KATHLEEN HANNA’S STRIP SONGS
The feminist activist, riot grrrl progenitor, and Bikini Kill frontperson revisits her punk rock stripper days.
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I once saw you do a cabaret performance where you told the story of how you wrote “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit” on a wall in Kurt Cobain’s house, inspiring the song title. You also mentioned that, in your career as a stripper, you had a Janet Jackson set?
I just did, like, “Black Cat.” When I first started dancing—when I was 17, working in a juice bar—I only had two cassettes to practice to. I had an old cassette player and 1 had Janet Jackson’s Control and Tracy Chapman, the first record, with “Fast Car” on it. I remember dancing in a full-length mirror in my apartment, like “Fast Car,” trying to strip to it.
It was so sad, yes, but I always ended up dancing to “Control,” you know. “Black Cat” was on a different record, but I had this kind of baby diaper. Do you remember those? These wraparound shorts. People used to wear them in Hawaiian prints, and they’re kind of like a diaper. And you put it on, and then it wraps around like a pair of shorts. I had this costume like that. It was basically a piece of fabric that you wrapped around. And then it became like a teddy, and it was leopard print, and it was my black cat outfit. And I would crawl on the stage to Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat" in this diaper.
Oh my GOD.
I don’t remember what the third song was. I feel like it was one of the sexy, squeaky Janet songs.
Let’s pretend it was “Escapade,” and then that’s the best three songs of hers.
You should see my “Papa Don’t Preach”!
