Le Tigre's New Kicks - Le Tigre's New Kicks

What this video is

Released in August–October 2004, 'New Kicks' arrived at a charged political moment: two weeks before the US presidential election, timed around the Republican National Convention in New York City. Le Tigre had just signed to Universal/Strummer—their first major-label deal—explicitly to amplify their feminist and anti-war politics to a mainstream audience. The song samples protest chants and speeches from the 15…

Why it matters

A landmark of electroclash and dance-punk, 'New Kicks' fuses protest-chant sampling with dancefloor energy in a lineage from 'Dyke March 2001.' As Le Tigre's major-label debut single, it tested whether queer feminist agitprop could coexist with mainstream pop infrastructure—and the video's…