the death of real rock?
This made me laugh quite a lot. Comparing Natalie Bassing-whatever her silly name is, with Chrissy Amphlett who has just been named Australia’s greatest Rock Chick (and rightly so).
Not only is this grossly misguided (have you heard the Rogue Traders music!?) but offensive to someone as iconic as Amplett.
The book mentioned in the article rates female performers on their “guts, sass, energy and an uncompromising attitude”. The author suggests Bassing-blah has what it takes. Oh, what is the world coming to? 
-kass
Rock ‘n Roll Timeline
As i was doing some further research for my “1990’s era” profile, I found a historical timeline of significant events of rock ‘n roll, ranging from the fifties up until the late nineties. Not only does this timeline highlight debut albums and hit songs, but also lists the deaths of various artists of the rock caliber. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain died from either having a drug overdose or suicide, which can negatively reflect the rock music culture; “Sex,drugs & rock ‘n roll”; the negative connotations behind these three words idealises that rock ‘n roll musicians are associated with living life recklessly.
Although this idea can be perceived negatively, in a positive light, rock music characterises a genre which is free of restraint and open to interpretation.
-Ellie
The 1960’s
The 1960’s was a big decade as far as musical development goes. Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Rolling Stones and the Beatles all emerged from this decade. Rolling Stone Magzine was also established in the 1960’s. It was the time when rock music seperated from pop.
Rock musicians strived to be intellectual. They wanted to escape the image that was connected with pop music of the late ’50s and eraly 60’s. The problem was, this type of music had many female fans (remember the footage of the Beatles in Australia, anyone?). So when rock strove to distance itself from pop, it also sought to eschew all feminine qualities in music.
However, there were some very influential female artists in rock music in the 1960’s. The best known female rock artist of this era was (and still is) Janis Joplin. She defied traditional ideas of femininity both on and off-stage. On-stage, she used her lack of traditional beauty to become ‘one of the boys’. She was often described as unattractive (and didn’t care about it), yet on-stage she displayed her ‘raw sexual power that dispensed with and surpassed traditional notions of feminine sex appeal’ . Joplin was openly bisexual, and her affairs have been as widely reported as her musical achievements.
She was one of few female rock artists to headline Woodstock in 1969. One of her lovers, Kris Kristofferson, penned her most famous song for her. ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ was released posthumously and reached number one in the US charts for 15 weeks, according to Rolling Stone.
While Rolling stone gave her the number 46 slot in their Greatest musicians of all time list, it is still believed that ‘Of her deceased contemporaries (Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison et al) she is perhaps least well known to younger audiences’.
With Joplin, as with many of the female artists we have discussed so far on the forum, there seems to be a tendency to portray her as a tragic figure. An emphasis on her affairs reduce her to her sexuality. And while she did use this in her performances, she subverted traditional gender roles, and this seems to have been a key to her success.
Sources
http://www.jstor.org/pss/899182
http://www.jstor.org/pss/853624
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595993/me_and_bobby_mcgee
By Alex
The 70’s
The 1970’s continued the booming phenomenon of the rock industry. Many sub genres of rock were born during this decade including soft rock, hard rock, country rock, folk rock, punk rock and shock rock. With so many new ways to enter this exciting industry many new artists evoloved. Although there was many new artists emerging several of the most influencial musicians in rock were farewelled. The 70’s saw the death of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley and also the break up of The Beatles.
The 70’s was also the middle of the second wave feminist movement. Many females were concerned with gaining full social and economic equality and this was true in the rock ‘n’ roll industry. Many female artists were under represented and subjects of racism, sexism and explotation. Even today it still seems they are under represented, when researching the rock’n'roll industry of the 1970’s it became very apparent that women were not the main attraction in rock ‘n’ roll, not even close. I searched articles, websites, top 20 lists, billboard lists and they all confirmed that the appreciation for women in rock during this period was inadequate.
Although the industry was ruled by men women still made thier mark during the 70’s, like I mentioned in a previous post Suzi Quatro’s determination during the 70’s lead to the emergance of many other great female rock artists!
American History, http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade70.html#music, Accessed 19th May 2008
History of Rock, http://www.scaruffi.com/history/cpt3.html, Accessed 19th May 2008
Lauren Duncan
The Nineties
The 1990’s proved to be a significant era for the establishment of the rock ‘n roll genre. Rock ‘n roll became an umbrella term which classified numerous new genres of music including alternative, gothic rock and grunge. Bands including Tool, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearljam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains emerged from the underground world and assimilated into mainstream culture. The nineties was also the decade that Australia’s Magic Dirt and Silverchair released their very first albums.
The nineties also saw the introduction of various female rock artists including Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love, Lisa Loeb, Gwen Stefani and Liz Phair. Following the footsteps of artists and bands including Blondie and Madonna, the succession of female rock musicians of the nineties saw a world phenomenon come to life. Women were somewhat socially accepted into the rock genre, as evident through the example of Gwen Stefani. Stefani, the lead singer of the rock-nineties band, No Doubt, through her stage presence, appearance, performance and lyrics, idealised the gender inequalities which dictated society of the time (No Doubt’s hit song “I’m Just A Girl” not only highlights No Doubt’s rock ‘n roll characteristics, but also shows the changing social attitudes; women were able to voice political and personal opinions through rock music.)
The nineties was an era which brought grunge, alternate and gothic rock came to life and women took the microphone and proved their worth, capability and strength within the supposed male dominated genre of rock.
-Ellie
acceptable in the 80’s
Music, music, music.
As a decade, the 80s was one of the most inspirational, creative, and progressive periods in popular music history. Women were at the forefront as performers, as female liberation and empowerment continued to be both expressed and celebrated.
But, alas, all the impressive feats seem to remain with the male artists. on average for every year that has been profiled, 80% of the achievements mentioned were male ones.
The explosion of music in the 1980’s saw the overwhelming jump of tabloid coverage of the private lives of musicians (which explains why a significant number of the year’s facts of women in rock actually have little to do with their music careers).
The walkman was introduced in 1981, the beginning of true portablitly and personal experiences in music.
MTV launched in 1981, suddenly meant that music wasn’t just about the song but it made the looks important too. The 1980’s saw the rise of the megastar- the image, the power ballad, the immense impression it left for the fture of musicians and performers to aspire to.
One of the biggest stars in rock in the 1980’s was Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. With a debut album released in 1980, sbsequent drama and immense success followed her every move. She found love with the Kinks’ Ray Davis, she has a child, she manages to top the charts with singles and albums. She also loses two band members to drug overdoses.
Marianne Faithful makes a very well recieved comeback with the critically acclaimed album “Broken English” in 1980. She states although she is over the heroin addiction, she has been living off the royalties of the Rolling Stones song “Sister Morphine” which she wrote, telling the press during her comeback “don’t tell me that drugs don’t pay.”
The early 1980’s was important for new-wave band Blondie. 1980 saw the release of “AutoAmerican” which reached top ten in both the US and UK. Debbie Harry furthered her image as style icon, signing an endorsement deal with Muirjani designer jeans. The following year she released a solo album “:Koo Koo” and in ‘82 her majorscreen debut in “Videodrome”is cited as a major contributing factor to the break up of Blondie in the same month.
Joan Jett “slimmed down and prettified” release the song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” with her newly formed band the Blackhearts in 1981. The immense hit was surely helped by her former success in the all-girl heavy metal band the Runaways.
Inveitably te 80swas all about image.
we can see it in Debbie Harrys transformation as a major, multi-media star, the phsical change of Joan Jett, the characters put forward by artists like Madonna.
The 80s was when females recognised the power of using the sexuality, body and gender to sell their music (or themselves). It can be argued as both exploitative and empowering but at the end of the day, these women are still icons today.
A major “fashion” with a lot of the new-wave and elctro bands was ‘gender-bending’ where men took on very female personas. Boy George is the most obvious example. This use of feminity can be both shocking and impressive, MTV was utilised now by bands to sell the band as a package rather than just music. Androgeny was also popular, with neither male nor female characteristics of dress adopted.
by kass.
