The Runaways
Having just had an introductory lecture about women in pop music and the somewhat derivative avenues for female singers/musicians to enter into the music industry, I find self pondering the topics of music, sexuality and gender stereotypes.
As we were getting a background on this, most of the music we focused on was from the 60s-70s which, incidental, is my favourite period for music. I was interested and a little concerned to find out the my favourtie bands - Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Stones, Hendrix etc - are what is, or was, known as "cock rock" and is aimed at men with a large percentage of the audience at a gig being male. I cringed a little when I was told that "women's music" was "teeny bop" and consists of Donny Osmond and the like! Now I have always been aware of what "cock rock" and "teeny bop" are and which artists fall into their categories but when exploring this in my teen days I made the assumption that "teeny bop" was for young teens say 10-15 and "cock rock" was for older teens and adults, 16+. Despite the overtly masculine name, the question of gender never crossed my mind. To continue liking "teeny bop" when you were a grown woman, in my mind, is absurd! It lacks all the excitement, rebellion and promise of a good time which "cock rock" exudes. It is parties, wild nights, extravagance and adventures. In comparison "Teeny Bop" is good table manners, cardigans, sunday school and in bed by ten. Why should women not want a bit of excitement? Yes, generally women want to settle down, nice house, married with kids. But there is a period before that when you are growing up which is about rebellion, waving the middle finger at rules and authority and just having fun. "Cock rock" is the sound track to that. I mean can you really imagine sneaking out to a friends house party, staying up all night, getting wasted, meeting boys and blaring out of the stereo is not "Whole Lotta Love", " My Generation" or even "Paradise City" or "Kickstart My Heart" but "Puppy Love"? No. It just doesn't work.
If my friend Lizzie, a student of English literature, were here right now she'd be ranting about gender being a construct of society. Who sets these rules of girls like this music and boys like that? Maybe it was true back in the 60s but today it is definitely out dated. I myself am a perfect contradiction of this construct. My favourite bands come under the "cock rock" genre, I go to rock clubs and play air guitars with the guys, I learnt the drums and took a music technology course. Now I know I just stated that the girls and boys liking different music idea is outdated, and I still stand by that as I know loads of girls into all kinds of music, but as I think about it now I have been a minority in many situation. At my school of approximately 1500 students there were only two of us who played drums (and it was an all girls school) and in my music tech class I was the only girl in a class of near 20. When ever I'd tell people that I played the drums or studied music tech their response was always "thats unusual for a girl". A gender construct still stands here.
Throughout the history of pop music there have barely been any women in bands who weren't the singer. Debbie Harry, Grace Slick, Stevie Nicks, Janis Joplin, Hayley Williams to name a few, are all singers in bands with male musicians. The list is endless. In terms of band with female musicians all I can think of off the top of my head are The Runaways, Ash's former guitarist Charlotte Hatherley and The White Stripes - although in my opinion Meg Whites drumming is so appalling she is a disgrace to female drummers everywhere and shouldn't really be counted.
When mulling over this question of why all female artists are singers and not musicians, my mind continually reminds me of John Berger's famous quote "men act and women appear". In the 60s/70s there were really only two routes of entry into the world of music for women. One was to follow along a feminine path, with soft inviting music which often showed vulnerability. A good example here is Joni Mitchell and this is probably the sort of thing my mind is applying Berger to, even though she plays guitar. The second was to basically act like the men! The Runaways demonstrate this well for when I heard "Cherry Bomb" for the first time I was quite surprised that it was the voice of a girl! Janis Joplin talks with male slang, referring to women as "chicks". So even though the gender construct has been pushed, we are back to the need for a manly identity in mainstream rock music.
If rock music is about sex why can't the (few) female rock stars be sexy? Why is there still a need for such a strong masculine identity? The Runaways I think were 80% there. Their appearance was often quite masculine but at times they got it spot on. For me Charlotte Hatherly is the only female rock star/musician so far to have achieved sexy, feminine and rock n roll. She sports a long feminine hair do, often dresses in jeans with a top that is covertly sexy but her stance while playing oozes with attitude. Now I haven't got any male opinions on this so I may be completely wrong but hey in my opinion she has pulled off sexy female rock star without excess levels of masculinity.
Ash
But she is the only person which begs the question of why? Maybe there is just no room for a more feminine look among the female rockers. Maybe the whole notion is an oxymoron and by decreasing manly traits and upping female ones we would lose the essence of rock. I don't think so. I think it is about time that there are a) more female rockers and b) female rockers embracing their inner woman! It is possible that once there become more women rock stars the masculine stereotype will gradually become less prominent and a new ideology will emerge. Baby steps. It will be interesting to look back in 50 years time and see if this ever happened. That is if rock music still exists then!
For current up and coming all girl rockers check out:
- Stonefield and Australian four pieces with a Zeppelin-esque hard rocking sound and hippy image - Check out there music here
- My Car Is Black a London based four piece encompasing rock, punk and funk! Visit www.mycarisblack.com for more info
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