If a woman wails with her axe in an empty room does anyone hear her? YES!
February 14, 2010
Blame it on the internet! There is a resurgence of ultra young girls that rock from Orianthi (who was discovered my MJ and has played guitar since she was six) to Anissa (bass) and Alexia (vocals, guitar) of the metal band Eyes Set to Kill.
To find a short list of female artists, look at Daisy Rock Guitars. Most artists named have a MySpace page with music streaming available.
With these young women conspicuously missing or crowded out from radio and television, the internet is providing an unimpeded open forum for females with strong opinions and wicked licks.
But why is it going unnoticed or unwritten about?
Women Interrupted
A blogger known only as kperfetto on BlogHer, Life Well Said, posted the article “Where Are The Women Music Bloggers or Fans?” She was answered by blogger Maria Niles who listed the few music bloggers on their website, BlogHer. The most notable would be Collected Sounds, Celebrating Independent Musicians by someone only going by Amy. Overall, the women featured were soft spoken on a piano or dreamy in a highly produced piece, all worth a listen.
But these are not mainstream blogs and are very casual in nature – more fan based, riddled with opinion, and often go off-topic.
Marketing the River, No Interest in the Streams
Looking over mainstream blogs from Rollingstone, Spin, and NPR, there isn’t anyone with a “women in music” beat.
This is possibly due to an un-tuned audience.
According to Rebecca Daugherty in her article “The spirit of ’77: punk and the girl revolution,” the fever for female musicians faded decades ago. Daugherty wrote:
As the girl groups died out in the mid-1960s, attitudes like these about women were coming into rock music itself. The rise of the rock supergroups, such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, refocused attention on male musicians and instrumental virtuosity in popular music. Girls’ place was in the audience, chasing and dreaming of male performers.
She later mentions the spike in girl-groups of the punk movement, but goes on to talk about their marginalization. The 90′s also saw a rise in female-centric groups with a conscious effort to break stereotypes and win fans, but they are continually shadowed by less feminist pop types.
And that formula of making an all guy supergroup with an adoring female audience is still the holy grail of the industry; a personal thank-you from me goes out to capitalism and marketing strategies which have birthed Back Street Boys, Boys II Men, Hanson, and now the Jonas Brothers.
What seems to $ell now (or is being sold regardless) are stripper girls and bad girls.
Their talent is questionable, even with church choir pipes or jaw dropping moves, as they are more spectacle than substance.
Harkening back to days of yore (1970s), the trends of rebel slut and taboo behavior might remind older ladies of Heart. Ann and Nancy Wilson had to fight rumors started by their own label, Mushroom Records, which insinuated that they were lovers. With management and a label ready to sell them as spectacle, they fought to be heard for what they were, musicians with substance.
As a response to a reporter asking Ann Wilson about her and her sister’s “experienc,” Ann wrote “Barracuda.”
Seems the lessoned learned was cash in with your bad selves. So today the labels and the media companies have produced acts like Ke$ha who, in her own words from a Rollingstone interview, “likes being an a**hole.”
Charting the Uncharted
But among the spectacle, behind the highly produced vocals, stage makeup, lights, camera, and PR action, there is a surging wave of real talent.
This blog is dedicated to searching them out, noting their strengths and contributions, putting them alongside Janis, Stevie, Joani, and Patti.
So go on Orainthi and hit me with your best shot.
