The Punk Singer: A Review

How did it take me three years to watch this actual masterpiece?

The Punk Singer is the 2013 documentary (or should I say rockumentary?), by the amazing Sini Anderson, covering the life and career of Kathleen Hanna, the voice behind legendary feminist punk band Bikini Kill, and also Le Tigre and Julie Ruin.

Since I was around the age of 14/15 I have been totally immersed in nineties rock music, being awed by bands like Hole, Nirvana, L7 and so on. I mean, I love rockumentaries and the 90's. I'm sure I've seen like every Hole and Nirvana related documentary ever made, even the ones I found to be one-sided and bullshit, I still watched those too. So as you can imagine, when I was told to go and watch this documentary for University, I
had a total freak out in the back of the room.

It also didn't help matters that Joan Jett and Kim Gordon, from Sonic Youth, appear in it and myself and the girl beside me made the weirdest fangirl noise when she appeared. Then again, we also couldn't stop quietly sing along to all of the songs playing either.

The film goes into depth about the formation behind Bikini Kill, and also Kathleen's influence over the Riot Grrrl movement. It showed all of the fanzines and women getting together to discuss issues, as it delves into how the feminist movement of the nineties operated and affected the world. Personally, I think it was one of the coolest decades ever, and I'm still super pissed that I can only remember, like, half of it. But whatever...
Some of you may know Bikini Kill from their hit 'Rebel Girl', and as being one of those bands that spoke about real world problems and struggles faced by women in society. Kathleen, herself, was known for her short skirts, her 'all girls to the front' attitude, and her screaming vocals, perhaps even putting even Johnny Rotten to shame.

Certain scenes certainly struck me in a way that I just had to pause and say to myself 'this woman is so strong and confident, I wish I could be just like  her'. And for a split moment there I realized that no matter how old you are, or no matter how long you've been an adult, you can still want to emulate someone and have a serious role model in your life. Scenes like this included her dancing around with the world 'Slut' painted across her stomach, whilst others would show her playing around with the bottom of her skirt.

Another thing that amazed me was the aura of strength as she screamed the song 'Don't Need You' to the crowd. As if to tell every man in the world that no woman is totally dependent on them. We can handle ourselves when left to it.

As the documentary progresses, it shows how the media began to take its toll on the singer, pitting her against other strong females of the day, such as Courtney Love, who even went as far as to strike her at a music festival. When this part of the film arose, it gave everyone involved, apart from Love, the chance to talk about what had happened and how horrible it is that the media had somehow managed to pit feminist icon against feminist icon, in the name of selling papers.

It was certainly a sad thing to watch, and not just because I'm also a Courtney fan, it because feminism talks about how we should all work together, not fight, just people happy as an equal of society, yet here was the mass media making to women fight over an alleged game of He Said-She Said. I don't know, the nineties was a weird time. And the media is shit.

But with the status of Feminist Rock Icon, comes a lot of flack, and in the end Hanna felt herself forced into a short break from music, as relations in Bikini Kill were beginning to fall apart, and hate mail was getting scary. But luckily that isn't the end of the documentary, not only does it follow her personal life and how she met her husband, but it also follows her as she forms Le Tigre, and creates her solo album, Julie Ruin.

Another topic it speaks of is Lyme Disease, which Hanna was diagnosed with in 2010. It allowed her to give the public an insight into how serious and real a condition it is. This was a great way of creating an awareness of the illness and has probably convinced people to go and get checked in case they worry they may have contracted it, after seeing how bad it can get.


All in all?

Le Tigre

This is amazing and so inspirational, I've been kicking myself all week for not watching it sooner. This should be shown to every girl, in order to show them that  they can kick and scream and write honest, raw songs about taboo subjects and about what bothers  them.

The media has really put a taboo on self-destructive women, and it's shit. So it's cool if a guy has a drug problem, but the moment Lana Del Rey singing about drug use it's horrifying? Oh come on!

Girls can write what they want. Girls can wear what they want. Girls won't be fucked around and treated unfairly. Because social stigma's are changing, and there's most likely another big societal shift on the horizon.

But seriously, watch the damn film.

No pictures are mine and I don't make any money from this blog. The documentary in question can be found on Amazon and the Soundtrack is currently streaming for free on Spotify.