the first thing she said to director Sini was, “even though I love (Fugazi singer) Ian MacKaye I didn’t want him — or Calvin Johnson or Thurston Moore — in the movie about my life…”
6. Bikini Kill would derive a lot of their power from standing up to male aggression, sometimes quite literally, and Hanna would on occasion wade into the audience and physically remove hecklers.
7. Her work means that Bostonians can party against the patriarchy today. The city has declared 9 April to be Riot Grrrl Day, in honour of Hanna. The proclamation of Riot Grrrl Day states, among other things: “Because: Our young women can’t be what they can’t see. Girls need to see other girls picking up drumsticks, basses and microphones.”
8. Hanna has suggested to Miley Cyrus she has an idea for “an album only you are daring enough to make”. Hanna’s offer came in a tweet, which was a response to Cyrus having posted photos of Hanna’s old band Bikini Kill. In an interview last year, when asked about Miley Cyrus defining herself as a feminist, Hanna said: “Well, I’m glad the word ‘feminist’ is being talked about and that influential pop stars are bringing up this conversation. If she says she’s a feminist, then who I am to stop her? I’m not the feminist police. I don’t get to determine that. I’m happy that young women are embracing that term, for whatever reason it means to them.”
9. She has also said “I’m totally into Taylor Swift. I think she has super-clever lyrics, and I love that she writes her own music. Some of the themes she writes about are stuff I wish was there for me when I was in high school, and I’m so happy she really cares about her female fans. She’s not catering to a male audience and is writing music for other girls.”
10. On the 1995 Lollapalooza Tour, Hanna made headlines for a scuffle with the infamous Courtney Love. The two long time rivals came to blows sidestage, and though accounts of the fisticuffs vary, Love was later charged with assault in the fourth degree and received a suspended one-year sentence.
