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Too late to respond to this now. But, Flux... please. Are you really trying to tell me you can't see what the difference is? After the last Woodstock, after Reading? Know what I mean?
yes, I know what you mean. the cause and effect of those two bands are very different, there is an obvious negative effect of Limp Bizkit and similar bands on society---these are bad things. Le Tigre exists primarily in opposition to Limp Bizkit et al...but I think that in their own ways, they both come from the same place, which is an obsession with what it means to be a member of their respective genders, and treating the opposite gender as an oppressive 'other'.
I would think that for a lot of the disaffected angry white men drawn to Limp Bizkit, they are looking for someone to say the same sort of 'it's not your fault, it's all their fault, it's us vs. them" message that Le Tigre offers to their fanbase. What side of the argument am I more sympathetic to? Le Tigre's, by some distance. But it's all the same immature 'battle of the sexes' bullshit that I've hated my entire life, and I'm not going to let the fact that my ideology is similar to Le Tigre's get in the way of me seeing their easy answers and simplistic finger-pointing for what it is.
I don't think Le Tigre is the solution to much of anything other than "how does Kathleen Hanna resuscitate her flagging career post-Bikini Kill?" I think Le Tigre's lyrics are mostly empty hamfisted sloganeering, reducing important ideas to bumper stickers, fashion poses, and novelty music.
This is not about Kathleen Hanna being a woman, it's about her being somewhat foolish and simplistic, a reactionary rather than a revolutionary.
For all the positive things you're saying about Le Tigre, they are mostly things that are more appropriate to say about Sleater-Kinney, who say all of the same things, but with a great deal more eloquence, class, style, intelligence, substance, and emotion.
Kathleen Hanna has penned a number of great songs, and I wouldn't want to diminish either Bikini Kill or Le Tigre's relevance, but I'm not going to pretend as if they treat their music or their politics as anything more than a trendy haircut, no matter how much they believe in them. I'd like to demand a bit more sophistication in my 'revolutionary' music than simply shouting 'destroy the right wing'. Who the hell is going to take that seriously? Who is that going to change anyone's mind? It's all singalong anthems for the disaffected, and the sort of thing that is laughed off and tossed to the side by the people the ideas should be aimed at. There is no subversion in Kathleen Hanna, just a lot of preaching to the converted and back-patting...
[ 05-11-2001: Message edited by: Flux = Rad ] |
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