PUNK DISSING, musical enemies #1 FAT MIKE vs. KATHLEEN HANNA
INTRO:Early on their career NOFX released “On the rag”. You can’t call that song anti-feminist, but you can surely say it’s a bad joke about women having their period. On top of that in 1992, they released the song “LIZA AND LOUISE”* a song about a woman who decides to be lesbian after being hurt from men. Kathleen Hanna didn’t get the joke (i know- it’s not that funny) so she confronted Fat Mike backstage at a NOFX/BIKINI KILL concert.
VERSE: Fat Mike answered with a song, ”Kill Rock Stars,” from the album So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes(1996) ,written about Hanna, referencing her by name (“Kill the rockstars? How ironic, Kathleen. You’ve been crowned the newest queen”). It is supposedly about singer Fat Mike’s feelings that Hanna’s feminist views are rather anti-men (“I thought the goal here was mutual respect” and “can’t change the world by hating men” are two lines from the song) and, therefore, hypocritical. The song’s title itself is a reference to riot grrrl record label Kill Rock Stars.
CHORUS: Kathleen came back on the subject with her new project, the-then newly formed Le Tigre. On their debut album(1999), the first track, “DECEPTACON” is an open hate letter to Fat Mike. “You’re just a parrot and you’re screaming and you’re shouting” refers to Mike’s snotty vocals. “You bought a new van the first year of your band” is a truth that seems to irritate Kathleen. “Your lyrics are dumb like a linoleum floor” is a reference to NOFX’s song Linoleum.
*“LIZA AND LOUISE” is part one of NOFX’s trilogy about lesbians, “LIZA”, “LOUISE”.
hint: click on the titles for lyrics/audio
