Return-Path: sendmail 5.67/UCSD-2.2-sun Thu, 5 Aug 93 12:01:07 -0700 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oc -odq -oi -fsocgrad-relay socgrad-list From: julianp@sfu.ca Subject: What Baudrillard didn't say To: socgrad@ucsd.edu Date: Thu, 5 Aug 93 12:01:03 PDT Excerpts from "WHY WOMEN CAN'T ROCK" (by Everett True) - 'Melody Maker' Sept '92 "It (rock) started as a bastardised form of expression for American male teen- agers who were too unthinking to realise rebellion might mean anything more thana new leather jacket and a quick fuck in the back of a Chevy. The idea was to give the illusion of rebellion - not the actuality - to give a quick vicarious thrill to its audience. Its rules, its rituals, its precepts haven't changed. Rock is still dictated to by white middle-class MEN. Rock is the music of the playground bully, the conformist, the kid too scared tothink for himself. It's for the wannabe lads, not brainy or brawny enough to make it any other way. A boy's club. Rock is the music of Presley, the Stones, the Clash and Guns N'Roses; tribal, dedicated to destroying what it doesn't understand and suppressing the viewpoint of the outsider (blacks, gays, the disabled, even 'artists'. . .). Where do women fit into all this? Quite simply, they don't As soon as any strong, vital rock woman comes along, she's immediately margin- alised, made safe by being classified in a varity of 'outsider' roles. Thus you have: Your 'witches': Courtney Love, Lydia Lunch, Slits, Siouxsie... Your man-haters/ball-busters: PJ Harvey, Sinead O'Connor, Babes in Toyland, Breeders, Bikini Kill... Your poetesses, made impotent by their very art: Polly Harvey again, Patti SmithKristin Hersh, Bjork... Your 'hags': PJ yet again, Courtney even, Sinead surprisingly, anyone who wears combat boots... Your madwomen: Sinead, Courtney, Cranes, Bjork... And so on... Thus they are effectively castrated and have no relevance to the reality of everyday MALE - and FEMALE - life. Because, using the pitifully outdated Fiftiesvalues that rock still holds dear, all women are either Doris Day or Marilyn Monroe - home-makers or sex objects. And if they're neither then they must be like that other great Fifties female icon, Bette Davis (i.e 'mad'). A concept such as a strong, free-thinking woman is completely alien to the true ideals of rock. Because rock is about the illusion of revolution, not the actuality, remember... It doesn't matter if any of the above may or not be creative. What matters is the way they're perceived/marketed. So why bother fighting all that? Rock is a firmly patriarchal form of expression, all the way down the line; the fans, the critics, the money-holders, the musicians. It's far too gone now for any change. Of course, rock likes to give the illusion of change. That's what it's all about. So it lets in the odd half-dozen or so female movers and shakers-Madonna, Susan Silver (Soundgarden's manageress). the odd Maker stringer. Illusion of change is all it is, though. Rest assured, it would never allow any-thing more. And now it's a rotten, tired, middle-aged medium made completely unthreatening in its omniscience by the tired, middle-aged MEN who grew up with it. It's as dead as the MEN who created it. And just as turgid. Women can'trock. The rules don't allow it." So there you have it. Baudrillard has risen from the ashes, and I've just realised why you should never write a thesis on something that's so close to your heart. I think I'll stick to my boring rant on why socialism's not dead yet J.P in SWEATY Vancouver.