Raw Hynde - interview with singer Chrissie Hynde - Interview

Interview, July, 1999 by Evelyn McDonnell

EM: You're playing some Lilith Fair shows this summer. In the past, you've been very reluctant to do anything so female-identified.

CH: There was a time I felt it was another form of discrimination. But those were different times. I just think it'll be fun. It seems to be one of the more popular tours to get on, and so to me that's the reason to do it. Not because it's chicks, but because people want to go see it. I think it'll be really fun to see a bunch of acts that are fronted by women.

EM: Do you think you would've said that ten years ago?

CH: I don't know - there wasn't one ten years ago. Being asked "What's it like to be one of the few women in rock?" started to get a bit tedious, and maybe I made some glib remarks about it at times. When I would say things like, "I'm not a feminist, I'm not a lesbian" I'd get hate mail for months. I was just saying it to get the guy who kept barking up the same tree off my damn back.

EM: Have your views of feminism changed?

CH: Oh, I'm just very relaxed. I just read Germaine Greer's book The Whole Woman (1999), which I thought was great. See, my feeling is the only person stopping you from doing something is yourself, and looking for excuses all the time just gets in the way of obtaining your own goals. It's like the writer who keeps getting up and straightening out the pictures in the room.

EM: Wait a minute - have you been spying on me?

CH: No, we all do it. I was always asked, "Did you have to work harder?" and I'd say, "Well, actually, no. I think men like working with women." And it was like I kept coming up with the wrong answers. The so-called feminist writers were disgusted with me. I did my thing, and so I guess by feminist standards I'm a feminist. That suits me fine.

EM: I thought you felt for a while that feminism was associated with a sense of victimization.

CH: I hadn't thought about it like that. I just think people, whoever they are, have to learn how to be themselves and to find their own true goals and their own true natures. I'm not much of one to join clubs and things. But I think it's fine to do that. Hell, I'll wave a banner once in a while.