Coleen's Blog - Archived Entry

Hell’s Belles, an all-women, AC/DC cover band, rocked the Driving Votes caravan fund raiser. Lead singer Ohm called all the women in the crowd to the stage front and dedicated “Girl’s Got Rhythm” to us and “all other folks who support reproductive choice.” My experience singing, dancing, and reveling to rock and roll with other women was a transcendental one and why I never miss a Hell’s Belles concert. They are amazing musicians, stellar performers and women-centered progressives. They call to mind a Kathleen Hanna quote I’ve treasured over the years:

"I love the part of music, that it can take you over and you can trust it…I want to make music that, when women listen to it, they can be inside themselves again. To make dance music is even better, because then they can be dancing together, with other women feeling inside of themselves."
Kathleen Hanna, Le Tigre
Verve, 2001

I trust the music of Hell’s Belles not because it is a woman delivering sexist, albeit sassy lines but because they inspire all of us to follow their lead: Take a good thing, lose the bullshit and make it your own. Ohm, who makes room in the center, front stage for women at her concerts is purposefully creating space that women can occupy freely, including emancipatory space inside us.

I use the term “regime change” in the title of this piece explicitly to mean patriarchal regime change. I see us progressive folks gathering to beat Bush and I’m psyched! What purpose does an enemy serve but to temper and spur our talents!? Let’s learn from mistakes, (our own, our parents', our government’s). Take what inspiration we need, leave behind oppressive social habits and create art with transformative possibilities.

"The content and technique can come together in dance music. In European countries…we don’t get asked: “Which is more important, message or music?” What that question doesn’t acknowledge is that all music is political and a lot of it is very conservative. It’s usually only progressively political people who are pigeon-holed for making political music, but everyone else is just supporting the status quo."
Kathleen Hanna, Le Tigre
Verve, 2001

Michael Moore is recent example of this phenomenon. He’s called a “propagandist” but Fox “Shut-It-Pansy” News is believed to be “fair and balanced.” Kathleen Hanna reminds us that all media, all art we consume has a message. Media that supports the status quo (which, these days comes from a dangerously conservative perspective) needs to have its veneer of objective legitimacy stripped away. Let’s not be afraid to criticize the so-called authorities. Let’s follow in the steps of brave rabble-rousers like Hell’s Belles, Le Tigre and Michael Moore by expressing ourselves honestly and without apology.

rockin' to hell belles