I've just spent the last oh I don’t know hour (give or take
25 years) cyber stalking Kathleen Hanna.
She was the founder of Riot Grrrlll movement (that’s her corporate
title); others call her a feminist punk artist and someone who left a comment
on a YouTube clip of a new film about her: The Punk Singer, called her a “screamy
cunt trying to tell us she is not a screamy cunt”. Pick your potato. To me she is a legend. The lead singer of girl grunge band Bikini
Kill who I believe really was behind the emergence of grunge in Seattle; she
was mates with Kurt before Nirvana blew its load over the disenfranchised indie
crowd and is responsible for the phrase “smells like teen spirit” which we all now know as the title of Nirvana’s breakthrough single. Kurt’s then girlfriend,
Toby Vail was the drummer in Hanna's band Bikini K.
Today she fronts band The Julie Ruin which she arrived at via other
underground cult punk band Le Tigre. She
is at once the tithesis and
antithesis of everything that feminism is generally accepted to mean – and
since the term is WIDE open to interpretation, it really is a huge space she
has had to at once fill and empty.
So since circa 1994 Kathleen has been seething her way
through feminism using art, music and poetry.
She is a complete paradox (to my mind): all balls on stage while privately
crippled by low self-esteem, too paralysed to ask for help lest her on-stage
mask should slip. Ironically she talks
like a valley girl (guttural and vulnerable-like) and after trading her T-shirt, no
pants look of her true F-U days in Bikini Kill for the 50s prom queen one
in Le Tigre to today’s mumsy mien (she’s not a mum, just has that wholesome
thing going on) she suddenly went very quiet – leaving the music scene
altogether saying she was done. Turns
out she had Lyme’s Disease and didn't want to admit it was the reason behind
her disappearance for fear it would make this fearless feminist appear
weak. Furthermore, she didn’t tell any
of her immediate circle for ages because she felt as “the strong feisty feminist”
that she has always been the one helping not asking for it. There’s that contradiction again. Mad ennit?
We all do it; keep it all in and it’s just not healthy. Eventually it finds an outlet and when that
happens it’s rarely a pretty sight.
In this case and
testament to her true commitment to music and her own identity – she used the
time convalescing doing what she says is “the only thing she knows how to do”
write songs to sing. In this way The Julie Ruin was
born. She recovered enough to start
recording and until recently was on a world tour which was set to include The Electric
Ballroom in London this August. Then
Lyme’s Disease reared its ugly head and forced her to postpone while she
received treatment. Postpone not
abandon. This is progress.
Incidentally, she is married to Beastie Boy
Adam Horowitz whom she describes as a really good husband - big words (big
action getting married) for a once militant feminist worth her bra-less boobies.
Now that she has graduated from youth’s
tunnel vision on the topic she is OK with being a feminist with feelings and
isn't afraid to ask for help any more. So now she can add mental health role model to her impressive list of
achievements.
