Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

[J Neo Marvin <j_n_e_o AT hotmail.com>]

My experience, growing up 90 miles from San Francisco and seeing the Avengers,
the Urge, Vs., Noh Mercy, etc. etc. as well as local Santa Cruz bands like JJ180 and the
X-Dreamists, was that women were central to punk itself, not just post-punk.
It wasn't till hardcore came along that it became a guy's thing (and even then,
women were everywhere, especially in the Crass-influenced anarchist bands that
began popping up all over). You did have some bands like the Dead Boys and the
Stranglers who affected a macho, borderline misogynist attitude, but at least
among the people I hung out with, they were considered to be uncool throwbacks
to dumb old rock (even if we liked certain records by each).

A couple of thoughts about that time: it was an interesting paradox that in those
very early days, the self-proclaimed feminists (at least in Santa Cruz) tended to
be new age hippie types who were really hostile to the punk scene, while the punks
seemed to be getting on with the business of redefining sex roles and questioning
all that old programming of what boys and girls were supposed to be without making
a big deal out of it. (I recall hearing all that Olivia Records music and thinking, "Where
are all the ANGRY women's songs?")

Patti Smith gets mentioned a lot, and rightly so, but I think Tina Weymouth may have
had equal impact in her own quiet way. The Talking Heads did a lot of touring in '77-78,
and the experience of seeing a woman who WASN'T the singer, playing incredible bass
lines and looking dead cool, was pretty amazing at the time.

-J Neo Marvin
http://www.live365.com/stations/jneomarvin
http://earcandleproductions.blogspot.com



> From: dina.hornreich AT gmail.com
> Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:17:17 -0700
> To: typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [TypicalGirls] The Young Lady’s Post-Punk Handbook
>
> Thanks for pointing us in this directions. This woman's blog asks
> interesting questions. I just posted something very quickly trying to
> answer the questions she's raised:
>
> "But what’s interesting to me is that the women of post-punk seem to
> have felt completely free to express their feminine and masculine and
> simply human qualities freely. Few female musicians of post-punk seem
> to be “playing a man’s game,” nor presenting a “version” of the main
> channel, nor catering to male expectations of the Rock Chick
> (certainly not in an unproblematised, unironic way). These figures
> stand as central to my understanding of this sort of music as any
> men. And I feel they’re recognised broadly as pillars of the music.
> But having presented these mixes, I’d be very keen to hear your
> ideas: had you ever thought particularly one way or another about
> women in post-punk; are there identifiable ways in which women shaped
> post-punk, or was post-punk simply rock’s first androgynous
> embodiment; do you agree women are central to the story of post-punk,
> or were they in fact marginalised at the time? (I’d be especially
> curious to hear the experiences of those of you who were “there,” and
> not in diapers like myself.)"
>
> Discuss!
>
> -Dina
>
>
>
>
>
> On Feb 5, 2009, at 7:53 PM, WWWhatsup wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > A mix in 2 volumes
> >
> > http://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/women-of-post-punk-the-
> > young-ladys-post-punk-handbook-volume-1-1978-1983/
> >
> > http://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/women-of-post-punk-%E2%
> > 80%98the-young-lady%E2%80%99s-post-punk-handbook-vol-2%E2%80%B2/
> >
> > Joly MacFie
> > 212 608 1334
> > http://wwwhatsup.com
> > http://punkcast.com
> > http://pinstand.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > TypicalGirls mailing list
> > TypicalGirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/typicalgirls
>
> _______________________________________________
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