Popular Music
Popular music is often described as the “soundtrack of our lives.” But more than merely a soundtrack, it also has the power to be an instrument of social change. In the realm of women’s rights, for example, American women of all races, backgrounds, and sexual identities—from early blues singers like Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith to modern-day artists like Ani DiFranco and Laura Jane Grace—have used their gifts as songwriters, musicians, singers, and performers to challenge traditional gender roles; testify about their life experiences; decry the injustices of racism, classism, and sexism; and proclaim their equality with men.
GERTRUDE “MA” RAINEY (1886–1939)
Known as the “Mother of Blues,” Gertrude “Ma” Rainey was one of the first popular stage artists to play a major role in establishing the American blues sound. Considered one of the most important artists of blues history, Rainey brought a blended country and urban blues sound to mostly African American audiences across the south as a part of vaudeville and tent shows. Rainey was an audacious and imposing figure who appeared on stage with wild hair, a big toothy smile with gold-capped teeth, a showy necklace of gold coins, an ornate sequined dress—and sometimes with an ostrich plume in her hand. Sometimes referred to as the “ugliest woman in show business,” Rainey eventually signed with Paramount Records and recorded more than 100 songs in which she wailed and moaned about cheating spouses, domestic abuse, and hard living.
Born Gertrude Pridgett in post-Reconstruction Georgia, Rainey was raised in poverty by her parents, who scraped out a meager living as singers in Columbus, Georgia, a frequent stop for minstrel shows. Influenced by her parents, Rainey developed a penchant for singing, and she had her public debut as part of the local talent show Bunch of Blackberries. Soon Rainey joined the traveling tent minstrel shows, where she met and married show manager William “Pa” Rainey and became a part of his Rabbit Foot Minstrels, a music collective that spread the blues throughout the South, and began to develop a following and admiration. When Rainey joined another traveling performing troupe, the Moses Stokes Company, she befriended a young Bessie Smith and took her under her wing. Smith, who admired Rainey a great deal, later became a blues legend in her own right. With Rainey’s unique blending of blues genres, relatable song lyrics, and deep-throated moan-like singing style, she eventually landed a recording contract with Paramount Records in 1923. Developing a following beyond the South, Rainey recorded more than 100 songs for the label, including “Bad Luck Blues,” “Moonshine Blues,” and “See, See Rider” with blues legend Louis Armstrong.
Rainey also developed a reputation for subverting normative gender roles and for her open lesbianism. She was known to wear men’s suits, and sang about women loving women and not needing men. In 1928’s “Prove on Me Blues,” Rainey sang, “Went out last night with a crowd of my friends, they must’ve been women, ‘cause I don’t like no men.” On the cover of the record, Rainey is dressed in a man’s suit flanked by two feminine women, with a police officer looking on. In 1925, Bessie Smith had to bail Rainey out of jail after the latter was arrested for hosting an “indecent” party where she engaged in sex with other women. Through her music, Rainey challenged gender norms and traditional expectations of women.
Paramount Records dropped Rainey in 1928, saying that her style of music had gone out of fashion. In her retirement, Rainey bought and managed two theaters, one in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia, and another in Rome, Georgia. Rainey was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1994, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor.
Ann M. Savage
See also: Bessie Smith.
FURTHER READING
Davis, Angela Y. 1999. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. 1st Vintage books ed. New York: Vintage.
Lieb, Sandra R. 1981. Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. http://www.gbv.de/dms/hbz/toc/ht004707266.PDF.
Rutter, Emily. 2014. “The Blues Tribute Poem and the Legacies of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and Bessie Smith.” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., 39(4): 69–91.
Wilson, August. 1985. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: A Play in Two Acts. New York: Plume.
Known as the “Empress of Blues,” Bessie Smith started her professional career in 1912 when she joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels traveling tent show, which was managed by William “Pa” Rainey and featured Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Known as one of the greatest jazz-blues singers ever, her first recording, “Down-Hearted Blues,” was released in 1923 on Columbia Records and went straight to number one. Smith soon became the most successful black performing artist of her time, releasing more than 200 recordings that addressed issues such as domestic abuse, failed relationships, and poverty. In 2014, premium cable channel HBO debuted the biopic Bessie starring rapper and actress Queen Latifah (Dana Owens, 1970–).
Born into poverty in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1894, Smith was just a child when both of her parents passed away. Raised by her aunt, Smith and her brother, who played guitar, began performing on the streets for tips. By 1912, Smith began as a dancer with the Moses Stokes Company and eventually joined Rabbit Foot Minstrels, where she met mentor Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. She settled in Philadelphia by the early 1920s, and after signing with Columbia Records, Smith set out on tour with her own elaborate custom-built railroad car. Smith’s career soared in the 1920s, and she became one of the highest earning black performers in the world. In 1929, she starred in the 16-minute film St. Louis Blues, the only film she is known to have appeared in. Like Rainey, Smith had several lesbian affairs despite being married and was known to partake in house parties where sex was engaged in casually.
Harlem Renaissance jazz singer Bessie Smith with her trademark feathers. Smith’s soulful voice and profound themes of love and loss earned her the title “Empress of the Blues.” (Carl Van Vechten Photographs Collection, Library of Congress)
As the Great Depression took hold in the United States, Smith’s popularity waned because audiences had less money to spend on leisure activities. A more sophisticated form of jazz performed by the likes of Ethel Waters emerged as well, and Smith’s earthier, homegrown musical style no longer held the attention of audiences. Smith’s long battle with alcoholism also had deleterious effects on her health and career. Smith died unexpectedly in 1937 in an automobile accident near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Some reports suggest that Smith might have been saved, but the first hospital she was transported to refusing to care for her because she was African American. Citing Bessie Smith as a major influence, in 1970 rocker Janis Joplin had a headstone made for Smith’s unmarked grave reading “The Greatest Blues Singer in the World Will Never Stop Singing.”
Ann M. Savage
See also: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey; Queen Latifah
FURTHER READING
Albertson, Chris. 2003. Bessie. Revised and expanded edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Calliope Film Resources, Inc., and California Newsreel Firm. 1989. Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel.
Davis, Angela Y. 1999. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. New York: Vintage.
Scott, Michelle R. 2008. Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
SISTER ROSETTA THARPE (1915–1973)
Although she has been referred to as the “Godmother of rock and roll,” Sister Rosetta Tharpe is an often-overlooked contributor to the invention of rock music. Tharpe introduced the electric guitar to gospel music with guitar solos that were nothing short of rhythm-and-blues-influenced rock. Tharpe became gospel’s first huge crossover recording star by displaying a blended musical style that was accessible to a wider audience. Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis all cited Tharpe as an important influence on their own careers.
Born to cotton pickers in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Tharpe was a musical prodigy who began performing at the age of four, with her mother, as part of a traveling evangelical troupe. In the 1920s, Tharpe and her mother moved to Chicago as part of the so-called Great Migration of African Americans out of the South and into the North. After settling in Chicago, they continued to perform religious concerts. After a short marriage to Thomas Thorpe, Tharpe moved with her mother to New York City in 1938. She signed with Decca Records and recorded four songs: “Rock Me,” “My Man and I,” “That’s All,” and “Lonesome Road.” These were Decca’s first gospel recordings, and they all became hits. Tharpe became the first successful gospel singer and is widely credited with popularizing gospel with secular audiences. In December 1938, Tharpe performed with John Hammond’s Spirituals to Swing Concert at Carnegie Hall. Her performance caused a stir in the religious community. Singing gospel with blues and jazz musicians was unheard of, and a woman playing guitar was considered controversial. Nonetheless, she soon became a regular at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where she performed with jazz legend Cab Calloway.
Replacing the acoustic guitar with her electric, Tharpe’s first recording to introduce gospel to mainstream music audiences was her 1939 hit “This Train.” In the 1940s, she recorded secular hits “Shout Sister Shout,” “That’s All,” and “I Want a Tall Skinny Papa.” Because of her crossover success, she was invited to record for troops overseas during World War II, only one of two African American gospel artists asked to do so. In the mid-1940s, Tharpe paired with blues pianist Sammy Price and recorded “Strange Things Happening Every Day” and “Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread.” “Strange Things Happening Every Day” was the first gospel record to hit number two on the rhythm and blues charts (referred to at the time as “race records”). Other Tharpe hits include 1944’s “Down by the Riverside” and 1945’s “The Lonesome Road.”
Guitar virtuoso Sister Rosetta Tharpe came to fame through gospel music, but her guitar playing was a precursor to rock and roll, and influenced the likes of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. (AP Photo)
When criticism of her secular recordings intensified from elements of the Christian community, which continued to make up the bulk of her fan base, she asked gospel singer Marie Knight to join her on tour. Tharpe and Knight subsequently recorded a series of gospel songs with Decca Records throughout the 1940s, with two of them making the top 10 of the rhythm and blues charts. Although she dabbled once again with secular music, Tharpe finished out her career mostly playing gospel and touring Europe and the United States. Tharpe died of a stroke in 1973 in Philadelphia.
Ann M. Savage
FURTHER READING
Calliope Film Resources, Inc., and California Newsreel Firm. 1989. Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel.
Darden, Bob. 2004. People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music. New York: Continuum.
Jackson, Jerma A. 2004. Singing in My Soul: Black Gospel Music in a Secular Age. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Kozak, Oktay Ege. 2012. “The Godmother of Rock & Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe.” Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, 57.
Wald, Gayle. 2007. Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-And-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Boston: Beacon Press.
Still recognized as one of the greatest jazz voices of all time, Billie Holiday rose to fame in the 1950s with her unique blend of blues emotion and jazz riffs. Nicknamed “Lady Day” by frequent accompanist Lester Young in 1936, Holiday had a unique vocal style inspired by jazz instrumentalists. One of Holiday’s signature songs, “Strange Fruit,” is a powerful, haunting, and soulful political song that details the horrors of lynching. Holiday is also known for her hits “Summertime,” “God Bless the Child,” and her trademark gardenias nestled in her hair. The victim of drug abuse and poor business management, Holiday died broke at the young age of 44.
Born Eleanora Fagan in 1915, Holiday grew up in Baltimore, singing along to Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong records. With an absent father and a mother who worked away from home, Holiday was often left in the care of others. In the late 1920s, Holiday’s mother moved to Harlem, and Holiday joined her soon afterward. Renting a room in a brothel and while Holiday was just 14 years old, they both turned to sex work to make ends meet. After serving a short stint in prison for prostitution, Holiday changed her name and began singing in Harlem nightclubs. Just a few years later, in 1933, at the age of just 18, Holiday recorded two songs with band leader Benny Goodman and had her first hit with “Riffin’ the Scotch.”
Holiday’s career began to take off when two of her swing-inspired jazz songs, “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” and “Miss Brown to You,” garnered national attention in 1935. The success of these tracks landed her a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1936, where she recorded George Gershwin’s jazz aria “Summertime” from the African American–centered opera Porgy and Bess. Holiday’s “Summertime,” now a jazz standard, hit the top of the pop charts.
Holiday was much more than a vocalist, however. She was actively involved in developing arrangements for her songs. After working with African American bandleader Count Basie in 1937, Holiday joined Artie Shaw’s band in 1938, making her the first black woman to work with an all-white orchestra. This also marked the first time a lead African American female singer toured the segregated South with a white bandleader. Holiday faced racism at every stage of the tour, with racial slurs being hurled at her even while performing on stage. While working at Columbia Records, Holiday was introduced to Jewish schoolteacher Abel Meeropol’s 1937 anti-lynching poem “Strange Fruit.” Holiday wanted to record the poem as a song, but Columbia refused, so Holiday recorded it with Commodore Records. “Strange Fruit” became Holiday’s biggest-selling recording, and it was inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Holiday struggled with alcoholism for much of her career, and in the 1940s she developed a heroin habit as well. In 1947, she was arrested for possessing narcotics and served prison time. She was released in 1948 for good behavior, only to be arrested again in 1949. Despite her substance abuse problems and a consensus that the peak of her career had passed, Holiday was able to move to Verve Records, where she recorded more than 100 new songs in the 1950s. Like many other early blues and jazz artists, Holiday saw little of the royalties from her work. Holiday’s abuse of drugs and alcohol, as well as her stormy relationships with men, eventually took their toll. Diagnosed with heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver, Holiday was hospitalized shortly after giving her final live performance in New York City on May 25, 1959. Accused of smuggling heroin into the hospital, Holiday was put under arrest and handcuffed to her hospital bed by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Holiday is said to have died broke with just $750 taped to her leg and $.70 in the bank.
Ann M. Savage
FURTHER READING
Davis, Angela Y. 1999. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. New York: Vintage.
Greene, Meg. 2007. Billie Holiday: A Biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Margolick, David, and Hilton Als. 2000. Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights. Philadelphia: Running Press.
Seig, Matthew, Robert G. O’Meally, Toby Byron, Richard Saylor, Ruby Dee, Buck Clayton, and Harry Edison. 2009. Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday. Berlin, Germany: EuroArts Music International.
WILLIE MAE “BIG MAMA” THORNTON (1926–1984)
With a powerful voice and an immutable presence, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton burst onto the American music scene in 1952 with “Hound Dog.” This recording lasted seven weeks at number one on the Rhythm and Blues charts and eventually sold almost 2 million copies. A singer-songwriter who acquired the nickname “Big Mama” because of her commanding voice and her sizeable swagger, Thornton’s musical contributions to the development of rock and roll are indisputable. In addition to the rock classic “Hound Dog,” written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, which Elvis Presley would record just four years later with much greater success, Thornton was also the first to record her self-penned “Ball ’n’ Chain.” Citing Thornton as a major influence in her work, rock icon Janis Joplin recorded “Ball ’n’ Chain” in 1968 with much wider acclaim and success. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has listed both “Hound Dog” and “Ball ’n’ Chain” as two of the “500 Songs That Have Shaped Rock ’n’ Roll.” Yet because she lived during a time of significant racial bias, Thornton never received the accolades, monetary reward, or credit she deserved.
Born in Ariton, Alabama, in 1926 as one of seven children, Thornton was raised in the Baptist church by her minister father and choir member mother. Although she started out singing in the church, as did all of her siblings, Thornton had a keen interest in rhythm and blues artists of the time. A young teenager when her mother died, Thornton quit school and took a job at a saloon to help support the family. Thornton eventually left Alabama in 1940 and headed to Harlem, where she landed some gigs as the “New Bessie Smith.” A self-taught drummer and harmonica player, Thornton had a commanding stage presence, was a frequent improviser, and often engaged in gospel-influenced call-and-response routines with her band. Similar to other women blues performers before her, Thornton also played with her gender expression. She often dressed as a man but never explicitly identified herself as lesbian. In 1948, Thornton moved to Houston, where she ended up signing with Peacock Records and recorded “Hound Dog,” the song that made her a star. Like many blues performers before her, though, Thornton would receive little compensation for the song’s success. She also never saw any royalties from Janis Joplin’s recording of “Ball ’n’ Chain,” although Joplin’s recording did draw renewed interest in Thornton.
Thornton continued to record and perform into the 1960s with various band incarnations that included well-known blues performers such as Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. In 1969, Thornton signed with Mercury Records and released her most successful album, Stronger Than Dirt, which reached 198 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. In 1973, Thornton recorded her first gospel album. Her album Saved included gospel staples “Oh Happy Day,” “Glory, Glory Hallelujah,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Thornton died in 1984 of heart and liver complications largely due to alcohol abuse.
Ann M. Savage
FURTHER READING
Jones, Dalton Anthony. 2015. “Death Sentences: From Genesis to Genre (Big Mama’s Parole).” Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, 25(1): 59–81.
Mahon, Maureen. 2011. “Listening for Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll.” Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, 15(1): 1–17.
Spörke, Michael. 2014. Big Mama Thornton: The Life and Music. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
Born in 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama, Odetta Holmes’s (known more commonly as Odetta) raspy, deep, emotional voice was unmistakable whether singing folk, jazz, blues, or soul. Dubbed the “Queen of American Folk Music” by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and identified as an inspiration by civil rights activist Rosa Parks, Odetta was dedicated to music that had a focus on social change, equality, and liberation.
Singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist Odetta. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to her as “The Queen of American Folk Music.” (AP Photo)
Although born in Alabama, Odetta spent most of her childhood in Los Angeles, where her mother moved after her father’s death. The move west was her first brush with blatant racism, as African Americans were asked to move to another railroad car to make more room for whites. This experience never left Odetta and was an impetus for her commitment to social justice. As Odetta was interested in music from a very young age, her mother encouraged her to get formal training when a young teacher recognized Odetta’s potential and talent. Odetta’s mother enrolled her in classical music lessons, encouraging a move toward opera. Odetta was engaged in formal training throughout her childhood and even had professional performing jobs as a teenager. Although she found value in her formal music training, Odetta was much more interested in the music happening on the streets and in juke joints and coffeehouses.
Already working professionally, Odetta released her first solo album, a mix of spirituals and blues called Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, in 1956. American folk singer Bob Dylan later cited Odetta, and particularly this first solo release, as a major influence on his own career. Folk singer Joan Baez and blues rocker Janis Joplin have also cited Odetta as a significant inspiration for their work. Although many of the songs that Odetta covered over the years weren’t originals, she made them her own.
Odetta was known for singing for the voiceless: workers, women, African Americans, and the poor. At the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, she performed now well-known versions of “Oh Freedom,” “On My Way,” and “We Shall Overcome,” with the latter becoming the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Similar to her involvement in that movement, Odetta spoke out against the Vietnam War and covered antiwar songs like Dylan’s “Masters of War.” Odetta also lent her voice to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), singing a feminist anthem in support of women’s reproductive rights worldwide called “Thirty-Four Million Friends.” In “Hit or Miss,” another feminist anthem, Odetta sang of women’s need to be themselves instead of trying to fit into some narrow definition of what it meant to be a woman. Singing at numerous civil rights marches, she made Lead Belly’s 1942 prison chain-gang work song “Take This Hammer” another signature song of hers. Odetta’s music has been described as “the soundtrack of the Civil Rights Movement” (“Odetta Biography,” 2014)
As Odetta aged and times changed, she slowly faded from public life and popularity. In 1999, though, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton, and in 2004 she was a Kennedy Center honoree. In 2008, after becoming the first African American to be elected president of the United States, Barack Obama invited her to sing at his inauguration. Sadly, though, she died just before his inauguration, at the age of 77.
Ann M. Savage
FURTHER READING
Alcorn, Stephen, and Samantha Thornhill. 2010. Odetta, the Queen of Folk. New York: Scholastic Press.
Ford, Tanisha C. 2015. Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
“Odetta Biography.” 2014. Biography.com. http://www.biography.com/people/odetta-507480#later-career.
Odetta, Renee Poussaint, Camille O. Cosby, and National Visionary Leadership Project. 1997. Odetta: National Visionary 2002. Washington, DC: National Visionary Leadership Project.
Known as the “Queen of Soul,” with 20 number-one hits on the rhythm and blues charts and 17 top-10 hits on the pop charts, Aretha Franklin is one of the most critically acclaimed and best selling music performers in history. Franklin’s hits include iconic songs like “Respect,” “Think,” and “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.” Franklin is a self-taught, gifted pianist with an emotive and impassioned vocal style. With a career spanning more than 60 years, she has inspired generations of musical artists and has been showered with awards and accolades including 18 Grammy wins, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2005, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Born in 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee, Franklin spent most of her early life in Detroit, Michigan. Like many other blues and soul singers before her, Franklin first began performing in public by singing gospel songs in church—in Franklin’s case in her pastor father’s Baptist church. She eventually also joined her father on traveling gospel caravan tours. At the age of 18, inspired by the likes of Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, Franklin won a recording contract with Columbia Records. She soon released her first secular records, which featured a mix of standards, doo-wop, and rhythm and blues. Experiencing only moderate success at Columbia, Franklin decided to move to Atlantic Records in 1967. Franklin’s first release with the Atlantic label landed her multiple hits, including “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” and “Baby I Love You.” In April 1967, Atlantic released Franklin’s version of the Otis Redding song “Respect,” which shot up the charts and became her signature song. With its lyrics of self-dignity, the song became heralded as a feminist and civil rights anthem. In her 13 years with Atlantic, Franklin had a string of other hits as well, including “Chain of Fools,” “Think,” and “Spanish Harlem.”
In 1980, Franklin moved to Arista Records, which was helmed by legendary music producer Clive Davis. Franklin recorded 10 albums with Arista, including releases where she tried a more contemporary and youthful sound with the release of Who’s Zoomin’ Who? in 1985, which had three hits, “Freeway of Love,” “Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves,” and the hit title track. During her time at Arista, Franklin branched out, recording songs for films and television, and duets with pop stars. Franklin also recorded several gospel albums on the Arista label. In 1998, Franklin returned to the top 40 with the Lauryn Hill-produced single “A Rose Is Still a Rose.”
In 1987, Franklin was the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2009, Franklin performed “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” at President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony. Franklin remains one of the most successful and critically acclaimed performing artists ever, with more than 112 singles on the Billboard charts in both pop and rhythm and blues; landing at number nine for Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time; and first for the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Ann M. Savage
See also: Carole King.
FURTHER READING
Bego, Mark. 2012. Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul. New York: Skyhorse Pub.
Jones, Hettie. 1995. Big Star Fallin’ Mama: Five Women in Black Music. Rev. ed. New York: Viking.
Lordi, Emily J. 2013. Black Resonance: Iconic Women Singers and African American Literature. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Malawey V. 2014. “ ‘Find Out What It Means to Me’: Aretha Franklin’s Gendered Re-Authoring of Otis Redding’s Respect.” Popular Music, 33(2): 185–207.
Loretta Lynn’s 1970 signature song, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” details the story of her life, in which she overcame childhood poverty in rural Kentucky and an abusive marriage to become one of the most celebrated country-music artists of all time. Her 1976 best-selling autobiography (written with George Vecsey), sharing the same name as the song, was made into an Oscar-winning film in 1980. With more than 15 number-one U.S. country music hits, ten number-one hit albums, and a successful career lasting more than 50 years, Lynn has made an indisputable mark on country music and has been recognized with an induction to the Country Music Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honors Award, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Actress Sissy Spacek (right) with country singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn (left). Spacek won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Lynn in the 1980 film Coal Miner’s Daughter. (Sbukley/Dreamstime.com)
Born into poverty as Loretta Webb in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, in 1932, she was the second oldest of eight children in a family that struggled to make ends meet. At the young age of 15, she met and married U.S. serviceman Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn. When she received a guitar as a gift from her husband, Lynn taught herself how to play. With encouragement and permission from her controlling husband, Lynn began performing at local bars and clubs. After appearing on local television performing in a talent show, she was signed by upstart label Zero Records. After recording four songs, Lynn and her husband toured across the United States, and by the time they got to Nashville the single “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” had climbed to number 14 on the country and western Charts. Soon Lynn and her husband moved to Nashville, where Lynn signed with Decca Records and began to work with producer Owen Bradley, who also produced country-music artist legend Patsy Cline. Though Kitty Wells was long an influence of Lynn’s, she became even more influenced by her new friend Cline, who cultivated a more modern and pop sound. Lynn’s first top-10 hit was the 1962 single “Success,” written by Johnny Mullins.
Lynn’s website describes her distinctive style as “a mature fusion of twang, grit, energy and libido.” With much of her inspiration coming from her own life and her tumultuous marriage, Lynn’s songs tell the stories of women, relationships, and temptations. Having developed a strong female point of view, which was unheard of for the time, her other early top-10 hits include threatening a hedonistic revenge toward a cheating husband in “Wine, Women and Song” and “Happy Birthday,” as well as “Blue Kentucky Girl,” which tells the story of a woman waiting at home for a gallivanting husband.
Lynn also began to write her own songs. Her first self-written song to hit the top 10 was 1966’s “Dear Uncle Sam,” which questioned whether the Vietnam conflict was worth the high cost of the human lives lost. Other strong women narratives written or cowritten by Lynn included “You Ain’t Woman Enough (to Take My Man),” “Don’t Come Home A’Drinking,” and “Fist City.” Lynn’s music, considered radical for the time period, struck a chord with working-class wives and mothers who felt overwhelmed by their demanding lives without getting much in return. Even though country-music radio stations often banned her songs because of their controversial topics, Lynn kept her strong female point of view and continued on. In 1971’s “One’s on the Way,” Lynn told the story of a worn-out mother with a husband at a bar. In “I Wanna Be Free,” Lynn explored the bright side of divorce. Although Lynn stayed married to her husband, Oliver, until his death in 1996, Lynn challenged stereotypes about divorced women as being sexually “easy” in “Rated X.” In “I Know How,” she celebrated women’s own sexual agency, and in one of Lynn’s most controversial songs, “The Pill,” she celebrated female empowerment through birth control.
Lynn remains one of the most successful female recording artists, in country music or otherwise, of all time. She was the first woman in country music to write a number-one hit and the first female recording artist to have more than 50 top-10 hits. Lynn was the first woman to be nominated for and win the Entertainer of the Year award at the Country Music Awards. In 2004, Lynn’s career was revived, after a long slumber, when she worked with alternative rock guitarist Jack White. White produced Lynn’s Van Lear Rose album, which won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album of the Year, Lynn’s first Grammy win in more than 30 years. The two also sang a duet on the single “Portland, Oregon” from Van Lear Rose, which introduced Lynn to younger generations. In 2010, a wide variety of well-known country and pop artists including Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert, and Sheryl Crow celebrated Lynn’s contributions to county music with the tribute album Coal Miner’s Daughter.
Ann M. Savage
See also: Planned Parenthood; Women’s Liberation Movement.
FURTHER READING
Lynn, Loretta, and George Vecsey. 1976. Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter. Chicago: Regnery.
Lynn, Loretta, and Patsi Bale Cox. 2002. Still Woman Enough: A Memoir. New York: Hyperion.
Lynn, Loretta. 2012. Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Meier, Kenneth J. 2004. “Get Your Tongue Out of My Mouth ’Cause I’m Kissin’ You Goodbye: The Politics of Ideas.” Policy Studies Journal, 32(2): 225–33.
Singer-songwriter Helen Reddy is best known for her 1972 hit “I Am Woman,” which came to be recognized as the anthem of the 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement. When self-identified feminist Reddy wrote and recorded the song, she had no idea it would become so closely associated with the fight for women’s rights. Reddy decided to pen the song after conducting an unsuccessful search for a song that was reflective of a woman’s positive self-image. Cowritten with singer-songwriter Ray Buron, “I Am Woman” reached the number-one spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 and made Reddy a star. Reddy was the first Australian to top the U.S. charts and to win a Grammy (for Best Female Artist). In her acceptance speech, Reddy challenged religious tradition and the assumption of God as male and thanked “God, because she makes everything possible” (Gaar, 1992). Reddy was also the first Australian to host a one-hour weekly primetime variety show on an American broadcast network.
Reddy was born in 1941 in Melbourne, Australia, into a show business family, as both of her parents were vaudeville performers. Reddy was encouraged to be a performer and at just four years old joined her parents onstage. As she entered her teenage years, Reddy was insistent on rebelling and rejected the performing life in favor of domesticity as a wife and mother. Marrying at 20 years old, Reddy’s first marriage ended in divorce after just four years. Finding herself alone as a single mother, she returned to the stage in an effort to support herself and her daughter. In the mid-1960s, Reddy competed in a singing contest on Australia’s musical television show Bandstand and won a trip to New York City to audition for Mercury Records. Although Mercury Records did not sign her, Reddy decided to stay in New York to pursue a musical career. Soon after, Reddy met and married Jeff Wald. Reddy and Wald struggled in New York and barely made enough money to survive. Eventually, the couple and Reddy’s daughter moved to Chicago, where Reddy was able to land a deal with Fontana Records, a division of Mercury Records. After Reddy achieved minor success with a number-83 hit in Australia, “One Way Ticket,” the couple moved once again, this time to Los Angeles.
Reddy’s husband, Wald, had success managing rock band Deep Purple and novelty act Tiny Tim, so Reddy challenged him to make her a success. Taking on the dare, Wald arranged a deal for Reddy to cut a single with Capitol Records in 1971. The track “I Believe in Music” failed, but the B-side, a cover of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, hit number 13 on the charts. One year later, Reddy released the song that would make her a star.
In a March 2013 Chicago Tribune article, Reddy indicated that she thought the runaway popularity of “I Am Woman” was due in large measure to the era in which it was released. “I think it came along at the right time. I’d gotten involved in the Women’s Movement, and there were a lot of songs on the radio about being weak and being dainty and all those sort of things. All the women in my family, they were strong women … I certainly didn’t see myself as being dainty.”
Although most widely known for “I Am Woman,” Reddy had 15 top-40 hits in the United States, including “Delta Dawn,” “Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress),” and “Angie Baby.” Reddy also had success with the television variety show The Helen Reddy Show, and she became a regular host of the late-night variety show The Midnight Special. Reddy recorded a series of other albums with MCA and Capitol Records until the mid-1980s. She did some sporadic recording in the late 1980s and 1990s, but with no mainstream success she fell out of the spotlight. In 2002, Reddy gave a farewell performance and moved back to Australia soon thereafter. Despite her official retirement, though, Reddy has given occasional performances since 2012.
Ann M. Savage
See also: Women’s Liberation Movement.
FURTHER READING
Arrow, Michelle. 2007. “ ‘It Has Become My Personal Anthem’: ‘I Am Woman,’ Popular Culture and 1970s Feminism.” Australian Feminist Studies, 22(53): 213–30.
Gaar, Gillian G., and Seal Press. 1992. She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll. Seattle, WA: Seal Press.
Reddy, Helen. 2006. The Woman I Am: A Memoir. 1st American ed. New York: J.P. Tarcher/Penguin.
Rodnitzky, Jerome I. 1975. “Songs of Sisterhood: The Music of Women’s Liberation.” Popular Music and Society, 4(2), 77–85.
A major influence in the development of pop music, Brooklyn-raised singer-songwriter Carole King is one of the greatest and most prolific songwriters of all time, with more than 100 hit songs to her credit. King’s career spans over half a century, from the 1960s Brill Building era, where she cowrote hit after hit with her then-husband Gerry Goffin, to her record-breaking 1971 solo album, Tapestry, and a 2014 hit Broadway musical based on her life. King wrote or cowrote 118 hit pop songs, has won four Grammys, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has toured as late as 2010 and performed at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. More than 1000 artists have recorded more than 400 of her compositions.
King learned to play piano as a child. As a teenager she dabbled with songwriting and singing. While taking classes at Queens College, she met Gerry Goffin, and the trajectory of both of their lives changed dramatically. King and Goffin not only married and had children, but they also became a successful and prolific songwriting duo.
King and Goffin were a part of what became known as the Brill Building Sound. In the 1960s, the music charts were ruled by girl groups like the Chiffons, the Chantels, and the Marvelettes, with the songs written in a sort of assembly-line fashion in several buildings—including the well-known Brill Building—near Broadway and 49th Street in Manhattan. With award-winning producers such as Don Kirschner, Phil Spector, and George “Shadow” Morton presiding over affairs, numerous chart-topping songs were generated by this formula. King and Goffin worked with Kirschner, writing more than 20 hits, with Goffin as the lyricist and King writing the music. Their first hit was the Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” (1960), the first number-one hit by a black girl group. Other big hits included “Take Good Care of My Baby” (recorded by Bobby Vee), “The Loco-Motion” (Little Eva), and “Go Away Little Girl” (Steve Lawrence). Goffin and King also cowrote one of superstar Aretha Franklin’s signature songs, the hit “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (1967).
In the late 1960s, King divorced Goffin and moved to Los Angeles with her two daughters. In California, she reinvented herself as a singer-songwriter. Her first solo release did not garner much attention, but in 1971 she released her second solo album, Tapestry. The album rocketed up to number one on the album charts, where it remained for 15 consecutive weeks, and the album sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The album’s popularity was driven by the inclusion of several major hit songs, including “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “I Feel the Earth Move.” With Tapestry, King became the first woman to win all three top Grammy Awards for Best Record, Best Song, and Best Album of the Year.
King went on to record 25 solo albums throughout her career, and in 2010 she launched a successful reunion tour with fellow singer-songwriter and longtime friend James Taylor. In 2012, she released her memoir A Natural Woman, which became a New York Times bestseller. King has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has been awarded the National Academy of Songwriters’ Lifetime Achievement Award with Goffin. In 2013, she became the first woman to be honored with a Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. One year later, a musical about her life, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, opened on Broadway to wide critical acclaim.
Ann M. Savage
See also: Aretha Franklin.
FURTHER READING
King, Carole. 2012. A Natural Woman: A Memoir. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Warwick, Jacqueline C. 2007. Girl Groups, Girl Culture: Popular Music and Identity in the 1960s. New York: Routledge.
Weller, Sheila. 2008. Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation. New York: Atria Books.
One of the first all-female rock bands, the Runaways arrived on the music scene in 1976 with the self-titled album The Runaways. The band was founded by rock icon Joan Jett (1958–). Eager to be a rock star, Jett hung out on the now infamous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, looking for band members. Inspired by rocker Suzi Quattro, Jett was particularly interested in starting an all-girl band, which at the time was an almost unheard-of proposition. Jett eventually met manager Kim Fowley (1939–2015), an eccentric and controversial strip mainstay, who saw gimmicky marketing potential in a teenage all-female rock band. Fowley put Jett in touch with drummer Sandy West, and soon they found three other bandmates: singer Cherie Currie and guitarists Lita Ford and Jackie Fox. Currie was born into a Hollywood family in the San Fernando Valley. With David Bowie as an idol, Currie began to sport a glam look and was a regular at popular club Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco, where she met both Jett and Fowley.
Although the band lasted only three years, never developed a big hit song in America (although “Cherry Bomb” was a chart-topper in Japan), and never won a Grammy Award, it made an indelible mark on rock and roll by paving the way for other female rock bands to follow, including the likes of L7 and the Donnas. The band also launched the far more successful solo careers of Joan Jett and master guitarist Lita Ford, who is often cited as one of the greatest guitarists, male or female, of all time.
Under the abusive management of Kim Fowley, the young performers burned out quickly, recording five studio albums in just three years. During these same three years, with a revolving lineup, they toured Japan, and toured the United States and Europe twice. After Fowley’s death in January 2015, Jackie Fuchs (Fox was her stage name) revealed that she had been drugged and raped by Fowley at a New Year’s Eve party in 1975. Fuchs alleges that many witnessed the assault, including bandmates Jett and Currie. There are disputed accounts of the incident, with Jett and Currie denying being present while others say that there have been rumors about the incident for decades.
Frequently dismissed at the time by the almost exclusively male rock music press, these talented teenage female rockers have had a long-lasting impact on the genre. Joan Jett and Lita Ford went on to have the most successful solo careers. Jett has eight platinum and gold albums and nine top-40 singles, including “Bad Reputation,” “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” and “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” Jett has toured as late as 2016. After several disappointing album releases, Ford landed a number-eight hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Close My Eyes Forever,” a duet with metal rock performer Ozzy Osbourne. In 2016, Ford released the autobiography Living Like a Runaway.
Ann M. Savage
FURTHER READING
Cherkis, Jason. 2015. “The Lost Girls.” The Huffington Post, July 10. http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-lost-girls.
Edgeplay: A Film about the Runaways. Film. 2005. Directed/written by Victory Tischler-Blue. Image Entertainment.
Ford, Lita. 2016. Living Like a Runaway. New York: Dey Street Books.
McDonnell, Evelyn. 2013. Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways. Boston: Da Capo Press.
The Runaways. Film. 2010. Directed/written by Floria Sigismundi. Culver City, CA: Pictures Home Entertainment.
A successful rapper, producer, actor, and talk show host, Queen Latifah (Dana Owens) made her mark bringing a feminist perspective to rap music with the release of her first studio album, All Hail the Queen, in 1989. The single “Ladies First,” featuring female rapper Monie Love, celebrates the strength of women, challenges gender stereotypes—including the notion that women can’t rap—and pays homage to important African American women throughout history. The video for the song underscores this message. As images transition from Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth to Angela Davis, Queen Latifah dons Afrocentric attire as she looks down on an apartheid-era map of South Africa. As the video continues, Latifah determines strategy on the map like a general, even as film of anti-apartheid black protestors is displayed.
Born into a middle-class family in 1970 in Newark, New Jersey, Dana Owens was given the nickname Latifah, an Arabic word for “delicate and sensitive,” as a child. Owens later added “Queen” to her professional name to illustrate her demand for respect as an African American woman.
Owens showed an interest in performance as a child, regularly participating in school plays and performances. With the support of her mother, who was actively involved in Latifah’s early career, she also joined with two female friends to form a rap group called Ladies Fresh. Her mother then put her daughter in contact with local DJ Mark James, who helped her record a demo that eventually came to the attention of Fred Braithwaite (professionally known as Fab 5 Freddy). Soon signed to independent music label Tommy Boy Music, she released her first single, “Wrath of My Madness,” in 1988. One year later, she released her debut album, All Hail the Queen, which sold more than 1 million copies and established her as a star.
In 1994, Latifah released her third studio album, Black Reign, with Motown Records. That album included her biggest chart hit, “U.N.I.T.Y.,” which reached number 23 on the Hot 100 and number seven on the Hot Rhythm and Blues/Hip-Hop Chart. This powerful song, which won the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, addresses domestic abuse and directly challenges the use of demeaning terms like “bitch” and “ho” when referencing women. Queen Latifah went on to release several other studio albums, but none of them reached the heights that her earlier releases did.
Beyond being a musical artist, Queen Latifah demonstrated a keen interest in the business side of the entertainment industry. In 1991, while still early in her professional career, Latifah founded Flavor Unit Records and Management (now Florida-based Flavor Unit Entertainment) in Jersey City, New Jersey, with producer Shakim Compere. The entertainment production company has produced both television and film projects, some of which have been star vehicles for Queen Latifah. Latifah’s first dramatic roles were small parts in several Spike Lee films, and from 1993 to 1998 she was a regular on the Fox television sitcom Living Single, which had strong ratings with black audiences. In 1999, she launched the short-lived talk show The Queen Latifah Show, which lasted for two years. She reintroduced the show in 2013, but again the show was short lived. Latifah’s later notable film work included her Oscar-nominated role in the 2002 film Chicago; 2003’s box office hit Bringing Down the House; the 2007 biopic Life Support, in which she played the leading role as an HIV-positive woman; and her performance as blues icon Bessie Smith in the 2015 HBO film Bessie, a film she also produced. The film won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie in 2016.
Ann M. Savage
See also: Bessie Smith; Set It Off.
FURTHER READING
Childress, Cindy. 2005. “Glamour’s Portrayal of Queen Latifa: Another Unreal Ideal.” Feminist Media Studies, 5(1): 84–87.
Queen Latifah, and Karen Hunter. 1999. Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman. New York: William Morrow.
Roberts, Robin. 1994. “ “Ladies First”: Queen Latifah’s Afrocentric Feminist Music Video.” African American Review, 28: 245–57.
Rose, Tricia. 1994. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1970, singer, songwriter, and activist Ani DiFranco took a stand early in her career against the profit-motivated music industry and succeeded on her own terms. When major record labels came courting her, the self-identified and outspoken feminist DiFranco defiantly took the independent route in order to retain creative control over her music. At the young age of 19, DiFranco launched her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, based out of her economically depressed hometown. Despite this decision, which made it almost impossible for her songs to reach radio audiences, DiFranco developed a strong fan following through relentless touring and regular album releases. Her music, both personal and political, connected with young people as she sang about abortion, racism, poverty, and many other social justice issues.
DiFranco also demonstrated her commitment to the revitalization of her hometown by rescuing a Gothic Revival–style church in downtown Buffalo from destruction. She remodeled the building into a multiuse art facility called Babeville. DiFranco also chose to keep production of artist merchandise and albums in Buffalo.
DiFranco began performing publicly at a young age. After gaining emancipation at just 15 years old because she did not want to follow her mother to Connecticut, she began playing her guitar regularly at clubs, street corners, and dives. After her record label was established, she released a self-titled album at the young age of 20. A politically conscious artist from the start, DiFranco’s songs often address inequality and injustice. Although frequently referred to as “the little folk singer,” DiFranco’s musical influences are broad and include jazz, punk, and funk. Throughout her multi-decade career, during which time she has released 24 studio albums, DiFranco has written and recorded songs about numerous political topics including women’s reproductive rights, gender and sexuality, war, corporate greed, sexual assault, and gun control. In the “Lost Woman Song” (1990), DiFranco discusses attacks on women’s reproductive rights while she simultaneously shares the experience of passing antichoice protestors while walking into a woman’s health clinic for an abortion. In “In or Out” (1992), DiFranco declares and defends her bisexuality. In “Self Evident” (2002), she sings about the poor quality of media coverage and the failure of news media to question the U.S. presidential administration in the lead-up to the Iraq War. DiFranco sings again about the threat to women’s reproductive rights, the murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, and the bombing of an abortion clinic in the haunting “Hello Birmingham” (1999).
A resident of New Orleans, DiFranco wrote “Red Letter Year” (2008) as a critique of President George W. Bush’s handling of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, DiFranco reworked the lyrics of folk-singing icon Pete Seeger’s labor song “Which Side Are You On” (2012), questioning the value of “free market trade.” In 2016, DiFranco joined artists Tom Morella and Ryan Harvey in a remake of a newly discovered 60-year-old Woody Guthrie song, “Old Man Trump,” which criticizes the racialized landlord policies of New York developer Fred C. Trump, father of then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.
Although not a mainstream artist or a chart topper, DiFranco’s artistry has been recognized with multiple Grammy nominations and a win in 2004 for Best Recording Package for Evolve. DiFranco has also been bestowed with several Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards, a Planned Parenthood Maggie Award for Media Excellence, and a Woodie Guthrie Award in 2009. Her Righteous Babe label, meanwhile, has expanded to include more than a dozen artists.
Ann M. Savage
FURTHER READING
DiFranco, Ani, Mike Dillon, Allison Miller, and Todd Sickafoose. 2008. Ani DiFranco—Live at Babeville. Buffalo, NY: Righteous Babe Records.
Feigenbaum, Anna. 2005. “ ‘Some Guy Designed This Room I’m Standing In’: Marking Gender in Press Coverage of Ani DiFranco.” Popular Music, 24(1): 37–56.
Goldberg, Hilary, Ani DiFranco, Scott Fisher, Commi Fag Film, and Righteous Babe Records. 2002. Render. Buffalo, NY: Righteous Babe Records.
Perea, Elizabeth. 1999. “Re-Articulation of Subjectivities in Popular Culture: Language and Gender Discourses in the Works of Ani DiFranco.” Women & Language, 22(2).
Righteous Babe Records. “Ani DiFranco News.” http://www.righteousbabe.com/blogs/ani-difranco-news.
Riot Grrrl was a feminist punk music scene that originated on the West Coast of the United States and Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Riot Grrrl soon spread nationally and internationally, with groups establishing Riot Grrrl chapters in major cities. Those involved in the subculture made their own independently produced zines, started bands, organized workshops, and started consciousness-raising (CR) groups. One of the signature elements of Riot Grrrl was its do-it-yourself approach to organizing. Riot Grrrls encouraged other girls to start bands, make zines, and start chapters in their own communities. The scene was an outlet for young women and girls to express frustration with—and value feeling angry about—sexism and other forms of injustice.
The term “Riot Grrrl” came out of a zine publication called Jigsaw by Tobi Vail, a key figure in the Riot Grrrl scene of Olympia, Washington, and member of the band Bikini Kill. Other significant Riot Grrrl bands during the early 1990s included Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, Huggy Bear, Mecca Normal, and Sleater Kinney. Riot Grrrl punk music often contains lyrics that speak about sexism, sexual abuse, harassment, feminism, and revolution. Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill often performed on stage with words like “incest” and “slut” written on her body. Many members of these “first-generation” bands continue to be involved with other musical and artistic feminist projects.
Zine culture was a significant part of Riot Grrrl. Riot Grrrl zines often contain manifesto-like statements that describe the meaning of Riot Grrrl from the perspective of the zine makers. These zines often include discussions of sexism, racism, homophobia, and other forms of social injustice; body shaming and fat positivity; mental illness; and political revolution. Notable Riot Grrrl zines from the early 1990s were Bikini Kill, Riot Grrrl, Action Girl, and Girl Germs. Zines helped Riot Grrrl spread across the United States, Canada, and worldwide. Girls sent Riot Grrrl zines to each other in the mail or ordered zines after reading about them in Sassy magazine, which reviewed a zine in every issue, beginning in 1991.
The International Pop Underground Convention, held by K Records in Olympia, Washington, in 1991, is considered a significant moment in Riot Grrrl history. The first night of the event featured a musical lineup of all-women bands called “Love Rock Revolution Girl Style Now.” The night brought together many participants in Riot Grrrl who had not previously met each other.
Riot Grrrl gained national media attention in the United States in the early 1990s, though much of this early coverage was patronizing. A 1992 Newsweek article called the more “extreme” Riot Grrrls “sanctimoniously committed” to the subculture. Many Riot Grrrls participated in a media blackout in response to the negative and biased coverage and refused to speak to mainstream media news outlets.
Riot Grrrl is widely considered part of third-wave feminism, in part because they both emerged during the time period of the late 1980s and early 1990s. But Riot Grrrl is also influenced by second-wave feminism. The manifestos, CR groups, and self-defense workshops of Riot Grrrls draw from second-wave activisms. Riot Grrrl aesthetics also draw upon avant-garde feminist artists, such as Kathy Acker and Nancy Spero.
Riot Grrrl is critiqued for being unable to adequately address issues pertaining to race and class, as well as racism and classism within the movement itself. Although there were women of color who participated in Riot Grrrl, the scene’s normative subject was young, white, and female.
By the mid-1990s, the heyday of Riot Grrrl was over. However, there are newly formed Riot Grrrl chapters beginning in the 2000s with still-active music and zine cultures. Riot Grrrl and zine archives have been established at the Fales Library, the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, and Barnard College.
Elizabeth Groeneveld
See also: Bitch Magazine.
FURTHER READING
Darms, Lisa, ed. 2013. The Riot Grrrl Collection. New York: The Feminist Press.
Marcus, Sara. 2010. Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution. New York: Harper Perennial.
Monem, Nadine, ed. 2007. Riot Grrrl: Revolution Girl Style Now! London: Black Dog Publishing.
Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott has sold more than seven million records in the United States and has won five Grammy awards since her rap career began in the early 1990s. As one critic said, “No female rap artist paralleled the success of Missy Elliott, neither during her reign nor before” (Birchmeier, 2016). Elliott rose to fame attracting a diverse fan base of varied ages, races, genders and cultural backgrounds. Her bold form of confident sexuality and self-acceptance, coupled with a strong will, musical talent, and hard work, challenged the status quo and accomplished the unexpected in the formerly male-dominated rap music industry. Consequently, many claim that Elliott has been a pioneer in bringing feminism into both the rap genre and mainstream pop music. As her talent and unapologetic feminism have consistently redefined the stereotypes of women and the expected role of female performers in rap music, Elliott has “established herself as queen of the freshest beats … [and the] hip-hop Madonna” (Lorraine and Ordonez, 2013: 100).
Born Melissa Arnette Elliott in 1971 in Portsmouth, Virginia, Elliott was witness to domestic violence and a victim of sexual violence throughout much of her childhood. Despite growing up in a mobile home where family dysfunction and poverty typified her early life, young Elliott was known in school as a class clown with a passion for singing. While still a teenager, she joined the R&B group Fayze, which after signing with Elektra Records was renamed Sista. However, the group’s debut album was shelved by Elektra due to the lackluster performance of the single “Brand New.” Nonetheless, during this time period, Elliott contributed lyrics and vocals to several hit tracks for other well-known artists in the hip-hop community, including Aaliyah, MC Lyte, Sean “Puffy” Combs, and Destiny’s Child. As these connections and songwriting successes accumulated, Elliott was able to use them to springboard into a solo rap career.
Elliott’s first solo album, Supa Dupa Fly, was released in 1997. A commercial and critical triumph, it brought her widespread acceptance and legitimacy as a female rap artist. Elliott then released a succession of other solo albums, including Da Real World (1999), Miss E … (2001), Under Construction (2002), This Is Not a Test! (2003), The Cookbook (2005), and a compilation album titled Respect M.E. (2006).
Grammy Award–winning musical artist and producer Missy Elliott. Elliott became one of hip-hop’s first female moguls with her record label The Goldmine Inc. (Carrienelson1/Dreamstime.com)
The majority of Elliott’s song lyrics and music videos, including “Get Your Freak On” and “Work It,” challenge industry and societal expectations in regards to body shape, size, age, sexuality, and/or gender. It has been argued that in contrast to many other female rap artists, Elliott “has always favoured personal style and self-confidence over male-dictated beauty ideals”; additionally, Elliott is known for having developed a musical resume that staunchly advocates for respect, empowerment, and sexual autonomy for all women (George, 2016). Over the span of her career, Elliott has composed, produced, engineered, provided vocals, and appeared as the feature artist on dozens of hit albums and songs.
Angeline Davis
FURTHER READING
Ali, Lorraine, and Jennifer Ordonez. 2003. “The Marketing of Missy.” Newsweek, 142(23): 100.
Birchmeier, Jason. “Missy Elliott.” ALLMUSIC. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/missy-elliott-mn0000502371.
George, Kat. 2016. “Why Missy Elliott’s Feminist Legacy Is Criminally Underrated.” Dazed. http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/29353/1/why-missy-elliott-s-feminist-legacy-is-criminally-underrated.
Morgan, Joan. March 2000. “The Making of Miss Thang!” Essence, 30(11): 92.
Laura Jane Grace is an American musician and song writer best known as the founding member of Florida punk band Against Me!. In May 2012, Grace came out as transgender and announced her plan to release an album about her experiences. Grace’s coming out helped initiate conversations about issues facing transgender people, as well as misogyny in punk music. The response to Grace’s identity helps to demonstrate the limits of how gender is perceived and the way that gender went unquestioned in even the most rebellious movements.
Grace was born in 1980 in Fort Benning, Georgia. The child of Major Thomas Gabel, Grace grew up moving from one army base to another, including a NATO post in Italy during the first Gulf War. Her parents divorced when she was 11 years old, after which she and her mother moved to Naples, Florida. Constantly bullied at school, Grace began experimenting with drugs and alcohol at age 13 and continues to speak of her struggles with addiction. In 1995, she experienced a brutal arrest, which she later described as marking the beginning of her political consciousness. Grace formed Against Me! in 1997 to express her anarchist and anticapitalist politics. Gender was also a theme throughout her work, with songs about her gender dysphoria appearing on albums as early as 2002.
On Against Me!’s 2007 album New Wave, “The Ocean” includes lyrics in which Grace wishes she’d been born a woman. In May 2012, Rolling Stone magazine published an interview in which she came out as transgender and talked about the experience of being gender dysphoric in a hypermasculine music scene. The album she announced, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, was released in January 2014, debuting at number 23 on the Billboard 200 (Caulfield, 2014). While touring over the next two years, Grace used her platform to speak about her experiences, the issues specific to transpeople, and how her experience of gender had always been present in her work. To this end, she produced an Emmy-nominated documentary series and spoke widely in both punk and mainstream media. Grace’s visibility increased the exposure of other punk bands that have transgender members. She used her public position to promote groups such as HIRS, G.L.O.S.S, and the Worriers, even helping to produce the Worriers’ 2015 album Imaginary Life.
Grace received an outpouring of support from a number of figures in the punk industry as well as from various LGBT organizations and feminist publications. Punk news sites produced articles on supporting transpeople, GLAAD voiced its support, and more than a few articles used her decision to come out to examine the issue of misogyny in punk. She was met with more reserved support by some members of the transgender community. Trans author Julia Serano, for example, expressed concern that the public conversation would only be about Grace’s physical transition. She argued that the excessive focus on transgender bodies dehumanized transpeople (Serano, 2012).
In many of the interviews Grace has given, she has been asked intrusive questions about what she planned to do with her body and whether she would change her voice. She has received harassment from fans as well as radical feminists, many of whom argue that her gender is not valid because her sex cannot be “really” changed. These reactions reflect biological determinism of gender, the idea that sex assigned at birth determines gender, and a belief that the body has sexed characteristics that can never be changed “enough.” Grace has responded to these challenges by demonstrating the fluidity of gender characteristics. When asked why she hadn’t made her voice “like a woman’s,” she reminded interviewers that she didn’t need to make her voice “like” a woman because she is a woman who is also transgender. Supporters have claimed that Grace’s response, which resisted the idea that womanhood was defined by gendered stereotypes, illustrates how limited her challengers’ notions of woman are.
Dorian Adams
FURTHER READING
Caulfield, Keith. 2014. “Chart Moves: Against Me!’s Highest Charting Album, Sara Bareilles’ Grammy Gain.” Billboard, January 31. http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/5893807/chart-moves-against-mes-highest-charting-album-sara-bareilles-grammy-gain.
Eells, Josh. 2012. “The Secret Life of Transgender Rocker Tom Gabel.” Rolling Stone, May 31. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-secret-life-of-transgender-rocker-tom-gabel-20120531.
Serano, Julia. 2012. “Laura Jane Grace and Coming out as Trans in the Public Eye.” Whipping Girl, May 30. http://juliaserano.blogspot.com/2012/05/laura-jane-grace-and-coming-out-as.html.
Wisniewski, Kira. 2012. “Punk Community Reactions to Laura Jane Grace News.” Punknews.org, May 12. https://www.punknews.org/article/47292/punk-community-reactions-to-laura-jane-grace-news.
It wasn’t until Atlanta- based singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe’s (1985–) second album, but first on a major label, that Monáe had success on the charts as well as gained accolades from critics. The ArchAndroid (2010), on her own Wondaland Arts Society/Bad Boy Records label, debuted at number 17 on the U.S. Billboard 200. Mixing African and futuristic aesthetics, her second album explored love, identity, and self-realization, and was part of a multipart concept series titled Metropolis. Monáe is a politically conscious artist who celebrates diversity and feels a responsibility to the underclass.
Singer, songwriter, and activist Janelle Monáe sporting her trademark bouffant, and a black and white suit, which serves as an homage to domestic and service workers—a labor force that has been historically, and is still today, dominated by African Americans. (Featureflash/Dreamstime.com)
The release of the single “Tightrope” garnered attention from critics and audiences alike. With a funky fast-paced sound, the lyrics consider the balancing act and emotional ups and downs of life. The song’s music video spotlights Monáe’s dancing talent as she dons her signature black and white tuxedo-like suit, with her hair perfectly coiffed in a bouffant-like pouf. She often refers to her clothing choice as her uniform, which she wears in part as a dedication to the working class and her own working class roots. In 2013, Monáe released her second studio album, The Electric Lady, with the Wondaland label, to wide critical acclaim.
Monáe founded Wondaland Records in cooperation with Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. Wondaland is more of an artists’ collective than a traditional label. With musical artists Deep Cotton, Jidenna, and St. Beauty, Monáe seeks to start a movement to transform music and popular culture with an interdisciplinary approach to creativity—while simultaneously maintaining political consciousness. In 2015, Monáe participated in Black Lives Matter marches and released the bonus track “Hell You Talmbout” in collaboration with other Wondaland artists. Along with chants of “say his/her name,” the names of victims of police brutality are recited over a deep, pounding drumbeat. In addition to her voice over work in the animated film Rio 2, Monáe has an acting role in two 2016 films, Moonlight and Hidden Figures. Moonlight centers on the coming-of-age story of an African American boy as he becomes a man. In Hidden Figures, Monáe has a starring role as one of the women at the center of the untold story of African American women’s contributions to the United States space program.
Monáe has been nominated for numerous awards, including several Grammy nominations, and has won the 2010 Black Women in Music Award from Essence Awards, the 2014 Rising Star Award from Billboard’s Women in Music, the 2014 Outstanding Music Video for Q.U.E.E.N. from the NAACP Image Awards, and the 2016 Hollywood Spotlight Award from the 20th Hollywood Film Awards, among others.
Ann M. Savage
FURTHER READING
Callahan, Yesha. n.d. “Janelle Monáe Reveals Why She Wears Black & White.” Clutch Magazine Online. Accessed November 18, 2016. http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2013/04/janelle-monae-reveals-why-she-wears-black-white/.
Harris, Aisha. 2015. “Janelle Monáe Brings a Powerful New Protest Song to the Black Lives Matter Movement.” Slate. August 14. http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/08/14/janelle_mon_e_s_hell_you_talmbout_is_a_rallying_cry_against_police_brutality.html.
Mock, Brentin. 2010. “The Joyful Noise of Janelle Monáe.” The Atlantic, May 18. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/05/the-joyful-noise-of-janelle-monae/56897/.
Angel Haze, reported as being born Raykeea or Raeen Roes Wilson in 1992, is a rapper and singer from Detroit. Using they/them/their as a personal pronoun, Haze gained popular recognition after mix-tape releases beginning in 2008, and has gone on to release two studio albums: Dirty Gold (2013) and Back to the Woods (2015). Haze’s works have been critically acclaimed for their skill and lyricism, as well as for confronting issues of gender, sexuality, and abuse. Angel Haze identifies as agender (a trans identity that rejects the male/female binary and the construct of gender itself) and pansexual (able to experience attraction to a person of any gender), and has been lauded for bringing awareness to these identities. Of Native American descent, Haze has also used the Indian term “two-spirit” to describe their gender variant identity.
Many of Haze’s songs have been critically praised for their frank discussion of difficult issues. Haze’s 2012 song “Cleaning Out My Closet,” a reworked version of fellow Detroit native Eminem’s song of the same name, brought attention to childhood sexual abuse. Haze’s personally revealing lyrics detail years of serial rape at the hands of a family friend. During a childhood spent living in what Haze described as a cult, their mother ignored the abuse, and Haze struggled with its effects on their psyche for years. The track received praise in The Atlantic for its honesty and critique of rape culture. In 2013, Haze released a remake of the artist Macklemore’s straight ally song “Same Love.” Over the song’s backing track, Haze freestyles about the pain and rejection that LGBT young people face and about Haze’s own experience in coming out to their mother.
Haze’s gender-conscious rap challenges the genre’s reputation as a bastion of sexism and homophobia. Haze has been outspoken about misogyny and homophobia, describing the rap and hip-hop music scene as a men’s club that excludes women and queers.
Grace Lidinsky-Smith
FURTHER READING
Alexander, Ella. 2014. “Angel Haze interview: Lesbians, marriage, rap and depression—inside the mind of hip-hop’s irrepressible female artist.” The Independent, June 27. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/angel-haze-interview-lesbians-marriage-rap-and-depression-inside-the-mind-of-hip-hop-s-irrepressible-9566207.html.
Haze, Angel. 2012. “Cleaning Out My Closet.” Classick. Produced by LeRoy Benros and Angel Haze. Soundcloud, October. https://soundcloud.com/noizycricket/cleaningoutmycloset.
Jeffries, Michael P. 2012. “How Rap Can Help End Rape Culture.” The Atlantic, October 30. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/how-rap-can-help-end-rape-culture/264258.
Keating, Shannon. 2015. “The Evolution of Angel Haze.” BuzzFeed LGBT, May 27. http://www.buzzfeed.com/shannonkeating/the-evolution-of-angel-haze#.mizGxga1J.
LILITH FAIR (1997–1999 and 2010)
The Lilith Fair tour charged onto the U.S./Canadian music scene in 1997 with a roster of female-fronted bands. Organized by singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan (1968–), the tour was revived in the summers of both 1998 and 1999, and it had a reprise in 2010. McLachlan said that she started the tour because “there’s such a great diversity of music being made by women and very few places where you can see that kind of music.” For many music fans, Lilith Fair marked an unprecedented opportunity to see many talented women performers at one event. Celebrated by many for bringing feminist consciousness to popular music and the broader culture, Lilith Fair’s fans as well as critics have reveled in the celebration of women in music. At the same time, some mainstream media outlets have dismissed the festival with sexist-laden markers, calling the festival an “estrogen-fest,” “breast-fest,” or “lesbopalooza,” and other media commentators all too often have referenced the appearance or marital status of the female artists.
The 1997 tour drew 600,000 fans, mostly women, in 37 cities. Although many celebrated the motivation of the fair, others criticized it for its heavy reliance on white singer-songwriters like Indigo Girls, Jewel, Paula Cole, and McLachlan; in subsequent years, the festival purposely diversified the lineup to include blues rocker Bonnie Raitt, pop/soul performer Erykah Badu, indie rocker Liz Phair, and rapper Missy Elliott, among others. Like Lollapalooza and similar tours, Lilith also offered a booth area for like-minded progressive organizations such as Planned Parenthood, domestic abuse shelters, and animal rights organizations. When right-wing groups complained about Planned Parenthood’s presence, McLachlan insisted, “It’s my festival and I believe in pro-choice.” Additionally, the festival donated money from each ticket sale and raised over $10 million for charity. Although at first resistant to the label “feminist,” McLachlan and others slowly began to warm up to the term.
McLachlan has often touted the fair as the first all-woman festival. However, many critics rightfully have pointed out that other festivals, such as the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and the National Women’s Music Festival, actually predated Lilith Fair. Lilith Fair also faced criticism from some feminists for its lack of a more women-centered atmosphere. Unlike Lilith Fair, the Michigan and National music festivals have been exclusively female, including stage crews and lighting and sound engineering technicians. There was another difference too. As a mainstream music festival, Lilith Fair was also plagued with corporate sponsorships and high-cost food, water, and merchandise. Despite these shortcomings, Lilith Fair represented a significant moment in women’s pop music history.
Jamie Anderson
FURTHER READING
Childerhose, Buffy. 1998. From Lilith to Lilith Fair: The Authorized Story. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Iannacci, Elio. 2010. “Defending Lilith Fair” Macleans, May 10. 2016. http://www.macleans.ca/culture/defending-lilith-fair/.
Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music. DVD. 1997. Directed by Buffy Childerhose and Alex Jamison. Brainchild Productions/High Five Entertainment/Lilith Fair Productions.
Morris, Bonnie J. 2009. “Mainstreaming the ‘Women’s Music’ Scene: Issues of Lesbian Visibility.” In Sapphists and Sexologists; Histories of Sexualities: Volume 2, 191–207. Edited by Sonia Tiernan and Mary McAuliffe. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk-rock activist group of women who stage unsanctioned protests against state-sponsored sexism and homophobia. Its provocative and illegal concerts, performed in various public spaces, are video recorded and edited into music videos and released by the group on YouTube. The group first formed in 2011 to protest the reelection campaign of Russian President Vladimir Putin and to criticize the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting the Putin regime and its consistent undermining of women’s and gay rights. Pussy Riot’s protest strategy is to shock and inform people through art and metaphor. The group wears balaclava masks and brightly colored dresses and tights, and shows up to public places unannounced and armed with electric guitars and microphones. In unison, they shout anti-Putinist, feminist, and LGBTQ-positive lyrics while punching and kicking the air, creating an unavoidable public disturbance.
Pussy Riot gained international media attention in 2012 when three of its members were arrested and detained without bail for performing lyrics from the group’s song “Punk Prayer,” also titled “Mother of God, Chase Putin Away,” at the high altar in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The three arrested members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (also known as Nadya or Nadia) (1989–), Maria Alyokhina (also known as Masha) (1988–) and Yekaterina Samutsevich (also known as Katia) (1982–), were convicted for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and sentenced to serve two years in prison. The Russian government rejected Pussy Riot’s claim that their protest in the Church was a form of performance art, which intended to cause political awareness rather than social harm. The Russian Courts and media depoliticized the protest by characterizing Pussy Riot as a blasphemous group that sought to infringe upon the human right to practice religion freely and safely (Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, 2013).
Despite the West’s overwhelming support for the women and political pressure from human rights groups including Amnesty International, which named the women “prisoners of conscience” (a person who is imprisoned for holding political or religious views that oppose those of the state), the Russian courts upheld the women’s sentences. The verdict was reportedly supported by the majority of Russian citizens, but it also resulted in mass protests across Europe, the United States, and Canada, drawing hundreds of supporters out to public demonstrations. One year after the women’s sentencing, Amnesty International declared August 17th as Pussy Riot Global Day of Solidarity, and more than 60 cities around the world took part in protests against the group’s continued imprisonment (Morris, 2012).
After serving their prison sentences, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina travelled to the United States, where North American media outlets interviewed the women about their activism, the trial, and their experiences in prison. Their willingness to talk to Western media and forge political alliances with the West created tensions with some of their Russian activist allies, who accused them of “selling out” to American culture for fame and profit. One group of Russian feminists publicly criticized Pussy Riot’s guerilla-style activism for causing too much backlash against feminism, which they felt jeopardized future gains for women’s rights in Russia (Gessen, 2014). However, with international support and news coverage, Pussy Riot successfully tested and exposed the boundaries of Russian liberalism and its intolerance for political artistic expression and feminist activism. Pussy Riot continues to protest sexism and homophobia in Russia despite ongoing state persecution.
Andie Shabbar
FURTHER READING
The First Supper Symposium. Video. 2014. Pussy Riot Meets Judith Butler and Rosi Braidotti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXbx_P7UVtE.
Gessen, Masha. 2014. Words Will Break Cement. New York: Riverhead Books.
Morris, Harvey. 2012. “We’re All Pussy Riot Now.” The New York Times, August 17. http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/were-all-pussy-riot-now/?_r=1. Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer. Film. 2013. Directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin. Russia and United Kingdom: Roast Beef Productions.
Steinholt, Yngvar B. 2013. “Kitten Heresy: Lost Contexts of Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayer.” Popular Music and Society, 36(1): 120–24.