November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

The Original Riot Grrrl

(Page 2 of 2)

March/April 2002
By Andy Steiner, Utne Reader 
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Without riot grrrls, there would be no Spice Girls, no Courtney Love, no Jane magazine. There would be no Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Xena, Warrior Princess. The movie Charlie’s Angels never would have been made the way it was if not for Hanna and her contemporaries.

Reading this, Hanna probably would be feeling bad about now, but she should know that some truly excellent things also have her fingerprints all over them. What about the original Sassy magazine? or Bust? or Bitch? And what about the movies Set It Off and Girls Town? Then there are other musicians who I like to think may have inspired her, or vice versa: Babes in Toyland, Sleater-Kinney, Roxanne Shante (her 1988 anthem "Go On Girl" still makes me want to bust my buttons with girly pride), Queen Latifah, and even Ani DiFranco.

As we age, we all run the risk of repeating ourselves, of sounding bitter and tired. But Hanna’s been able to stay fresh, to change with the times. Her latest band, Le Tigre (she’s also recently recorded under the name Julie Ruin, among others), has been called "a brilliantly innovative melange of lo-fi indie pop and New Wavy machine music." Have a listen to these lyrics from the 2001 recording Feminist Sweepstakes:

What about that nice cool breeze? And hear the buzzing of the bumble bees. Just live beyond those neighborhood lives and go past that yard outside and push through their greatest fears and live past your memories tears cuz you don’t need to scratch inside. Just please hold onto your pride, and . . . so don’t let them bring you down and don’t let them fuck you around cuz those are your arms, that is your heart and no no they can’t tear you apart.

If I’d heard Kathleen Hanna earlier, my high school memories might have been a whole lot more memorable. But even now, her infectious idealism continues to make me want to crank the volume and roll down my car windows. What more can you wish for from a girl with a guitar?

Andy Steiner is a senior editor of Utne Reader.

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