women in music 5
1930s–1960s[edit]
In the Jazz Age and during the 1930s, all-female bands such as The Blue Belles, the Parisian Redheads (later the Bricktops), Lil-Hardin's All-Girl Band, The Ingenues, the Harlem Playgirls, Phil Spitalny's Musical Sweethearts and Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators were popular. Ina Ray Hutton led an all-girl band, the Melodears, from 1934 to 1939. Eunice Westmoreland, under the name Rita Rio, led an all-female band appearing on NBC Radio and for Vitaphone and RKO. A Polish group Filipinki was established in 1959.[97]
Groups composed solely of women began to emerge with the advent of rock and roll. Among the earliest all-female rock bands to be signed to a record label were Goldie & the Gingerbreads, to Atlantic Records in 1964, The Pleasure Seekers with Suzi Quatro to Hideout Records in 1964 and Mercury Records in 1968, The Feminine Complex to Athena Records in 1968, and Fanny (who pioneered the all-female band sound in the early to mid-1970s) in 1969 when Mo Ostin signed them to Warner Bros. Records. There were also others, such as The Liverbirds (1962–1967), the Ace of Cups (1967), The Heart Beats (1968), Ariel (1968–1970), and the New Coon Creek Girls (1930s).[96]
1970s–1980s[edit]
In 1971 Fanny became the first all-female band to reach the Hot 100's top 40, with "Charity Ball" peaking at No. 40. In 1975, the Canadian duo of sisters, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, recorded the first of a string of albums. The Runaways were an early commercially successful, hard-edged, all-female hard rock band, releasing their first album in 1976: band members Joan Jett, Cherie Currie and Lita Ford all went on to solo careers. The 1980s, for the first time, saw long-sought chart success from all-female bands and female-fronted rock bands. On the Billboard Hot 100-year-end chart for 1982[98] Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" at No. 3 and the Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" at No. 25 sent a message out to many industry heads that women who could play could bring in money. In 1989, one of the most famous female bands, the Dixie Chicks, began playing on street corners in Dallas, Texas. The band is trio consisting of Natalie Maines as lead singer, Natalie Maguire on the fiddle and mandolin, and Emily Robison on banjo, the Dobro, guitar, and the accordion. The Dixie Chicks sold more CDs than all other country music groups combined.[citation needed] They won five Grammys, in 2000, the Country Music Association's Album of the Year, and the Vocal Group of the Year award in 2002. Another famous female band includes the WildWood Girls. Originally the WildWood Pickers beginning in 1979 from the Chicago area, the all-female band began after the band became a family affair and later, they changed their name to WildWood Girls in 1982, resulting in twice as many bookings. They embarked on overseas tours for the USO and Department of Defense, worked as a band at Dollywood for about five years, and they played many times at Bill Monroe's Bean Blossom Festival in Indiana for 10 years. They released six recordings, despite the issues they ran into regarding the fact that they were an all-girl band.[citation needed] Yet another famous band is the Happy Hollow Stringband (1974–1979). They were an all-female bluegrass band with Sandy Crisco on banjo. Crisco reported that it was difficult to find the ladies restroom during bookings, as due to the lack of female performers, many male instrumentalists did not know where it was.[96]
Punk[edit]
Main article: Women in punk rock
Punk guitarist Viv Albertine.
In the United Kingdom, the advent of punk in the late 1970s with its "anyone can do it" ethos led to women making significant contributions.[99][100] In contrast to the rock music and heavy metal scenes of the 1970s, which were dominated by men, the anarchic, counter-cultural mindset of the punk scene in mid- and late 1970s encouraged women to participate. "That was the beauty of the punk thing," Chrissie Hynde later said." [Sexual] discrimination didn't exist in that scene."[101] This participation played a role in the historical development of punk music, especially in the U.S. and U.K. at that time, and continues to influence and enable future generations.[102]
Rock historian Helen Reddington states that the popular image of young punk women musicians as focused on the fashion aspects of the scene (fishnet stockings, spiky blond hair, etc.) was stereotypical. She states that many, if not most women punks were more interested in the ideology and socio-political implications, rather than the fashion.[103][104] Music historian Caroline Coon contends that before punk, women in rock music were virtually invisible; in contrast, in punk, she argues "[i]t would be possible to write the whole history of punk music without mentioning any male bands at all – and I think a lot of [people] would find that very surprising."[105][106] Johnny Rotten wrote that "During the Pistols era, women were out there playing with the men, taking us on in equal terms ... It wasn't combative, but compatible."[107] Women were involved in bands such as The Slits, The Raincoats, Mo-dettes, and Dolly Mixture, The Innocents.
Others take issue with the notion of equal recognition, such as guitarist Viv Albertine, who stated that "the A&R men, the bouncers, the sound mixers, no one took us seriously.. So, no, we got no respect anywhere we went. People just didn't want us around."[108][109] The anti-establishment stance of punk opened the space for women who were treated like outsiders in a male-dominated industry. Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon states, "I think women are natural anarchists, because you're always operating in a male framework."[110]
Heavy metal[edit]
Girlschool is a British all-women heavy metal band formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 35 years.[111][112]
The all-female heavy metal band Girlschool, from South London, formed in 1978. While somewhat successful in the UK, they became better known in the early 1980s. One of the original members of the band, Kathy Valentine, departed to join the all-female band The Go-Go's, switching from guitar to bass. Among Girlschool's early recordings was an EP titled "The St. Valentines Day Massacre" which they recorded with Bronze label-mates Motörhead under the name Headgirl. In 1974, The Deadly Nightshade, a rock/country band, was signed by Phantom. Women in the heavy metal genre tend to have to limit themselves due to the genre being very male orientated.[113]
Grunge[edit]
While there is a perception that the groups in the 1980s and 1990s alternative rock genre of grunge were "overwhelmingly male", women were represented in grunge bands such as L7, Lunachicks, Dickless, STP, 7 Year Bitch, Courtney Love's group Hole and Babes in Toyland, the latter an "all-female Minneapolis band", and grunge was "inextricably linked with Riot Grrrl", an underground feminist punk movement.[114] Women instrumentalists include the bassists D'arcy Wretzky and Melissa Auf der Maur from The Smashing Pumpkins and drummers Patty Schemel (Hole and Courtney Love projects) and Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland.[115]
Rock music's grunge genre, which peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as its associated fashion. The murky-guitar bands that developed from Seattle in the late 1980s as a link between popular 1980s heavy metal-hard rock and post-punk alternative rock are known as grunge. Most notably, these bands include Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Grunge was born on Seattle's independent Sub Pop record label as Mudhoney, Nirvana, Screaming Trees, and Soundgarden followed in the footsteps of the Melvins, a pioneering Northwestern band, and incorporated elements of punk rock, hardcore-punk inheritors of its DIY ethic, such as Hüsker Dü, and the sound of 1970s heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC.
The Melvins, a band from the Midwest. Nirvana and Pearl Jam garnered a quickly expanding following, signed to major labels, and created albums that sold millions of copies by fusing guitar distortion, agonized vocals, and sincere, angst-ridden lyrics. Following their triumph, Seattle, which was already enjoying an economic boom as a result of the Microsoft Corporation's rapid expansion, attracted record industry professionals seeking for the next big thing. With the help of the media, grunge quickly gained popularity abroad. As a result, American department stores began carrying imitations of the flannel shirts, thermal underwear, combat boots, and stocking caps that Seattle bands and their followers favored.
When Nirvana's Kurt Cobain passed away in 1994, the grunge movement eventually waned. This was partly due to Cobain's role as a generational spokesperson as well as the underwhelming album sales of many Seattle-based bands who were never able to break through. Yet, grunge significantly contributed to the mainstreaming of alternative rock.[116]
1990s–2000s[edit]
In the 1990s, musician's magazines were starting to view female musicians more seriously, putting Bonnie Raitt[117][118] and Tina Weymouth[119] on their covers. While The Go-Go's and The Bangles, both from the LA club scene, were the first all-female rock bands to find sustained success, individual musicians paved the way for the industry to seek out bands that had female musicians.
In rock music, bands such as Hole, Super Heroines, The Lovedolls and L7 became popular, while demonstrating on stage, and in interviews, a self-confident and "bad" attitude at times, always willing to challenge assumptions about how an all-female band should behave. Courtney Love described her band Hole's artistic ambitions as "[not] only repeating what men have done" while "coming at things from a more feminine, lunar, viewpoint.[120]
Also in the 1990s, the punk, female-led Riot Grrrl movement was associated with bands such as Bratmobile and Bikini Kill.
In pop music, two highly commercialised groups rose to fame in this decade, that would both break apart shortly after. Destiny's Child was an all female American group composed of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. Destiny's Child began as Girl's Tyme, in 1990 and years later, it was signed to Columbia Records and Music World Entertainment as Destiny's Child in 1997. Destiny's Child's best-selling second album was The Writing's on the Wall (1999), which included "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name."[121] Additionally, the Spice Girls was a British all girl pop group that formed in 1994. The band is composed of Mel B, Melanie C, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham. They signed with Virgin Records; their single "Wannabe" came out in 1996 and was deemed as number one in 37 countries.[122]
2000s–2010s[edit]
In the 2000s, all female and female fronted bands started using their influence to promote feminism and women in the music industry. Bands like The Distillers, fronted by Brody Dalle, influenced the rise of street punk. St. Vincent started gaining more traction and eventually appeared on the cover of Guitar World magazine. St. Vincent wore a T-shirt with a bikini decal on the magazine cover, a comment on how when women appear with guitars, they are usually dressed very minimally, as a marketing tool to sell the instruments. Haim, a band composed of three sisters, is extremely outspoken when it comes to the promotion of women in music, calling out major music festivals for the lack of female-fronted bands on bills and the lack of payment for female artists as compared to male artists of the same level.[123][124] In recent years, the lack of female representation in music has been a major controversial point in the industry. Female musicians and bands are constantly overlooked in favor of male artists; however, many people in the music industry have been making an effort to change this.
2010s–2018[edit]
From 2010 to 2018, many girl bands have emerged and became more popular. One of the most famous girl bands is Little Mix (2011), a British band that originated on The X Factor and is composed of Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Little Mix is the first all female group since the Pussycat Dolls to reach the US top five with their album DNA (2012). They also broke the record held by the Spice Girls by earning the highest debut US chart position for a British girl group's first release.[125] Additionally, Fifth Harmony is an American female group that is based in Miami and composed of Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui, and Camila Cabello until her departure in 2016. This group was also on the X Factor in 2012. Their three studio albums charted on the top ten of the US Billboard 200.[126]
