Women, Punk & Society
(an essay by Slimedog)
This is my little essay about women in music, punk and society. Just some thoughts I believe need expressing. First of all, I was around when punk was first starting and I was part of the tiny scene that was in Boston. When I say tiny this was when there were two clubs, total, in Boston (this is the late seventies) that would allow original punk/new wave music. The Rat and Cantones and some “performance place” called The Space that I never did find. A few dozen bands, a few hundred fans- my point is, I would like to think we were more “enlightened” than society but maybe the truth is that we didn’t have the luxury of turning anyone away! So women, gays, minorities were welcomed- anyone dumb enough to join the club was signed up.
When I contrast this with the hippie movement that preceded the punk, a movement that I was aware of and influenced by at the time; looking back I see a difference. The hippies had a very liberal stance in theory but in like most things they talked about they ended up being hypocritical. There transforming into yuppies in the eighties and the whole “politically correct” debacle is a perfect example. Our country is now in the hands of former hippies in both parties, not former punks, so let’s thank them indeed. Far out, man!
So the hippie movement music scene was supposed to be inclusive but was basically comprised of white male musicians. Women could be “chick singers” or groupies but never allowed to be a guitarist or a drummer. Gays were not open in any rock band. It was a big deal about Bowie being bisexual (though married to a woman) and Elton John felt the need to a have a fake wedding with his publicist. Looking back it would seem to me the best guitarists at the time were Jimi Hendrix, (black) and Carlos Santana, (Spanish). At the time the debate seem confined to Page, Clapton and Beck, all white players. All a coincidence or some underlying racism, sexism and homophobia going on in that scene?
Now, in the tiny Boston scene we might not have had a lot of minorities, (not many whites, either) but plenty of bands had girl bassists, guitarists and drummers. An all- girl experimental band comes to mind, Bound And Gagged, and they had some popularity. A band like Human Sexual Response had three gay male singers (along with a straight woman) and Lou Miami and The Kozmetics was a flamboyant gay male singer with a female rhythm section. Both those bands were amongst the most popular bands in the scene at that time.
Also, the main idea of punk was “anybody can do it” in a reaction to the rock establishment at the time which encouraged virtuosity and progressive rock. At first it was guys who couldn’t play very well but had great ideas and something to say. This extended to anyone who was marginalized by society and was not only morally, a good thing, but the results were fantastic.
So from what I’ve seen the idea of women in rock is just not a nice idea but one that creates great music. Examples? I can now look at Patti Smith’s music as pretentious at times but when, as a teenager, seeing her band at the arena shows in the early seventies with their garage rock leanings was the first times I saw live a band that had energy and kicked ass. When I became a bass player in the late seventies my biggest influence was Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads. My favorite punk band of the era and still to this day is The Avengers led by Penelope Houston.
I don’t want this article to come off as condescending, “good for girls,” in any way. But I want to mention some of my favorite female artists. Billie Holiday is my favorite singer of all time, I think Aretha Franklin is the best living singer, The Shirelles and all the underrated great sixties girl groups (dismissed by the hippie movement but actually more talented), The Runaways, X-Ray Spec, Hole (I’m not here to judge her personal life but she did make my favorite album of the nineties). Till their recent demise The Spoilers were my favorite local punk band and they had a female singer and drummer. Our website has lots of great bands with women- Tijuana Sweetheart, Damn Broads, The Grinds, Full Body Anchor, Hope & The Husbands and probably more I’m missing.
In a perfect world this article wouldn’t exist but we don’t, unfortunately. The point of this article may be- punk is a protest against the constraints of life and society. You’re not supposed to say these things, you’re not supposed to act this way and girls are supposed to play with their dolls not their guitars.
Thrash N Bang are not overtly political; we understand and respect that our friends on TNB have different political views. But what we strongly believe in is the inclusion of anybody who gets where we’re coming from, musically. So anyone with racist, sexist, homophobic feeling is not welcome.
But everyone else is. So pick up those guitars, sing songs, do your thing. Why, because you’re supposed to?
No, because you’re NOT.
