Is music mysogynistic?
This is an interesting thought and I guess you could break it down by a number of categories.
Where does this thought come from though? Well, last night (Tuesday 27 May 2014) I was at a gig in a small local venue. The genre of music I like is rock/metal/metalcore and last night was the last of the three. I am aware that people like to go a bit crazy at these shows and that is part of the amusement for me, watching other people going at it in the circle pit and wondering how no one ends up being carted off to hospital. Last night was no exception and there were some big lads there who were throwing themselves around, windmilling and kicking in all directions. Then I looked at the rest of the crowd and there were a fair number of women there (it was an 18 plus show, so only us grown ups allowed). The women were not involved and not getting in the pit and then I looked at their faces. One might argue that there was a mixture of bemusement and fear. The fear element was around whether or not we were likely to get hurt by these great lumps chucking themselves about. I have to admit that the lads were fairly careful to make sure that they didn't really bash into anyone not into it. Also I don't want to begrudge anyone having any fun at all. The women (and a fair number of men too) didn't feel like they could go to the front or fully enjoy the experience by the looks of things and maybe that was a little unfair. Then again, maybe it is unfair to say that this was because of the men doing the idiotic things, after all, as I said, there were a large number of men who didn't want to be involved and didn't feel they could move forward either. Maybe it was more the size of the venue that meant there was no compromise or room for everyone to get what they wanted from the show. Maybe it being a Tuesday made the rest of us more subdued, I don't know.
Moving on to the artists themselves. There are a small handful of bands that I know from the underground scene I enjoy that have a woman fronting the band and none that I can think of off the top of my head that are only made up of women muscians/vocalists. There are a few of the female fronted bands that are cashing in on the idea that the women can be used to 'sell' the band and this makes me sick. Then again, there are the odd bands I can think of who stick the pretty boy up front for the same purpose. Why is there a lack of female muscians in bands? I know of a few female friends who want to make it but seem to struggle to keep bands together or give up and go it alone.
Then there is pop music. Last year 1 Direction, a pop group made entirely of young men, became the richest ever UK pop group by tripling their income! There is no shortage of female pop artists, but how many have the sort of income these lads have? Also, while I was staying in Dublin recently, they played the stadium (equivalent of playing Wembley Stadium here) and sold it out two nights in a row. Streams of young women and little girls poured down the street to go and see them. Is this a sign of talent? Youth/sex sells? Or something else?
There are also more male music producers and record company owners than female ones. Why is this the case? Is it due to technical and business roles appealing more to men? Is this something men are more encouraged to do?
Like some other workplaces the music industry seems to have more of a male feel to it and there doesn't seem to be a huge concern over this. Why I can't really tell and what this tells the young people who enjoy music I don't really know.
Now, I must go back to working for that male muscian, as I do, and try and promote a bit more of his stuff for him...
Where does this thought come from though? Well, last night (Tuesday 27 May 2014) I was at a gig in a small local venue. The genre of music I like is rock/metal/metalcore and last night was the last of the three. I am aware that people like to go a bit crazy at these shows and that is part of the amusement for me, watching other people going at it in the circle pit and wondering how no one ends up being carted off to hospital. Last night was no exception and there were some big lads there who were throwing themselves around, windmilling and kicking in all directions. Then I looked at the rest of the crowd and there were a fair number of women there (it was an 18 plus show, so only us grown ups allowed). The women were not involved and not getting in the pit and then I looked at their faces. One might argue that there was a mixture of bemusement and fear. The fear element was around whether or not we were likely to get hurt by these great lumps chucking themselves about. I have to admit that the lads were fairly careful to make sure that they didn't really bash into anyone not into it. Also I don't want to begrudge anyone having any fun at all. The women (and a fair number of men too) didn't feel like they could go to the front or fully enjoy the experience by the looks of things and maybe that was a little unfair. Then again, maybe it is unfair to say that this was because of the men doing the idiotic things, after all, as I said, there were a large number of men who didn't want to be involved and didn't feel they could move forward either. Maybe it was more the size of the venue that meant there was no compromise or room for everyone to get what they wanted from the show. Maybe it being a Tuesday made the rest of us more subdued, I don't know.
Moving on to the artists themselves. There are a small handful of bands that I know from the underground scene I enjoy that have a woman fronting the band and none that I can think of off the top of my head that are only made up of women muscians/vocalists. There are a few of the female fronted bands that are cashing in on the idea that the women can be used to 'sell' the band and this makes me sick. Then again, there are the odd bands I can think of who stick the pretty boy up front for the same purpose. Why is there a lack of female muscians in bands? I know of a few female friends who want to make it but seem to struggle to keep bands together or give up and go it alone.
Then there is pop music. Last year 1 Direction, a pop group made entirely of young men, became the richest ever UK pop group by tripling their income! There is no shortage of female pop artists, but how many have the sort of income these lads have? Also, while I was staying in Dublin recently, they played the stadium (equivalent of playing Wembley Stadium here) and sold it out two nights in a row. Streams of young women and little girls poured down the street to go and see them. Is this a sign of talent? Youth/sex sells? Or something else?
There are also more male music producers and record company owners than female ones. Why is this the case? Is it due to technical and business roles appealing more to men? Is this something men are more encouraged to do?
Like some other workplaces the music industry seems to have more of a male feel to it and there doesn't seem to be a huge concern over this. Why I can't really tell and what this tells the young people who enjoy music I don't really know.
Now, I must go back to working for that male muscian, as I do, and try and promote a bit more of his stuff for him...
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