hottest 100 of all time a “cock forest”
Disappointingly, Triple J’s Hottest 100 of All Time playlist did not contain a single all-girl band or female solo artist, although a handful of bands that made it into the Hottest 100 did have female members. To borrow Lindsay McDougall’s (aka The Doctor) term from the Breakfast Show this morning, it was a “cock forest”.
So what does this say about representation of, and respect for, women in the music industry? Which female bands/artists did you vote for?
In some ways I’d like to see a Girls-only Hottest 100, but at the same time I hate that women have to have separate events just to gain recognition in their field.
I counted three bands with women in them in total: The White Stripes, Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies. Did I miss any?
And not only were there no all-girl bands or solo-ists, there weren’t even any front women (or lady lead guitarists, I’m told).
The Dandy Warhols and Smashing Pumpkins also have women in them, and Teardrop was at least sung by Elizabeth Fraser from the Cocteau Twins but still… It’s so depressing. No PJ Harvey, no Patti Smith, no Janis, no Breeders – all of these women would have fit well into a list smattered with the old alternative stuff.
I think it’s unfortunately a pretty accurate reflection of the visibility of women in ‘seriously respected’ music.
Although this under-representation of women is insulting, the women musicians in these instances are good role models that have integrity and respect. What I am completely sick of in the music industry are females being represented by singers such as the Pussy Cat Dolls (who started their career in a gentlemen’s club!) that subliminally encourage girls to be shallow but sexy, and Rhianna whose outfitls barely those sensitive parts of her body. There is a slew of names that others could be inserted here, however, I have spent the majority of my life not affiliating myself with it, so therefore could only name two (sorry). But the point remains, women in the music industry are not being not being exemplified for the right reasons and idolised for the wrong reasons.
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Its incredibly saddening and horrible that so many female artists were not represented. Annie Lennox, Aretha Franklin, Gwen Stefani, Kylie Minogue, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Salt n Pepa, Nina Simone….so many great artists from so many genres. I blame the station for promoting white alternative guitar rock over other genres, and for their own publicity online lacking female role models in the suggestion list.
I think part of it is definitely the nature of Triple J listeners. The male voice simply has a different rock quality to it than the female voice. However, I would say that the absence of people such as Janis Joplin and Patti Smith is indicative of an oversight, to say the least.
But (and I’m not sure how I feel about it) male artists outnumber female artists on my iPod quite considerably. And I do wonder why this is. I think it may partly be because I prefer the sound of a male voice which is usually a bit deeper and such, but also because women in the music industry are often pigeon-holed as something I don’t really want to associate with. The music of popular female singers often deal with arbitrary themes and characterises women in a largely negative light – and here I’m talking about Rhianna & co.. This is not to say that there aren’t lots of very talented and deep female musicians out there though, it’s just that they seem to be a bit rarer.
I’m not sure where the problem is – in women singers who feel that they must objectify themselves? Record companies who take men over women? The consumer public which demands different things from men than from women musicians? Maybe all of these things are problems?
This is a sad day. We need to wake up and look at the big picture. Look at how little value is put on women in all industries creative and otherwise. Who goes to watch women play cricket or other successful women’s sport teams? Women musicians will not be valued equally until we are all on an equal playing field, eg, equal air time. At the moment the odds are stacked against women and indigenous people. Although it is shocking that we seem to be going backwards.
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