“The ability of “Insurgent Woman” is that it’s about being a feminist pirate, being an adventurer,” says Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna. “It’s not about standing on the again and never taking part. It’s about loving and defending your folks and the confusion between friendship and sexuality.”
When Bikini Kill fashioned in 1990, sexism was rife. Hanna’s Riot Grrrl fanzine and the feminist-activist motion was one solution to fight that; “Insurgent Woman” was one other. Over a glam drumbeat and three scuzzy chords, the track celebrated robust, defiant ladies. Written in late 1991, it rapidly turned a crowd-pleaser. When Bikini Kill toured the UK with Huggy Bear in 1993, the viewers screamed for the still-unreleased track, latching on to this defiant expression of feminine identification and friendship the place “dudes aren’t even talked about”, notes bassist Kathi Wilcox.
Three variations of “Insurgent Woman” have been launched. The one which often seems on radio, soundtracks and video video games was produced by Joan Jett, who noticed one thing of her youthful self in Bikini Kill. “They have been unapologetic, doing what they wished to do, and also you didn’t see a variety of that, significantly with ladies,” she says. After listening to a cassette of Bikini Kill, she advised they file “Insurgent Woman” collectively and the band jumped on the likelihood.
This “definitive” model of “Insurgent Woman” was recorded in the summertime of 1993 in Seattle, with Jett on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. This single was launched in September 1993, offering Bikini Woman – and the broader Riot Grrrl scene – with an anthem whereas giving the band a way of vindication. Three-quarters of Bikini Kill have been ladies and even within the political DC punk scene, ladies have been poorly handled, dismissed as “coathangers” whose function was to face on the again holding the coats whereas their boyfriend was moshing.
Bikini Kill reunited in 2019 and “Insurgent Woman” is now sung proudly by ladies younger and previous. “As a result of the track is sung from the primary individual in direction of one other first individual, I’ve lots of people I can direct that track to,” says Hanna. “It may be in an attractive manner or simply ladies I might completely throw down for. Generally I’ll see a seven-year-old lady within the entrance row and I’m singing it to her. When my mum was within the viewers, I devoted to her. Not all of the lyrics match, in fact. However singing about trying as much as any individual and desirous to be like them – that’s a part of my relationship with my mum and so many different ladies.”
