so much to say, so much going on, and I don’t have the patience to blog it all down!! aargh!!
lately I’ve been thinking a lot of the the state of modern feminism. ok, well, maybe not as big an idea of “feminism,” but more the very noticeable lack of female rock stars out there. no, I’m not talking about pop stars, like Christina or Michelle Branch or Avril Lavigne or anything. I’m talking about women like Kim Deal, Justine Frischman, Tanya Donnelly and a whole slew of female frontwomen for ROCK bands back in the 90s. Of those “rock” women, only Gwen Stefani is still around, and almost no new female voices have emerged in the scene. And that makes me sad. Remember the 90s? Sarah McLachlan and Lilith Fair? There were sooo many female voices on the pop scene then, and they proved to a male-oriented record industry that women can make sophisticated and popular music, and that there WAS an audience. a few years later, that message seems forgotten. The truth is, it’s not like women can’t rock or make music, it’s just that record companies aren’t trying to push those sorts of acts on us. Instead, they’re pushing upon us hyper-sexualized images of girls and young women. Every once in a while, a really talented female singer whose act ISN’T focused on her sex appeal gets heard on the radio, but it’s more a fluke than a common thing.
case in point: Dido. She had a record out, had a theme song to Roswell, and whose song was on the charts for almost a year before she hit it big. and HOW did she hit it big? not because her record company promoted her. Because Eminem sampled her vocals on one of his songs. Her songs were baaarely getting any radio play or notice until “thank you” hit it big.
I can’t believe i’m getting nostalgic about the nineties, but there was a lot of good “rock” music out there, and a LOT more female rockers then than there are now. It’s like, you have to be a cute/angst-ridden good looking boy who thrashes around a lot to get an audience? you have to be a hoobastank or a linkin park? what, cuz girls can’t attract an audience? that’s bullshit: good material will almost always garner an audience anytime.
ok, so how many female rock singers/band members can you think of?
no doubt. garbage. tori amos. alanis morrissette. anyone else?
how many pop stars?
avril lavigne. christina. michelle branch. probably a lot of others too, but I can’t think of them.
what about five years ago? which female artists did you hear on the radio?
donna lewis. sophie b hawkins. sarah mclachlan. chantal kreviazuk. heather nova. liz phair. paula cole. shawn colvin.
the music is also vastly different. if you want to talk about introspective singers/songwriters, can one really compare michelle branch with sarah mclachlan in terms of the subject matter they deal with?
looking back, I guess i’m really lucky that I grew up in a time where the culture I was exposed to wasn’t soooo obsessed with sex that art had to equal sex to sell. but what kind of world are we handing to the girls growing up now? =\