May 3, 2007
Selection #14: Where Are The Women?
This month’s selection comes from new draftee, old friend, and Onkel Rudi’s partner in life and crime, Kirstin (a.k.a. sprite). She blogs, she knits, she blogs about knitting, and this month she’s challenging us to get a little more gender-diverse in our selections:
Month after month the Selective Service trio do a fine job of highlighting terrific tunes around an interesting theme. Their musical knowledge is extensive and their collections are deep.
But if you follow their playlists, you will start to notice a distinct absence.
Where are the women?
Where are Macy Gray and KT Tunstall, Joan Jett and Björk, Eva Cassidy and Corinne Bailey Rae, the Mamas and the Papas and Tina Turner? Why are there no songs from Madonna or Imogen Heap, the Pipettes or Pink Martini, Aaliyah or Patsy Cline, Luscious Jackson or Tori Amos?
A decade after the Lilith Fair tours raised awareness about the lack of female voices on the radio, I can count the number of tracks by women in the 2007 Selective Service monthly playlists on one hand.
C’mon, guys. You can do better than that.
And, no, I’m not saying I want a month of plaintive singer-songwriters from the three of you, which is often what pops into people’s heads when you talk about the underrepresentation of women in music. There are plenty of women out there doing interesting things within the genres you already listen to — and they’ve been belting out tunes and playing lead instruments for years now.
So go find some of them to put in this month’s playlist!
A valid point & worthy challenge, indeed, so find them we did — enjoy!
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:00 am
This particular oddity cropped up a month ago in conversation between Uncle Sam and myself, specifically after we’d noticed a dearth of estrogen in our lists of rotund artists and then also in our lists of dead artists. These, by the way, are the only two I’m willing to stipulate as noticeably lacking the fairer sex. And in the interest of that fairness, Sam and I talked and wondered why that was, and all we could think of is that it’s not our fault if these things are true (”right” or “wrong” are debatable, these things just seem to be true): Women in popular entertainment are held to a higher standard of beauty, therefore it’s far easier to find all the John Poppers and Izs and harder to find their female equivalents. That said, there is also the self-censorship (we’d like to think of it as “tact” or “chivalry” or some Big Masculine Guilt) of not really wanting to pop a list together of, y’know, fat chicks and parade them around on a blog for all to see. Double-standards abound, I know. Then moving on to the big sleep; again, is it our fault that besides Janis and Mama Cass, nothing NOTHING at all comes readily to mind when thinking of pop artists cut down in or before their prime? I mean yeah, I considered Aaliyah or Lisa Lopes, but really I just couldn’t bring myself to include music I didn’t like just because they went and died. I’m personally moved by the story of Selena, which impacted me long before the movie adaptation - I’m just not particularly fond of her music. I looked around on some websites about rock-n-roll casualties, or The 27 List, that kind of stuff. Women just seem to have had the good sense not to go dying left and right like all these men. Of course perhaps it’s just that the same proportionate amount of women have died, it’s just back to that initial double-standard of having less women in the industry to begin with. If that’s even true, I’m just saying that because it’s the case in most other fields. But in music, in artistry? Are there less women? Perhaps not. Less lead singers of metal bands, I guess. But plenty of solo artists, and for whatever reason they haven’t gone dying on us at the same rate as their male counterparts.
Anyway, this is actually cutting short a long long conversation with Sam, and summing up a lot. Sam can add more if he feels the need. So I agree that we’ve had a couple of playlists in dire need of a female makeover. But really, before them and after them and surrounding them, I feel we’ve given an equal shake to women. And dealing with your specific absences - Sam has always been a big booster for both Bjork and KT Tunstall, I included a track from Corinne Bailey Rae on my best of 2006 (which alternated male-female from song to song), Imogen Heap was on my list for 2005 and appeared on my “Vox Populi” playlist, and Ryan and Sam and myself were all going nuts over the Pipettes (and fellow girl-groupers Camera Obscura and The Ditty Bops). My plan for this month’s playlist was to do an influence tree on a currently white-hot artist, detailing bits and pieces from old A&M, Motown and Phil Spector recordings, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Candy Staton, that kind of stuff. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about - I didn’t have time to put it together in time, but I’ll probably do it as a crush soon. And even though there’s precisely one song I enjoy from Tori Amos (”Winter”), and I’m sure she likes it that way because, y’know, I have a penis, I’d like to think that my exposing countless friends and fans to people like Imani Coppola, Princess Superstar, Northern State, Rilo Kiley / Jenny Lewis, Regina Spektor, Vienna Teng, Emily Haines, Joanna Newsom, etc. has made up a bit for The Industry’s imbalance.
May 5th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Great challenge/topic for the SS. For my two cents I’d just like to throw out the name Ellen Foley. Her career has to hold at least one historical footnote with her backing and duet work on Meatloaf’s BAT OUT OF HELL, specifically “Paradise By the Dashboard Light”. And then her work with the Clash on “Hitsville UK” from SANDINISTA leading into their contributions on her solo album SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS. Whether loved, hated or ignored, it has to be admitted that the lady had some powerful pipes and an extensive range.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:54 am
[...] last week, Sam posted my challenge and the guys offered up three different interpretations. I leave you to read their responses, [...]
November 21st, 2007 at 2:46 pm
its kinda funny if you think about it. because while were on the subject of selective service. Women equality rights and the whole feminist movement try and be equal in every way men are. but why are they not fighting to be randomly selected to die for our country, its only fair.