The Bikini Kill rocker’s searing new memoir, “Rebel Girl,” tells intimate stories of trauma, sexism, fame, and everything in between.
, arrives on Tuesday and finds Hanna writing both searingly about men who abused her, and humorously about everything from clueless record execs to her friend. Along the way, she traces her life from her difficult childhood growing up with a sadistic and alcoholic father, to her ’90s notoriety as the front woman of Bikini Kill, the punk outfit that spearheaded the third-wave feminist movement known as Riot grrrl.
Hanna got pregnant when she was in high school, but the ex who’d impregnated her, Trent, refused to help her pay for an abortion. Not wanting her mom to find out about her pregnancy, Hanna got a plane ticket to Virginia, where her sister lived, and got a job at McDonalds to make the money she’d need for the procedure.
Kathleen Hanna lies on her back on stage as she performs in Bikini Kill at the Las Palmas Theatre in Hollywood on November 18, 1994 in Los Angeles.She writes humorously about getting a job at a strip club to pay for school. Cobain also stood up for Hanna against a nasty ex-boyfriend named Luke, who would frequently show up at her apartment unannounced after they broke up, seemingly to intimidate her.
“I responded with a HARD NO, because I wanted our band to be judged by the misogynist ‘meritocracy’ of the time, not through the lens of association with an all-male band,” Hanna writes. “Tobi, Kathi, and I talked about it and decided to decline.”People in the punk scene eventually found out about the strip club where Hanna worked as a dancer, and she recalls one embarrassing night when “a well-known scenester” named Shelby and her boyfriend showed up to the club.
“When Kenny set them up, he told the labels that we had one request: the band would like to review the company’s sexual harassment policy,” Hanna writes, adding that they met with Lenny Waronker at Capitol Records, Jimmy Iovine at Interscope, and Mo Ostin at Warner Bros., and “not one of them had a sexual harassment policy ready for us when we arrived.”
But she eventually decided to pay Cobain a visit in Seattle on a weekend when she knew Love wouldn’t be there. “I needed a plan in case I did, so Kim and I came up with the sentence ‘I would be happy to debate you at the college of your choice.’ I figured if she yelled at me, I would just repeat it like a force field,” Hanna writes, adding that she’d never met Love until that point, but the Hole frontwoman had “gone to great lengths to insult me in interviews.”
Months later, Hanna ran into Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic in Los Angeles, and he gave her some much-needed reassurance. “‘Kurt would have been really upset to hear that someone hit you in the face. He loved you, I know he did,’” Hanna recalls the bassist telling her. “His kindness felt oversized and generous and was exactly what I needed.”
When Beastie Boys eventually left Summersault to embark on their own tour in Asia while Bikini Kill remained Down Under, Hanna recalls keeping up her blossoming relationship with Horovitz in extremely ’90s fashion.
Music Beastie Boys Punk Rock Book Rock Music Nirvana Kurt Cobain Celebrities Courtney Love
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Kathleen Hanna Recalls Falling in Love with a Beastie Boy in ‘Rebel Girl’ Book ExcerptKathleen Hanna recalls falling in love with the Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock in an excerpt from her memoir, 'Rebel Girl.'
Read more »
Kathleen Hanna on life as a 'Rebel Girl,' and the joy of expressing anger in publicThe Bikini Kill frontwoman pioneered the 'riot grrrl' movement in the 1990s. 'I thought of myself as a feminist performance artist who was in a punk band,' Hanna says.
Read more »
Kathleen Hanna on life as a 'Rebel Girl,' and the joy of expressing anger in publicThe Bikini Kill frontwoman pioneered the 'riot grrrl' movement in the 1990s. 'I thought of myself as a feminist performance artist who was in a punk band,' Hanna says.
Read more »
'Rebel' redacted: Rebel Wilson's book chapter on Sacha Baron Cohen struck from some copiesRebel Wilson and team opt to keep parts of her book 'Rebel Rising' from hitting some shelves — to avoid legal backlash from former co-star Sacha Baron Cohen.
Read more »
Women Share Signs Of Not Being A Girl's Girl'As an adult now, it's a trait I really value in my friends. If your friend doesn't do this, then they don't have your back at all.'
Read more »
Power Girl's Hilarious NEW GIRL Nod Highlights Her Perfect Sitcom Energypower girl and new girl&39;s jess
Read more »