Ebook: Shonen Knife’s Happy Hour: Food, Gender, Rock and Roll

Shonen Knife--an all-female punk trio from Osaka, Japan--has cultivated a global fan base that has included the likes of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. The 1998 album Happy Hour encapsulates the band’s allure via its fusion of punk rock and cute aesthetics in the service of lyrics focused on food. Saturated in lyrics about edibles from sushi to banana chips, the record initially appears to be a cute pop punk homage to girl power. Brooke McCorkle Okazaki explores how, embedded in the seemingly straightforward music and lyrics of the album, lies an aesthetic that challenges historical norms regarding gender roles in popular culture.