The Girls’ Guide to Rocking

Chicago pop-culture critic Jessica Hopper’s new book, The Girls’ Guide to Rocking (Workman, $13.95), is a how-to for tweens and teens eager to jam their way through adolescence, covering everything from picking the right instrument and learning to play to writing lyrics, forming a band versus going solo and even promoting yourself. We spoke with Hopper about how things have changed since she was a teenage punk rocker.

Is this a book you wish had been around when you were young?
Yeah, very much so. When I was 15 and first trying to start bands [and playing music with high-school boys], I never wanted to look like the dumb girl in the band. I just wanted to play and have fun. A lot of the music I was inspired by was politicized punk rock, like the riot grrrl bands and Fugazi, and I really wanted to express something visceral. I didn’t want to have to be like Joe Satriani before I could start my band. I feel like that’s one of the big messages of the book—that however you want to do it is the right way; you don’t have to learn how to play “Smoke on the Water.”

What was the scene like for women when you started playing?
When I first started playing music [in the early ’90s], we never could round out a band with all girls. [The feminist punk] riot grrrl movement was a very empowering idea. It was like total permission to do exactly what I wanted. Now one of the biggest-selling video games for girls is where they can pretend to be playing in a band.

A lot of research went into this book. Did you run into any obstacles when sources found out you were writing the book for girls?
No one says no when you tell them it’s for little girls. Even a moderately cool person is gonna be like, “Yes, there needs to be more girls in bands.”

How did you move from playing music into writing about it?
I started publishing a fanzine [Hit It or Quit It] when I was 15, the same time I was starting to play music. I started it because no one was writing about the bands that I really loved in a way that I felt like they got it, bands with women in them.

Why do you think rock is such a male-dominated scene?
I think that’s really changing. Taylor Swift just sold out the Staples Center. Finally, girls are being presented with images of themselves as rock stars—teenage girls who can play guitar, who can write their own songs, who write about their lives.

The Girls’ Guide to Rocking is out now.

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