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Rock music, male dominated---WHY?


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Old 01-12-2013, 18:33
owl61uk
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Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, The Who, Genesis, U2 Rolling Stones. You get the picture. Amongst the biggest rock acts of all time and not a female in sight

I know there are a few women in rock but why is rock music so heavily dominated by males? Any thoughts
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Old 01-12-2013, 18:35
Janey B
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Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, The Who, Genesis, U2 Rolling Stones. You get the picture. Amongst the biggest rock acts of all time and not a female in sight

I know there are a few women in rock but why is rock music so heavily dominated by males? Any thoughts
Perhaps the men want to attract women by strutting their stuff
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Old 01-12-2013, 19:01
BadKid95
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What about Fleetwood Mac, Jefferson Airplane and Blondie?
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Old 01-12-2013, 19:08
Electra
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Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, The Who, Genesis, U2 Rolling Stones. You get the picture. Amongst the biggest rock acts of all time and not a female in sight

I know there are a few women in rock but why is rock music so heavily dominated by males? Any thoughts
Metal, not Rock. Same argument though.

What about Fleetwood Mac, Jefferson Airplane and Blondie?
Blondie is Pop
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Old 01-12-2013, 19:19
ashtray88
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Gender stereotypes.. Playing guitar and drums is more encouraged in boys than girls. That is why it's more common for a rock band to be fronted by a female lead singer, but females on instruments or an all female rock band is pretty rare. I think the most well known classic rock band fronted by females is Heart. But there are loads of great alternative rock bands with female members.
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Old 01-12-2013, 19:31
Radiomaniac
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Don't shoot me, it's only my opinion..............but (with some exceptions such as Ann and Nancy Wilson, Jennifer Batten, Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde etc), I think it's because men are, quite simply, better at it.
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Old 01-12-2013, 19:42
scratchy23
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Paramore are probably the biggest rock band lead by a female vocalist in the past 15 years or so. I can't actually think of many other recent rock bands with female vocalists? The Pretty Reckless, Garbage, The Gossip...
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:21
Gigi4
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Gender stereotypes.. Playing guitar and drums is more encouraged in boys than girls. That is why it's more common for a rock band to be fronted by a female lead singer, but females on instruments or an all female rock band is pretty rare. I think the most well known classic rock band fronted by females is Heart. But there are loads of great alternative rock bands with female members.
Yes, that's true. There tends to be many more female members in alternative/indie rock bands which is the kind of music I enjoy. On her current tour, Kate Nash has a band of all female musicians which is amazing. I love the Blood Red Shoes who have a new single out now called a Perfect Mess with great female vocals.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:24
bryemycaz
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Paramore are probably the biggest rock band lead by a female vocalist in the past 15 years or so. I can't actually think of many other recent rock bands with female vocalists? The Pretty Reckless, Garbage, The Gossip...
Evanescence are another recent act.

Back in the late 70s early 80s during the NWOBHM period we had bands like The Plasmastics with Wendy O Williams.

Then there was the all Girl Rock group Girlschool. They are still going although the lovely Kelly Johnson has passed away.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:39
mgvsmith
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Metal, not Rock. Same argument though.


Blondie is Pop
Like yeah everything fits neatly into set categories.

Lester Bangs called it 'Heavy Metal Rock' and that's good enough for me!
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:43
Gigi4
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Like yeah everything fits neatly into set categories.
Blondie has a rock element to some of their songs, but they also have a reggae, dance and even rap element. They are a very eclectic band so I can see why people wouldn't classify them as pure rock band even though I love them.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:45
Lazlo_St_Pierre
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I think Pat Benatar is fantastic. She has, at times, an almost angelic voice, but can rock with the best of them.

And funnily enough, I'm not really a huge 'rock' fan. I mean, I like the odd Van Halen or Whitesnake track, and if you include the likes of Queen and The Who then they're legends, but generally, too much testosterone-fuelled posturing puts me off. Motley Crue or something, not for me.

In a way, women performing rock knocks some of those rougher edges off, and I do enjoy Heart etc.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:46
mgvsmith
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Blondie has a rock element to some of their songs, but they also have a reggae, dance and even rap element. They are a very eclectic band so I can see why people wouldn't classify them as pure rock band even though I love them.
When I saw them they were a punk rock band. And Debbie Harry helped break down a few prejudices which is partly what this thread is about.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:52
Richard1960
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There is Lita Ford,Girlschool which were pretty good,Pat Benetar,i guess Rock is more suited to male groups though.

I love my Rock music though in any form been going to gigs since the 1970s.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:53
barrcode88
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Without sounded sexist, its because right now they're better at it and have been for a long time, with a few exceptions (Girlschool, Evanescence, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Bikini Kill, L7, The Slits etc)
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:55
bryemycaz
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Surprised no-ones mentioned Patti Smith yet.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:56
squirtle
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I think that in this day and age, women are expected to be both hot and talented. Men can get away with just being talented. Sorry if this offends, but Lemmy is no Amy Lee is he?

Fanny were a good all girl rock band imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukOcZ4Tjk0
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:58
Electra
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Like yeah everything fits neatly into set categories.

Lester Bangs called it 'Heavy Metal Rock' and that's good enough for me!
Lester Bangs was an arse though.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:58
barrcode88
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCZVRQ3z5qE

Come on this is an absolute classic, and I won't go into detail about what the lead singer Donita Sparks did at the Reading Festival..
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Old 01-12-2013, 22:04
Lazlo_St_Pierre
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Lester Bangs was an arse though.
It was on DS that I found out he was a real person, I initially thought he was a fictional character from Almost Famous.

What with confusing Bryan Ferry and Elton John, I'm a right dope sometimes...
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Old 01-12-2013, 22:05
squirtle
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCZVRQ3z5qE

Come on this is an absolute classic, and I won't go into detail about what the lead singer Donita Sparks did at the Reading Festival..
Is she the lass who flashed her mary on The Word? lol
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Old 01-12-2013, 22:09
barrcode88
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Is she the lass who flashed her mary on The Word? lol
She is But what she did at Reading is now in Reading folklore.
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Old 01-12-2013, 22:20
mgvsmith
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Here's a few suggestions as to why Rock is male dominated.

Youth culture has been dominated by male values for a long time and certainly was in the 60s and 70s when rock got big. Boys form gangs, bond in groups, have a religious obsession with team sports (football in particular) and girls have only started to do that more recently. Look at the hyper masculine culture reflected in 'Sons of Anarchy' biker culture and that culture predates rock to a large degree.

Worse still there has always been an undercurrent of male violence and the struggle for power within this gang culture. It was mods and rockers in the UK. The proverbial 'angry young men'. None of these things would be attractive to females.

As it says in the rock night programme on at the moment on C4, the values that formed the rock giants of the 60s and 70s still persist in the rock bands of today and that's why there are so few women involved in the music.

Just listen to the lyrics of the early songs in particular and it seems to me the culture around rock music in general and metal in particular encourages the maintenance of set gender roles, does it not?
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Old 01-12-2013, 22:21
Tal'shiar
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Well do you know any women with the level of arrogance needed to front a huge rock band? All the big greats all have that sort of god complex on the stage (some sadly off it as well, Axel etc), and a sort of low level aggression to it. Even an all female heavy metal band like Kittie still have a softness to them.

I think its mostly a social thing, girls are taught to not display aggressive attitudes and the like, where as young boys its part of growing up.

(much like if you told the average bloke he was beautiful he may not like that. If you told the average lady she looked "hard as nails" she may take that as an insult. So any music that fosters aggression will be male dominated (rock, metal, hip hop (the gansta side of things at least)), whilst softer styles tend to have a stronger female showing (acoustic guitar singer type stuff, most electronic music has female vocal lines)).
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Old 01-12-2013, 22:23
Radiomaniac
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She is But what she did at Reading is now in Reading folklore.
The dirty mare!
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