In a recent interview with The Times newspaper, Kathleen Hanna talked about her difficult relationship with Courtney Love. She recalled a serious conflict they had at the 1995 Lollapalooza festival. Hanna likened Love’s aggressive behavior to being targeted by a stalker or being attacked on the street, giving emphasis to the fact that sometimes people hurt you without a clear reason.
“I can’t get into somebody else’s mind and decide what their problem is. It’s sort of like if you have a stalker or someone mugs you on the street, are you going to try to figure out why they did it? Like, who cares – they hurt you for no f*cking reason.”
Discussing the riot grrrl movement, Hanna acknowledged that while there was a lot of jealousy and unkindness among its members, she still believes it was an important movement that had a big impact.
“I do still think it was a very important movement. Things can be really flawed and still have a huge impact.”
Courtney Love vs. Kathleen Hanna at Lollapalooza
The clash between Hanna and Love at Lollapalooza happened because of tensions from past interactions and media comments. Despite never meeting before, Hanna claims Love physically hurt her during the festival, although Love denies this in her own memoir. Hanna described how Love approached her aggressively, threw candy, and then punched her in the face, causing her to bleed.
“Then she dropped a sweater in front of me and bent down to grab it. As she stood up, she cold-clocked me in the face. I fell down, put my hands up to my cheek, and felt blood. From the ground, I yelled, ‘I will debate you at the college of your choice!’ Courtney yelled back something like, ‘You can’t even read, and I’m way more feminist than you!’”
This happened shortly after Kurt Cobain’s death, which added emotional strain to their already tense relationship. Despite Hanna’s close relationship with Cobain and her influence on the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Love publicly criticized her as Cobain’s “worst enemy.
Courtney Love also reunited with a Hole bandmate in a studio recently for good measure.
