Hanna then formed a band with Arbogast and Carland, called "Amy Carter", which put on shows before the art exhibitions.

1989–present: Bikini Kill

left|thumb|190px|Hanna performing with [[Bikini Kill in 1991]]

Later, Hanna started another band called Viva Knievel that toured the United States for two months before disbanding. Upon returning to Olympia in 1990, Hanna began collaborating with Evergreen student, drummer and punk zinester Tobi Vail after seeing a performance of the Go Team (a band made up of Vail, Billy Karren, and Calvin Johnson) and recognizing Vail as the mastermind behind the fanzine Jigsaw that Hanna greatly admired and loved. In October 1990, Hanna and Vail joined with Karren and bassist Kathi Wilcox to form Bikini Kill, which soon became part of the seminal early-1990s Olympia, Washington music scene. One goal of the band was to inspire more women to join the male-dominated punk scene.

Bikini Kill's first release for the Kill Rock Stars label was a self-titled EP produced by Ian MacKaye of Fugazi. Bikini Kill then toured the UK, recording a split LP with UK band Huggy Bear. This tour was filmed and the band was interviewed by Lucy Thane for her documentary, It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill in the UK. Upon returning to the U.S., the band began working with Joan Jett, who produced their single "New Radio/Rebel Girl". After the single's release, Hanna began co-writing songs with Jett for her new album. At the same time, Hanna recorded her spoken-word "Rockstar", released on a 7-inch single in the Kill Rock Stars "Wordcore" series; and "I Wish I Was Him", which appears on the KRS compilation Rock Stars Kill. The song, written by Ben Lee about alternative rock heartthrob Evan Dando, was originally recorded by Lee's band Noise Addict.

thumb|190px|right|Hanna performing with [[Bikini Kill, 1996]]

The first two Bikini Kill EPs were released on CD as The C.D. Version of the First Two Records in 1993. The band released two more full-length albums, Pussy Whipped in 1994 and Reject All American in 1996, and in 1998, Kill Rock Stars released Bikini Kill: The Singles, a collection of the group's seven-inch and compilation tracks. Bikini Kill is actively touring to date.

2000–present: Le Tigre and the Julie Ruin

After Bikini Kill's breakup, Hanna began working on a solo project called Julie Ruin. The project was created entirely in Hanna's bedroom using a $40 drum machine. One self-titled album was released under the Julie Ruin pseudonym, and was partially inspired by the work of feminist theorist Julia Kristeva.

Hanna said of the project:

While in Portland, Oregon, Hanna began working with friend and then-zine editor Johanna Fateman on a live show for Julie Ruin. The collaboration resulted in the two briefly forming a band called the Troublemakers, named after a G. B. Jones film, which ended when Fateman relocated to New York City to attend art school.

Hanna soon moved to New York City, and with the addition of filmmaker Sadie Benning, they started another band called Le Tigre based upon a more electronic style of music, similar to the sampler-driven sound Hanna had begun to explore with Julie Ruin. (She later revealed to Bust magazine that she was "totally broke" at this time and ate oatmeal daily. The band recorded for the Mr. Lady Records label, its first recording being an eponymous album which included the singles "Hot Topic" and "Deceptacon." Benning then left the band and was replaced by JD Samson for their second album, Feminist Sweepstakes.

thumb|Hanna performing in London, 2016

Mr. Lady Records folded, and the group switched to Universal Records for the 2004 release of This Island. Hanna left the band in 2005 due to illness; she was later diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease. According to the Le Tigre website, during her time off from the band, Hanna volunteered as a band coach for the Willie Mae Rock and Roll Camp for Girls. She also taught an art class at NYU's graduate school in the Fall 2007 semester and attended interior design classes. In 2010, Hanna DJed at the Museum of Modern Art, later joining the Raincoats on stage to cover the Slits' Vindictive. In June 2013, Julie Ruin released its first single, "Oh Come On". An album, Run Fast was released in September 2013 with the band going on tour. The band cancelled the tour planned for May to September 2014 due to Hanna's Lyme disease deteriorating.

Activism and impact

Hanna's outspoken feminism has always influenced her work. She became a voice for third-wave feminism and the Riot Grrrl movement in 1991. In 1991, Bikini Kill spent the summer in Washington, D.C., where Hanna began collaborating with Allison Wolfe, Molly Neuman, and Jen Smith from the band Bratmobile on the zine Riot grrrl, which became a call to action for young women to embrace feminism and equal female involvement in the punk rock scene.

The zines "cover[ed] strategies for safety in the mosh pit", "exploration of political ideas", and creating a collective for punk feminist women. The Bikini Kill Zine, which began in 1991, was born from this, along with the desire to present "feminist issues through a punk rock lens." By Issue Two, the Riot Grrrl Manifesto was born, urging women to defy society's expectations upon them as women, and to form a collective for women to freely discuss current issues. While Hanna never sought nor intended to become the spokeswoman for Riot Grrl, she hoped that it would provide a voice for issues that are relevant to women on local, national, and global levels.

At Bikini Kill concerts, Hanna would ask women to move to the front of the stage to avoid harassment from males, as part of her idea of "girls to the front' or "Revolution Girl Style Now." Hanna: "It doesn't mean you're not a feminist because you expose your legs." She zeroed in on the idea that women should have the ability to express themselves in any way they please, without backlash, and her performances regularly reflected such themes. Brodeur: "Hanna exposed her breasts and rear-end with lust-killing bluntness; she wore a girlish ponytail and danced around with 'slut' written in lipstick across her midriff."

In 1991, Hanna performed with Bikini Kill (alongside Fugazi) at the Pro-Choice Rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. before the Planned Parenthood v. Casey trial. Having had an abortion herself at 15, Hanna said: "It's about women not dying in back-alley abortions, but it's also about women saying: 'My life is worth it, too. I deserve to have control over my life and my health care.' Imagine if a man was told, 'You can't make the decision to have a vasectomy.'" Hanna also spoke at the 2011 Planned Parenthood "Stand Up for Women's Health" Rally. During her speech, she told her story of when she was 19 years old, on tour, and broke. She had acquired an infection, was extremely ill, and walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic for help. Despite having less than $10 in her pocket, she was "met with open arms" at the clinic, was treated with respect, and received medical care.

Hanna contributed the piece "Gen X Survivor: From Riot Grrrl Rock Star to Feminist Artist" to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan. The riot grrrl genre, to which Hanna was central, has been credited as a historical site for the empowerment of women by such documentaries as The Punk Singer, which credits Hanna with having molded many tenets of third-wave feminism.

In 2009, the Fales Library at New York University created a Riot Grrrl Collection which focuses on the early formation of the Riot Grrrl movement, and has a series of zines, art pieces, photography, video, music, journals, and more. Some of Hanna's solo work, along with zines that she has created with Bikini Kill and other collaborators are also included. The Bikini Kill archive is also available online. Previously, critics had suggested Hanna was trans-exclusionary for having performed at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in 2001 and 2005, which had a policy of exclusively allowing "womyn-born-womyn" into the event.

In 2018, Hanna started "Tees 4 Togo", a project which sells t-shirts with drawings of Hanna's friends such as Kim Gordon, Patton Oswalt, Joan Jett, and Chuck D, along with artists such as Sarah Larnach, Adee Roberson, and Hannah Lucy. The cost of one $40 shirt funds an entire school year for a student. while a 2013 Pride.com article described her as "a vocal ally of the gay community".

In 2006, Hanna married Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys.

Hanna suffered from Lyme disease for six years before it was correctly diagnosed. By June 2015, she described herself as in remission.

  • She collaborated with Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for the 1990s style sitcom intro theme song in the Marvel Studios series WandaVision.
  • Hanna appears twice in the 2020 documentary film The Go-Go's that premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on Showtime later that year. In it, she recalls attending a Go-Go's concert in 1982 and the impact it had on her.
  • A documentary film about Hanna was released in 2013 by director Sini Anderson, titled The Punk Singer, detailing Hanna's life and career, as well as her years-long battle with Lyme disease.

Discography

Bikini Kill

Albums

  • Revolution Girl Style Now! self-released cassette (1991)
  • Bikini Kill EP, Kill Rock Stars (1991)
  • Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah split LP with Huggy Bear, Catcall Records (UK), Kill Rock Stars (US) (1993)
  • Pussy Whipped, Kill Rock Stars (1993)
  • The C.D. Version of the First Two Records (compilation of the Bikini Kill EP and their half of the Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah split LP), Kill Rock Stars (1994)
  • Reject All American, Kill Rock Stars (1996)
  • The Singles, Kill Rock Stars (1998)

Singles

  • "New Radio"/"Rebel Girl" 7-inch single, Kill Rock Stars (1993)
  • "The Anti-Pleasure Dissertation" 7-inch single, Kill Rock Stars (1994)
  • "I Like Fucking"/"I Hate Danger" 7-inch single, Kill Rock Stars (1995)

Compilation appearances

  • "Feels Blind" on Kill Rock Stars LP/CD (1991)
  • "Candy" on Throw: The Yoyo Studio Compilation, Yoyo Records (1991)
  • "Daddy's Lil' Girl" on Give Me Back LP, Ebullition Records (1991)
  • "Suck My Left One" on There's a Dyke in the Pit, Outpunk Records (1992)

Julie Ruin

  • Julie Ruin, Kill Rock Stars (1998)

The Julie Ruin

  • Run Fast, TJR Records (2013)
  • Hit Reset, Hardly Art (2016)

Le Tigre

Albums

  • Le Tigre, Mr. Lady (1999)
  • Feminist Sweepstakes, Mr. Lady (2001)
  • This Island, Universal (2004)

Singles and EPs

  • "Hot Topic" (1999)
  • From the Desk of Mr. Lady EP (2001)
  • Remix (2003)
  • "New Kicks (2004)
  • "TKO" (2004)
  • "After Dark" (2005)
  • This Island Remixes Volume 1 EP, Chicks on Speed Records (2005)
  • This Island Remixes Volume 2 EP, Chicks on Speed Records (2005)
  • "Standing in the Way of Control" 12-inch split EP with the Gossip, Kill Rock Stars (2006)
  • "I'm with Her" (2016)

Miscellaneous

Viva Knievel

  • "Boy Poison" 7-inch EP, Ultrasound Records (1990)

Suture

  • A Wonderful Treat compilation cassette (1991)
  • "Suture" 7-inch EP, Decomposition/Dischord (1992)

The Fakes

  • Real Fiction LP, Kill Rock Stars (1995)

Solo and guest appearances

  • Rock Star/Mean (Wordcore Volume 1), Kathleen Hanna and Slim Moon, Kill Rock Stars
  • Phosphorescent Panic, Chelsea Peretti (2020); Hanna is featured on "BDR"
  • "Let's Keep It Going", Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (2021); features vocals by Hanna

Bibliography

Fanzines

  • My life with Evan Dando: Popstar
  • The Kathleen Hanna newsletter
  • Le Tigre zine/tour program

Memoir

References

Sources

  • Kathleen's Herstory from the Le Tigre site
  • Tees 4 Togo website
  • Kathleen Hanna Papers at the Fales Special Collections Library at New York University