Participation and Challenges of Women in the Rock Industry

In this essay, I will be discussing the different challenges women faced to participate in the rock industry because of their gender and how it affected them. It is an industry that has always been seen as being male dominated which many, now famous female rock musicians, have experienced on their ladder to fame and stardom.

For many years, the rock industry has been acknowledged, as well as criticised, for being gendered as male. There are many reasons for this which I will be discussing. Firstly, the form and style of rock music is commonly seen as being an expression of male sexuality, holding masculine qualities. As the majority of people would notice in relation to the performance of rock music, there is a sense of aggressiveness in it, as well as domination and giving off a sense of control. The music played is always very loud with a repetitive rhythm, and the lyrics are usually forceful and arrogant. This contrasts a lot to female musicians, who do not generally hold an image of dominance or aggressiveness in their performances. They appear to be much more relaxed and laid back on stage in comparison to male rock musicians. Another reason rock music is seen as being male gendered is the fact that the production teams and other crew members such as writers, engineers and technicians are all usually male. Women are rarely included in production as a lot of males in the industry believe they do not fit up to the standard of knowledge in certain roles, therefore they remain underrepresented. Even in places such as rock music venues, the social interaction that is held in there is masculine. They all refer to one another with nicknames, sharing jokes and discussing the bands on the stage.

The patriarchy of rock music is held by three forces that hold back women from taking part in the industry. These are hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity and homosociality. Hegemonic masculinity refers to the pattern of practice, where men continue to hold dominance over women in society and is seen as the ideal way of being a man. It’s a way a man uses power and control, many which are role models of rock music. Some examples of male rock role models are Mick Jagger and Phil Lynott who hold a position of power in rock music, being a lead musician.

The second force, heteronormativity, in simple terms means that heterosexuality is the norm in the rock industry, whereby everyone is judged and analysed on who they are. Sexuality is a main topic, in particular heterosexuality which has been a main theme in rock music. There is said to be two types of images of sexuality in rock; ‘cockrock’ which portrays an image of macho sexuality that attracts a male audience. ‘Teenybop’ is a term used to describe the romantic masculine sexuality image of rock that attracts young women.

The final force of patriarchy is homosociality, a term that describes the social, non-sexual relationships that take place between people of the same sex. Men in the rock industry use this through collaborations in music and friendships, as a way of defending or upholding their patriarchy. The social practises in the rock industry are of male gender only, with even the music press excluding women from any discussions or serious matters going on. From analysing the patriarchy, it is evident that there is little room for women in rock music. There seems to be only room for them as consumers or fans, which shows the struggle many women must have gone through to succeed as a rock musician. The power and bond male rock musicians have with one another through collaborations and friendships, towers over women and prevents them from entering the world of rock, which is shameful and upsetting if it’s something that they have desired on doing for a long time. It is especially disappointing that because of their gender, they are unable to pursue their dream, no matter how talented they are at it. There are many examples of musicians such as Joni Mitchell, who have struggled to succeed as rock musicians based on the patriarchy of male power in the industry.

The 1960’s was a decade where women struggled to succeed as rock musicians but were adamant on pursuing their dreams one way or another. One musician at this time was Alice de Buhr from a place called Mason City in Iowa. She was chosen as a replacement for a girl in the group band ‘Fanny’ that was formed in California in the late 1960’s, a band that was described as being the first real girl rock band. When Buhr joined the band for the first time, people described her as a “slamming drummer” (Iowa Rock n Roll Music Association) with hair that was close to touching the floor when she sat down at her drumkit. She was born in 1949 and was the youngest out of four children. She found her passion for drums when she was very young in school and claimed her life changed after she discovered her love for them. She was part of a rock band and orchestra in school in which she self-taught herself on. She had the support of her family and her father even bought her a drumkit for only fifty dollars, as a request by her sister. When she was seventeen, she moved to California after her parents divorced, where she was recruited as a drummer in a band named The Svelts. When the band separated, Buhr saw an opportunity to create her own, and formed an all-female group called Wild Honey, with the Millington Sisters. She explains how most of her memories with the band were painful, based on the way women were treated in the rock world. They decided to separate as a band in the male-dominated rock world, after one last ‘open-mic’ in Los Angeles in 1969. They came to the decision solely due to the fact that they were disappointed with the lack of respect and success they received as a result of being an all-female group. Male patriarchy in rock music comes into the scenario once again, as it powers over women in the industry. However, it wasn’t a complete sad ending for the girl group. The producer Richard Perry’s secretary happened to be at their last gig in Los Angeles and gave them an audition with Perry himself, who was so blown away that he handed them over to Warner Bro’s requesting them to sign the girl group. They renamed their band ‘Fanny’ just before recording their first album, and later went onto success by making the Top 40 on Billboard’s Hot 100 twice before releasing another five albums which were all received well. In 1999, David Bowie, who was a huge fan of the band, said they were “one of the finest rock bands of their time” (Fanny, fannyrocks.com)

In the 1960’s, women were put into a ‘second division’ category when compared to the male musicians. It showed the inequality that was taking place and challenges women were facing to make it in music. The way women would be talked about by male singers in the lyrics of their songs showed the exact power and domination they had and why so few women were entering the rock industry, an industry that was contained by men. When ‘The Beatles’, for example, came on the scene, they became one of the most significant bands of that time. They received the adoration from many young female fans. However, some of their songs introduced a trend that many other singers of that time followed on with. Their song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ represents a fantasy figure with dream-like qualities, hallucinating this character after taking the LSD drug. There are some musical structures used such as harmonies and a unison vocal chant sang in the chorus that portray the way women are contained in rock over dominance. They are using these methods in music as a way of telling people that they believe women aren’t ‘real’ people and are displays of sexuality and portraying them as a symbol of beauty, and given no other value or worth other than to be beautiful.

When it came to the late 1960’s, the trend of describing and using women as fantasy figures in their songs and by other artists began to grow. Although it is merely impossible to exactly pinpoint the meaning or objective behind the lyrics of songs, it is clearly evident that they are representing women in an un humane form and taking them for granted. Themes of sexual domination ran through rock history quite often, even by the most well-known, most famous artists at the time. ‘Dance girl, lemme see the booty boom’ (‘Love 2 The 9’s’, Prince) is an example of the language that was used to talk about women in songs.

Because of this male dominating power that they felt they had during this time, it is understandable how women fought so hard to become a part of the rock industry and be accepted.

Wanda Jackson, a previous country musician found her stardom when Hank Thompson, leader of one of the biggest country-western bands at the time, heard her singing on the local radio and from then on, she transformed into a national star. She got the opportunity to perform with Elvis Presley and he convinced her to try rock and roll. She then became known as a ‘rockabilly’, due to the fusion of rock and country she produced. In a country where at the time they held the biggest and best male stars of rock n’ rollers, America was in no state to take on a woman who would shake, scream and growl in between this. Women who were in this ‘rockabilly’ genre were seen as sassy, aggressive and very unladylike. However, she was hugely popular in Japan and Europe, with one of her songs staying at number one in Japan for six months. One of the challenges faced by women participating in rock music is learning a rock instrument, seeing as it was generally associated with masculinity. The only real option for women who want to participate in rock was to take the role as a vocalist. Men didn’t desire to hear women play with rock instruments such as the bass, drums or the electric guitar as to play these you had to have a certain image that they believe women didn’t have. Several cultural constraints have discouraged women from taking up rock instruments as it is said to be breaking the norms of cultural femininity. For example, to play the electric guitar they have to cut their nails down short which is one of the challenges women face by participating in rock music. Rock musicians also sweat, get calluses, are loud, and work with technology and high-tech equipment, which are all aspects that you would associate men with. Rock music itself was produced as a way for men to express their masculinity, especially with the use of the bass and electric guitar, which have been perceived as extensions of the male body. Although playing a guitar is much easier when it’s held high up at your waist or chest, the male way to hold it is at the waist, which women find physically harder to do. Women are then faced with the issue of either playing better with it up high, or playing it down low in a way to keep in with the image of rock but struggle to play at your best. With women entering the rock world, they are challenged with the fact that they may not be welcome and may have to interplay with the way they perform based on gender expectations. Because of the cultural expectations that are expected of femininity and the masculinity of rock, women who pursue themselves into the rock industry must come up with a resistant identity, who doesn’t sweat, jump, shout and play rock music in the same traditional ways that male rock performers do. Lalo, a vibraphonist, claims that since taking up and playing the electric guitar, she has found it difficult to keep in with the femininity image. She can’t help but let loose while performing and says she feels a sense of power by doing it in such a male dominated world which adds to the experience.

Joni Mitchell was one of the successful rock musicians that started out in the 1960’s and created new possibilities for women who were struggling to become a part of the industry. She was a long, blonde haired guitarist which wasn’t ideal with the cultural image of women in rock, but it was her musicality and sharing of her female experience with coping with the realities that were working and surviving in the male-dominated music industry that made people overlook the rock image that was needed for a woman. Her stories of being on the lonely road and giving her child up for adoption gave her a special advantage that changed the world of rock for women. Her song ‘Blue’ brought arise to the problems that come with feminine mystique, and what is labelled right and wrong. She was able to draw her personal experiences into her music which brought a different light to a woman in rock music.

By studying several articles about women who have struggled to be successful in the rock industry due to male dominance, I have learned that they ended up succeeding in the end as a result of not giving up and not allowing the male rock image to turn their backs on their passion, whether it be playing an electric guitar or a drumkit. It is evident that it took hard work for many female rock musicians to shape their identity based on expectations and constraints and took hard work, persistence, vision and huge commitments in order to be allowed to pursue in the world of rock. The main goal they want to achieve is to share their music with the world, and the way they should look or perform shouldn’t be the main aspect of rock music. Many female rock musicians got through the tough stages of their career by not listening to what other people thought of them, such as Rana Ross. She built up her defences for the career she wanted to pursue in, and it is what a lot of musicians had to do in order to gain success.

Bibliography

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2. Larson, G. (2017) ‘It’s a man’s man’s man’s world’: Music groupies and the othering of women in the world of rock. Sage Journals. 24 (3), 397-417. Available at: https://journals-sagepub-com.jproxy.nuim.ie/doi/full/10.1177/1350508416689095 (accessed on 1 January)
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5. Whiteley, S. (2000) Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity and Subjectivity. Routledge Publishers. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nuim/reader.action?docID=1099260 (accessed on 2 January)