This year, as always, many of my favorite records were made by women. Last year, six of the ten albums and seven of the ten singles I voted for were by women, but I never realized it until Poobah Christgau (who voted for one lady's album and no singles!) worried in his P&J essay that pop females aren't getting enough respect. When Ann Powers passed through Philly last Spring I told her she seemed to have an extremely limited definition of "women" - I asked how come she cites timid noise-skiffle shrinking violets like Barbara Manning and Juliana Hatfield as evidence that "women haven't vanished from the pop scene," but none of the recent women-fighting-phallocentric-rock roundups praise Mariah Carey or Lorrie Morgan or Corina or Amy Grant (none of whom play guitar much, two of whom wear new wave haircuts anyway, and all of whom move plenty of product). If you're just another teacher's pet kissing Babes in Toyland's butts because they "state their women's rights stance firmly and clearly," exactly what "paradigms" are you smashing? (Seems to me that the only clear thing about Babes in Toyland is that they try too hard to be hard like any dumb boy band. You want feminist firmness and clarity, try Judy Torres selling her baptized soul to the devil to escape domestic abuse in "My Soul.")...
I will now hereby demonstrate to Eveylyn McDonnell that I am as humble as any rock critic without a penis: "ALL THESE COMMENTS ARE ONLY MY OPINION. PLEASE DON'T THINK I'M TRYING TO PASS MYSELF OFF AS A MUSIC EXPERT." Did I pass the audition? --Chuck "I'll Write For Food" Eddy Pazz & Jop 1992
In any event, for me the issue isn't so much whether Adele et al. are imitative or not, but that they get to represent a triumph for "women in pop" because they belong to a class that is acceptable to journalists. (Am I right about journalists here, do you think? Are they claiming that Adele et al. are representing a triumph for women in pop? And are they as class-blinkered as I'm saying?)(And what do I mean by "class"? Remember, in July I asked you all to help me figure out what I mean by class?)
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timeasmymeasure
"An extremely limited definition of women"
Date: 2008-02-18 07:19 pm (UTC)This year, as always, many of my favorite records were made by women. Last year, six of the ten albums and seven of the ten singles I voted for were by women, but I never realized it until Poobah Christgau (who voted for one lady's album and no singles!) worried in his P&J essay that pop females aren't getting enough respect. When Ann Powers passed through Philly last Spring I told her she seemed to have an extremely limited definition of "women" - I asked how come she cites timid noise-skiffle shrinking violets like Barbara Manning and Juliana Hatfield as evidence that "women haven't vanished from the pop scene," but none of the recent women-fighting-phallocentric-rock roundups praise Mariah Carey or Lorrie Morgan or Corina or Amy Grant (none of whom play guitar much, two of whom wear new wave haircuts anyway, and all of whom move plenty of product). If you're just another teacher's pet kissing Babes in Toyland's butts because they "state their women's rights stance firmly and clearly," exactly what "paradigms" are you smashing? (Seems to me that the only clear thing about Babes in Toyland is that they try too hard to be hard like any dumb boy band. You want feminist firmness and clarity, try Judy Torres selling her baptized soul to the devil to escape domestic abuse in "My Soul.")...
I will now hereby demonstrate to Eveylyn McDonnell that I am as humble as any rock critic without a penis: "ALL THESE COMMENTS ARE ONLY MY OPINION. PLEASE DON'T THINK I'M TRYING TO PASS MYSELF OFF AS A MUSIC EXPERT." Did I pass the audition?
--Chuck "I'll Write For Food" Eddy Pazz & Jop 1992
In any event, for me the issue isn't so much whether Adele et al. are imitative or not, but that they get to represent a triumph for "women in pop" because they belong to a class that is acceptable to journalists. (Am I right about journalists here, do you think? Are they claiming that Adele et al. are representing a triumph for women in pop? And are they as class-blinkered as I'm saying?)(And what do I mean by "class"? Remember, in July I asked you all to help me figure out what I mean by class?)