Rebel girl, you are the queen of my world
May 17, 2024 8:31 AM Subscribe
"I’m bored of that conversation and I don’t want it to be the only thing I’m known for." Kathleen Hanna interviewed about her newly released memoir, Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk
(archive link here)
She’s come a long way from running around distracting Sonic Youth when they’re trying to do an orderly pop video.
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM on May 17 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM on May 17 [3 favorites]
What's your take on Cassavetes?
posted by HearHere at 9:47 AM on May 17 [9 favorites]
posted by HearHere at 9:47 AM on May 17 [9 favorites]
She just did a Amoeba Records What's In My Bag? which is great
posted by gwint at 9:51 AM on May 17 [1 favorite]
posted by gwint at 9:51 AM on May 17 [1 favorite]
What's your take on Cassavetes?
Genius! misogynist!
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:52 AM on May 17 [5 favorites]
Genius! misogynist!
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:52 AM on May 17 [5 favorites]
She is totally right about blink-182. Every so often I will put them on and remover what it was like to be a teenage boy with prurient interests, but I saw them in 2016 with my pregnant wife (also a big fan in 2003) and the songs just sound wrong coming from guys now then pushing 50.
posted by CostcoCultist at 10:12 AM on May 17 [5 favorites]
posted by CostcoCultist at 10:12 AM on May 17 [5 favorites]
It's so interesting to read that people didn't think she was smart or didn't think she read books. My Bikini Kill experience (and I have the original vinyl) was absolutely through activist punk culture and through riot grrrl fanzines, where Bikini Kill was absolutely the premiere band, unquestionably the smartest ones. It would never have occurred to me that anyone anywhere would say that Kathleen Hanna wasn't smart. I don't think there was a band held in higher esteem in my general social circle for being artistically on the mark plus intelligent plus right on - even if they weren't your favorite band you admired them.
At the time I liked Huggybear better, and the first cassette-only Bratmobile EP, and I liked a lot of the women who were recording on K Records and really I mostly liked the Clash and the Mekons.
That Julie Ruin record - it was one of those that I just basically listened to until I liked it. It didn't grab me at first at all, but it's probably my favorite Kathleen Hanna work now. The first Le Tigre album grabbed me right away and I definitely know all the songs, but the Julie Ruin record has just enough sort of scratchy abrasiveness that it feels like a richer listen. However, my favorite song is probably "Phanta" from Le Tigre, even though it's too sad to listen to very often
posted by Frowner at 10:48 AM on May 17 [17 favorites]
At the time I liked Huggybear better, and the first cassette-only Bratmobile EP, and I liked a lot of the women who were recording on K Records and really I mostly liked the Clash and the Mekons.
That Julie Ruin record - it was one of those that I just basically listened to until I liked it. It didn't grab me at first at all, but it's probably my favorite Kathleen Hanna work now. The first Le Tigre album grabbed me right away and I definitely know all the songs, but the Julie Ruin record has just enough sort of scratchy abrasiveness that it feels like a richer listen. However, my favorite song is probably "Phanta" from Le Tigre, even though it's too sad to listen to very often
posted by Frowner at 10:48 AM on May 17 [17 favorites]
She is totally right about blink-182
I feel a bit for the "trapped by their teens" bands. I saw the Violent Femmes sometime in the 2000s and they still sounded good, but it was clear they felt they had to play for a nostalgia crowd. Although even with the nostalgia crowd in the house, "Gimme the Car" was a painful choice.
I'm very glad Kathleen Hanna has had a better-supported artistic evolution. I love art that brings me back to who and how I was when I was younger, but I also love to be able to see an artist grow.
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:03 AM on May 17
I feel a bit for the "trapped by their teens" bands. I saw the Violent Femmes sometime in the 2000s and they still sounded good, but it was clear they felt they had to play for a nostalgia crowd. Although even with the nostalgia crowd in the house, "Gimme the Car" was a painful choice.
I'm very glad Kathleen Hanna has had a better-supported artistic evolution. I love art that brings me back to who and how I was when I was younger, but I also love to be able to see an artist grow.
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:03 AM on May 17
Another interview - on Damien Abraham's 'Turned out a Punk' podcast.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 11:28 AM on May 17 [2 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 11:28 AM on May 17 [2 favorites]
Getting completely upstaged by Kathleen Hannah in their major-label music video is the most Sonic Youth thing Sonic Youth ever did.
posted by vibrotronica at 11:44 AM on May 17 [9 favorites]
posted by vibrotronica at 11:44 AM on May 17 [9 favorites]
Le Tigre's song "Les and Ray" should be everyone's favorite song. It is a criminally underrated song, in the sense that no one much knows it even though it's maybe the best, sweetest song ever written and makes me cry every time I hear it.
Nine years old and climbing out the house
Through a song played on piano
By my neighbors Les and Ray
I put my head up against the wall
To be closer to the music that they played
You were my oxygen
The thing that made me think I could escape
This is a thank you song for Les and Ray
You were my batteries
The thing that made me think I could escape
Here's a song for Les and
Here's a song for Les and Ray
posted by kensington314 at 12:15 PM on May 17 [5 favorites]
Nine years old and climbing out the house
Through a song played on piano
By my neighbors Les and Ray
I put my head up against the wall
To be closer to the music that they played
You were my oxygen
The thing that made me think I could escape
This is a thank you song for Les and Ray
You were my batteries
The thing that made me think I could escape
Here's a song for Les and
Here's a song for Les and Ray
posted by kensington314 at 12:15 PM on May 17 [5 favorites]
I was always sort of kind of a Bikini Kill fan but never a CRAZY fan. Imagine my surprise when I went to see them a couple years ago and spent the whole show just jumping, screaming, and crying. Her stage presence is SO intense, loving, and magnificent in person. If you get a chance to see Kathleen Hanna perform, GO.
posted by potrzebie at 1:56 PM on May 17 [6 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 1:56 PM on May 17 [6 favorites]
Just went to see Kathleen Hanna interviewed by Brontez Purnell last night at City Arts and Lectures in San Francisco. Hopefully if they ever manage to bleep out all the swears it will be broadcast on the radio. It was a very funny conversation. The two of them also did an Interview Magazine interview.
posted by larrybob at 9:50 AM on May 22 [1 favorite]
posted by larrybob at 9:50 AM on May 22 [1 favorite]
Tonight, May 22 in Seattle, Kathleen Hanna will be interviewed by Lindy West. Streaming is available on a sliding scale.
posted by larrybob at 11:33 AM on May 22 [3 favorites]
posted by larrybob at 11:33 AM on May 22 [3 favorites]
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posted by zenon at 8:46 AM on May 17