Women and Popular Music

by Sheila Whiteley

Women and Popular Music explores the changing role of women musicians and the ways in which their songs resonate in popular culture. Sheila Whiteley begins by examining the counter-culture's reactionary attitudes to women through the lyrics of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. She explores the ways in which artists like Joplin and Joni Mitchell confronted issues of sexuality and freedom, redefining women's participation in the industry, and assesses the personal cost of their achievements. She considers how stars such as Annie Lennox, Madonna and k.d. lang have confronted issues of gender stereotyping and sexuality, through pop videos for 'Justify My Love' and 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)', and looks at the enduring importance of the singer-songwriter through artists such as Tracey Chapman. Lastly, she assesses the contribution of contemporary artists including Tori Amos, P.J. Harvey and Courtney Love, and asks whether the Spice Girls are just a 'cartoon feminist pop group' or if they provide positive role models for teenage girls.

Genres: Music, Feminism, Nonfiction, Cultural Studies

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Sheila Whiteley has an international reputation as a feminist musicologist, writer and researcher into issues of identify and subjectivity.

She was awarded the first Chair of Popular Music in the UK in 2000 for her work in gender, sexuality and culture and she continues to influence generations of academics, researchers and musicologists.

Reviews

[amalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cositas muy interesantes pa mi TFM

[vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

found mention of this book whilst looking through the genius lyrics of all i want by joni mitchell, regarding the lyric "i am on a lonely road and i am traveling...":

— she is the theme and placed at the center of her story. the first track “all i want” shows her to be “on the road”, typically the male domain of rock, evocative of jack kerouac and the gestalt of route 66. mitchell is the lonely traveler, but she is one who is there by choice, aware that the counter-culture of the 1960s had done little to extend its freedoms to women, especially in turns of musical equality...

and i was instantly intrigued! i love music (and the women therein) and i like reading about feminism from time to time—for which this book certainly delivered in my opinion. it covers a range of musicians from the 60s to 2000, including janis joplin, joni mitchell, annie lennox, kd lang, pj harvey, the spice girls, etc etc., discussing the effect of their music with respect to society at the time and vice versa while also diving into some music theory & overall i would say i learnt a good deal from it and i personally found it pretty enjoyable :-)

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fun in reading Women and Popular Music lies in reading a chapter, listening to all the music mentioned and dissected within, then repeating. Sheila Whiteley's tour of popular American/British music made by women since about the 1960s (but only until the late 1990s) covers a lot of wonderful artists, some of whom I didn't know about at all (e.g. Joan Armatrading), and ones I know about but were pushed to listen to more (e.g. Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman - and thank goodness I did). And I can't ever get enough of Annie Lennox, Tori Amos, and Janis Joplin.

Whiteley focuses on the rise of women in rock and the development of new and unique genres, especially the female-focused singer/songwriter, who has come to dominate what we think of as "women's music" in large part. The rise of female self-expression in individuality, gender, and sexuality are particular themes, and a diversity of visual and emotional expression, and genres used by women is today thankfully a given. The focus on individualism perhaps obscures a lot of black women artists from the Motown era, but I think she unfairly omits the impact of artists such as Whitney Houston and Grace Jones in defining music made by women.

I might be giving the book a bit more credit than it’s due because I enjoyed the music - the critiques are highly academic and uses a lot of Judith Butler-esque terminology, so it's not for everyone - but it is an insightful ride through music history. And that conceptual language is worth working through to read her discuss how the "Spice Girls are not Spice Sisters (despite the friendship angle) nor Spice Mothers": I enjoy a tongue-in-cheek but perceptive analysis.

[Starbubbles · Rating 3 out of 5]

the focus is on big name women and their messages and/or lifestyle. of course she couldn't cover everything, but there was lots of focus on how chords change, and she kept the social movement aspect disjointed from the music. both should have been placed together. since they were separate, it became more of a background instead of being a give and take. there was also no mention of the meaning to the audience. like with madonna, she opened discussion about female sexual drive. there was a discussion of sexual orientation and such. there was also a discussion of reactions, but no meaning.

[kyra s · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a research paper, so no review.

[karolina]

for my thesis