Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk

by Kathleen Hanna

Book Overview

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An electric, searing memoir by the original rebel girl and legendary front woman of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre.

Hey girlfriend I got a proposition goes something like this: Dare ya to do what you want

Kathleen Hanna's band Bikini Kill embodied the punk scene of the 90s, and today her personal yet feminist lyrics on anthems like "Rebel Girl" and "Double Dare Ya" are more powerful than ever. But where did this transformative voice come from?

In Rebel Girl, Hanna's raw and insightful new memoir, she takes us from her tumul-tuous childhood to her formative college years and her first shows. As Hanna makes clear, being in a punk "girl band" in those years was not a simple or safe prospect. Male violence and antagonism threatened at every turn, and surviving as a singer who was a lightning rod for controversy took limitless amounts of determination.

But the relationships she developed during those years buoyed her, including with her bandmates Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, JD Samson, and Johanna Fateman. And her friendships with musicians like Kurt Cobain, Ian MacKaye, Kim Gordon, and Joan Jett reminded her that, despite the odds, the punk world could still nurture and care for its own. Hanna opens up about falling in love with Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys and her debilitating battle with Lyme disease, and she brings us behind the scenes of her musical growth in her bands Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin. She also writes candidly about the Riot Grrrl movement, documenting with love its grassroots origins but critiquing its exclusivity.

In an uncut voice all her own, Hanna reveals the hardest times along with the most joyful--and how they continue to fuel her revolutionary art and music.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062825232
• ISBN13: 9780062825230
• Release Date: May 2024
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A great songwriter tells the whole story.

Kathleen Hanna has always been amazing at telling her story through songs as the front woman of Bikini Kill and other projects, and reading her autobiography has not been disappointing AT ALL. I truly worried a bit that I’d think less of her after reading her autobiography because she’s always been someone I looked up to, but I just love her even more now! Her life has certainly been an interesting one and I recommend this book for people who already know of her AND people who have never heard of her or Bikini Kill. This book will keep you interested throughout, and the chapters are short so it’s easy to pick it up and read for a few minutes or a few hours!