Description
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.
Additional Praise:
“Hanna delivers a searing memoir in which the pioneering punk icon recalls her journey through music and activism…She makes the case for hope and resilience in the face of hardship–illustrated by…the lasting positive impact of her work.” — W Magazine, “The Best, Most Talked-About Books of 2024 (So Far)”
“A timely refresher on resilience, the power of protest art and the tender humanity that we must not lose. . . Like a comic book hero, Hanna has seemed to gather superhuman strength with every blow she receives. . . all while churning out ever more powerful and furious music. Rebel Girl unapologetically reveals the vul-nerability behind that image. . . [Hanna] reflects on her own failures and culpability, acknowledging them in a way that is refresh-ing and constructive. . . . Hanna intentionally busts open her feminist idol identity, liberating her-self from our perceptions and serving some hard-won wisdom.” — BookPage(starred review)
“Gripping.” — NYLON, selected for “The It Girl’s Summer Reading List”
“A raucous, rousing tale about the power of music and activism…Hanna’s story is a full-bodied portrait of a fighter and activist who has used music as a way to tackle adversity…A vivid, funny, and powerful memoir.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Hanna offers short vignettes [that]…capture the life of a young woman trying to navigate a sexist culture while simultaneously finding her creative voice. There is an equal sense that Rebel Girl was written as a sort of road map for a new generation to pick up their own instruments and rock the world.” — Vogue, “The Best Books of 2024 So Far”
