Chicks with Picks.

[zen5887]

I was invited to a local (Brisbane, Australia) music event last night, it had a few bands playing an interview and a panel of industry pros talking about issues that effect the scene. One of the issue that was brought up was that of Female musicians. She gave the following statistics:

There were no female artists in the recent "JJJ hottest 100 of all time". 7 out of 24 bands in the Brisbane Sounds [compilation CD showcasing local acts, the reason for the event] feature a female musician. Of all the APRA [The guys who collect royalties] registered, 18% are female.

This sparked a hefty discussion amongst the panel, some saying that we need more support for female artists, others (including a few female artists) said that they shouldn't be supported unless their music is good, nut just because they are female. It eventually was settled by saying that there needs to be more female rockers around.

Now, this got me thinking. I go to a music college where (in my year) almost all (par 1) of the singers are female and almost all (bar one) the instrumentalists are male. Adding to that, all the female singers are the singer songwriter type, and kind of shy away from rock and roll, opting for more soul, funk, R&B, pop and dance. But when the bands do play a rock song with a female singer, they do really well. A band last year played a set with covering Audioslave, Queens of the stone age and Muse (fucking muse!!) and nailed it. This shows me that these singers can rock out a bit, yet they still go down the Singer/Songwriter path.

There is no denying there are some amazing Female rockers, who have genuine talent, not just big boobs and a pretty face but they are easily in the minority.

Why is this? Why does rock and roll lack females? And why does music in general lack female instrumentalists? I know they can do it, and we all know that it works.

We need more PJ Harveys and less Keshas (much less kKeshas).

TL;DR: Fuck you.

 

[Pimppeter2]

I think its a bit like female sports athletes.

They don't get much recognition based on the sport (like genre)

Like female basketball players or soccer players don't get as much attention as Tennis players

[sub]Kesha's pretty hot[/sub]

 

[zen5887]

Why is this? Why does rock and roll lack females?

What the fuck is rock and roll? The term means nothing.

When I say rock and roll I mean music that isn't Pop, Jazz, Classical.

Allmusic.com says it better than me.

Rock & Roll is often used as a generic term, but its sound is rarely predictable. From the outset, when the early rockers merged country and blues, rock has been defined by its energy, rebellion and catchy hooks, but as the genre aged, it began to shed those very characteristics, placing equal emphasis on craftmanship and pushing the boundaries of the music. As a result, everything from Chuck Berry's pounding, three-chord rockers and the sweet harmonies of the Beatles to the jarring, atonal white noise of Sonic Youth has been categorized as "rock." That's accurate, rock & roll had a specific sound and image for only a handful of years. For most of its life, rock has been fragmented, spinning off new styles and variations every few years, from Brill Building Pop and heavy metal to dance-pop and grunge. And that's only natural for a genre that began its life as a fusion of styles.

 

[madcap2112]

It's hard to say why there's a lack of hard rock females in the mainstream today. It's a damn shame, too, cause rock history is full of badass girls. Where are the Janis Joplins? The Patti Smiths? The Grace Slicks? Sure there are a few today, there's Cat Power and Amy Lee, among others. Other than that, most of the females are singer-songwriters or singing lead in symphonic metal bands (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Whatever the case, there definitely needs to be more women in the mainstream hard rock scene.

 

[Trivun]

One of my favourite bands at the moment is Mumford and Sons. All male. Another of my favourite bands is Florence and the Machine. Indie rock. Female lead, with another girl on some instrument (can't remember which). I also love La Roux - female lead. Paramore - female lead. Evanescence - disbanded I believe, but female lead. Reverend and the Makers - male lead, female on keyboards/synthesiser, I believe.

Now, those basically consist of half of my favourite artists around right now. All of them, save the first, have girl in them in some capacity. Most of them are fronted by a girl. Another favourite of mine recently is The Veronicas. Completely female. I'm a big fan of The Saturdays, who are all girls. That said, they aren't really 'rock', are they...

But my point is that almost all of these groups, who fit the idea of 'rock' music to some extent, have some female presence. Girls are definitely supported just as much as guys in the music industry, provided they're actually any good. So the whole discussion kind of becomes a moot point when you throw people like these artists into the mix...

 

[zen5887]

I think its a bit like female sports athletes.

They don't get much recognition based on the sport (like genre)

Like female basketball players or soccer players don't get as much attention as Tennis players

I like this!

 

[BonsaiK]

Why is this? Why does rock and roll lack females? And why does music in general lack female instrumentalists? I know they can do it, and we all know that it works.

As an industry professional I can tell you that there's all sorts of reasons for the lack of female representation in rock music. From the "boys club" attitudes in the industry, to the lack of precedents for female rockers (yes they exist but they're in the minority), to differing attitudes about sexuality in general and also factors such as pregnancy and childbirth are fairly incompatible with a musician's lifestyle... it's very complicated and there's a lot to discuss... it is changing though, there's more women coming into this field all the time. In 20 years things will be different and better, just as things are vastly different now to how they were 30 or 40 years ago. The old guard has to completely die out though.

Recommended reading - "Angry Women In Rock Vol.1" edited by Andrea Juno, ReSearch press.

 

[dmase]

I'm in love with the chick from otep(I think thats how you spell it) she has the perfect metal voice, double d's, and is just all around hot as hell. Yeah if there where more women artists i might start watching music videos again.

 

[hittite]

Spoiler

Nightwish rocks.

 

[Daveman]

I got my little sister into metal, she got me into Nightwish. I'm certainly open to the idea of female rockers, just so long as they're good.

My sister is also an AWESOME singer and I really hope she joins a proper band. I mean I love soul music etc but a band would be so much cooler.

Spoiler

Nightwish rocks.

My point exactly. On a side note, I wish Christian Slater would be in some half decent movies... actually no he sucks. Alone in the Dark was rubbish.

 

[Aardvark]

If more female bands form just to make up the numbers, then you're going to have more shit bands. Better to be fewer in number, but of higher quality.

Now, if they could only work on the quality of female bands...

 

[likalaruku]

Mmm true, I listen to a lot of foreign music. This really applies to Japan especially. Girls dominate pop & dance, boys dominate rock & metal. Barnabys is the only female J-metal band I know. In South Korea, women dominate pop & dance while men dominate rock & hip-hop. Lee Jung-Hyun is the only girl I've heard Hip-Hop (or rather Tech-Hop, which is hip-hop & dance combined) & she is excelent.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

What the fuck is rock and roll? The term means nothing.

You could always ask this guy Or this guy

I'm gonna go ahead and admit to misreading the title when I first saw it.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

They're not exactly mainstream, but I really dig both Nneka and Regina Spektor.

 

[JamminOz07]

Why is this? Why does rock and roll lack females? And why does music in general lack female instrumentalists? I know they can do it, and we all know that it works.

I know there used to be a few girl bands in the local Brisbane scene... I'm not sure if Gazoonga Attack still play, but they were awesome...

 

[Pariah87]

Off the top of my head, including some of my favourite bands.

Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacunca Coil, Xandria (now disbanded I believe), Otep, Sirenia, Eluveitie, Leaves Eyes, After Forever, Evanescence, Paramore, We are the Fallen (did they ever take off?), Garbage, Elis (sadly no longer with us) and Kittie are either fronted by, or co fronted by women plus I'm sure there are many others that are obvious to others but not to me.

Alot of it is certainly not mainstream, but imo that's a good thing. Seek and ye shall find.