Where the ladies at?

When you hear “grunge,” what comes to mind? To me, grunge is all about the movement’s leaders (Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, for example) and their general attitude of “not giving a _____ (insert expletive here).” It was an aggressive, angry, and masculine attitude. But what is my perspective based on? Because I was born in 1990, and thus just a child as grunge gained mainstream popularity in the early 90’s, I never had direct exposure to the movement. Instead, my perceptions of what “grunge” is, means, and represents are totally created and determined by the media’s representation of the movement: everything from MTV specials, Rolling Stone articles, and The Simpson’s episodes have influenced my views of the grunge movement. But are those views correct?

As I found out while reading Catherine Strong’s article Grunge, Riot Grrrl and the Forgetting of Women in Popular Culture, my understanding of the grunge movement is missing the fundamental elements of gender-neutrality and women’s role in the movement. And yet, it seems that my ignorance about the importance of gender in the grunge movement is reflected by individuals who experienced the movement first hand; many of Strong’s interviewees (who were alive and active in the grunge movement) also perceived of grunge as a particularly masculine movement and had largely forgotten about women’s influence.

This article has sparked my interest in women’s role in music culture, both in general and specifically in LA. Ultimately, I agree with Strong’s assessment that it is exponentially more difficult for women to be considered “serious” musicians, as they are quickly made into sex objects and classified as girlish “pop stars” by the media. Take Katy Perry for example – after beginning her career as a Christian Rock singer, she tried to break into the mainstream market as an Alanis Morissette “girl-rocker” type. But after failing in this role for years, she was forced to abandon her artistic direction to become a “pop star,” breaking into popular consciousness with I Kissed A Girl, a song with clear sexual implications. From that point on, she continued to sing nothing but catchy (and usually sexual) hooks over electronic dance/houce music, and she became the first female artist with five number-one singles on one album (Michael Jackson is the only other person with this accolade).  Historically, however, there are many women who have had mainstream success as “serious” musicians –Morissette, for example. But ultimately, it seems as if stereotypes have indeed persisted, with many more men than women achieving this goal.

Does the same reign true in the LA Beats scene? Unfortunately, the beats scene is extremely male-dominated, as I only know of one female producer (Tokimonsta). I assume this is a result of the scene’s hip hop influence, as hip-hop is historically extremely male-dominated. Oddly, however, the demographics of the beats scene don’t match hip-hop: hip-hop is dominated specifically by African American men, while the beats scene is predominantly comprised of white men. While I have no evidence to support this, I believe this is a result of more stereotyping: because it is generally not accepted for white men to rap, beat-production allows them to participate artistically in an environment that is dominated by black men.

Different genres and movement of music have different influences, and as such would be expected to have different demographics. But Strong’s article, more than anything else, raised the question: how much those demographics are a result of the media’s perception of a genre rather than the genre’s influences itself?

Two women who I incredibly respect (and am incredibly in love with) are Merrill Garbus and Annie Clark, lead singers of the bands tUnE-yArDs and St. Vincent respectively. They have individually risen to the top of the indie-rock world and are considered by many as the de facto leaders of women in the field. In a conversation earlier this year, the two rock stars discuss the question: “What’s it like to be a woman in music?” Clark’s response, if optimistic, is also poignant. “The only difference…” she says, “…is that you get asked ‘what’s it like being a woman in music?’” And Garbus? “Why are we talking about gender when men don’t get asked, ‘what’s it like to be a man in music?’”

And yet, here we are.