Pamela Des Barres is most recognized as a “rock ’n’ roll groupie” throughout the 60s and 70s (Wikipedia, 2015). She has built a career as a writer describing her accounts with famous rock stars and music legends. Her book entitled, Let’s Spend The Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies is a collection of stories from different groupies revealing tales on various rock artists. Throughout the anecdotes, relationships are reminisced upon, backstage passes our attained, hearts are shattered, and everyone sleeps with Iggy Pop. By providing a brief summary and critique of this novel, as well as an examination of the rock ’n’ roll culture, I hope to postulate context to stories and opinions I have on them. I thought this …show more content…
It seemed like Des Barres goal with this novel was to remove the stereotype that surrounds groupies, but instead she just reveals how accurate it is. This book puts an emphasis on how these women were “muses” to these rock stars rather than just one night stands (Doyle, 2010). Even for the women that would have brief encounters with these musicians Des Barres describes it as an inspirational sharing of a connection to artists that spoke to these women’s souls. Sleeping with rock stars was only one component of their devotion to the music (Doyle, 2010). I found this theme repeated in every chapter and it just seemed like a rationalization for promiscuity. Every opportunity Des Barres has she tries to justify others’ actions in this manner. This was a time when there were very few female rock ’n’ roll musicians and Des Barres describes being a groupie as an empowering choice (Nolasco, 2011). She depicts the groupie culture in almost a therapeutic manner. The excuse they give for promiscuity is their role in being the "muse" of these musical poets, which in some cases where sex turned to romance they were. However, what was really occurring was more of a competition among women to see who could sustain the attention of a musician the longest. This would usually end in tears for these groupies, as the musicians would move on. As stated by Des Barres in this book (2007). This quote is just one example of the heartbreak and misery connected to the groupie lifestyle. It exhibits how these women were participating in a one-sided relationship and how that leaves them
They wanted to play and show the world just what they could do, despite opposition about race and gender. The band lived together on tour, rehearsing every day with each other to perform good music for the
The greatest white female rock singer of the 1960s, Janis Joplin was also a great blues singer, making her material her own with her wailing, raspy, supercharged emotional delivery. First rising to stardom as the frontwoman for San Francisco psychedelic band Big Brother & the Holding Company, she left the group in the late '60s for a brief and uneven (though commercially successful) career as a solo artist. Although she wasn't always supplied with the best material or most sympathetic musicians, her best recordings, with both Big Brother and on her own, are some of the most exciting performances of her era. She also did much to redefine the role of women in rock with her assertive, sexually forthright persona and raunchy, electrifying on-stage
Forced to write a music review for my high school radio station, which I predicted would be extremely tedious to produce, I chose a band with a unique sound that used the lead singer’s volunteer service with the California Coalition for Women’s Prisoners as a focal point for their new album, We the Common. Before I knew it, I scheduled a phone interview with Samantha Rogers, who, on several occasions, worked with the lead singer, Thao Nguyen, at CCWP.
Instead of internalizing her fear of her husband, Clare perseus pursues Brian. This affair relates to the open sexuality of the 1920s. Clare wasn’t getting the attention she wanted from her husband, therefore, she was determined to find it somewhere else, a revolutionary, and very 20s, attitude. Clare was intrigued by Harlem and all the parties she went to with the Redfields. She wanted to be a flapper and explore things, so she explored her boundaries with Brian.
Women’s Blues music in the 1920s and early 1930s served as liberation for the sexual and cultural politics of female sexuality in black women’s dissertation. Hazel V. Carby explores the ideology of the white feminist theory in her deposition, "It Jus Be 's Dat Way Sometime: The Sexual Politics of Women 's Blues", and critiques its views by focusing on the representation of feminism, sexuality, and power in black women’s blues music. She analyzes the sexual and cultural politics of black women who constructed themselves as sexual subjects through songs in blues music and explains how the representation of black female sexuality in black women’s fiction and in women’s blues differ from one another. Carby claims that these black women
A gang hanger.” The words that Antonia chooses to describe Jazz are clearly depicted by what Antonia expects her to be like, based off of her appearance and reputation around school. ( It is evident that they do not know each other well when Antonia replies to Jazz asking if she’s her peer counselor with “Define ‘peer’.”) In this example, Antonia’s negative conception of Jazz is crystal clear.
In one of her songs, “Sissy Blues”, she uses a slightly insinuating tone to describe a love triangle between herself, a man, and a man who dresses like a woman called ‘Miss Kate’, described as ‘a sissy’. The music is almost frantic and sharp, following the insinuating tone of Ma’s voice. The tale she spins is of her losing her man to someone she did not expect: a man dressed in drag, ‘Miss Kate’, with a ‘jelly roll’ (euphemism for male genitals) who flaunts himself. According to Sandra Lieb, “…”freak shows” and drag shows-evenings set aside for homosexuals, lesbians, and transvestites-were common in many Harlem and Chicago night clubs” (Lieb 123), which testifies for the reasoning and inclusion of this character in “Sissy Blues”. It is a song about sexual jealousy, a common theme in many songs, but Ma Rainey places a twist on it when her man is in love with a ‘sissy’.
The innocence and purity in today’s America hardly ever exists anymore, due to the influence of technology amongst children as well and the information network, the Internet. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, innocence is a major characteristic of Jean Louise. The development of Jean Louise is often based upon the fact that she is an innocent and curious child, who hears things and then regurgitates them out once more. This proves that in this book, innocence is to be cherished and protected, lest thus emerges from this world a generation of illness and disease.
In the Rolling Stone magazine, the author, Brian Hiatt, uses pathos and ethos to successfully develop the article regarding the roots of blues music and how it has been reimagined today with the release of the new album “Blue and Lonesome” by the Rolling Stones. With intent to create a fervent
An artist that provoked my reaction while listening to their music was Jazz composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams. As a woman in the early 20th century, her gender did not reveal many opportunities, although her skill alone opened many doors to her career. Her music is inspiring to me as a woman because it teaches me to be grateful for women like her that proved her capabilities as an artist and strength of a woman in her time. In her piece “Walkin and Swangin”, I could clearly picture the decade of the 20’s and relate this song to the film and book “The Great Gatsby”. The mood of this song is happy and exciting, the tempo is fast paced and upbeat, while playing this song I found myself tapping my foot to the rhythmic beat.
Formed in 1960, The Beatles were one of the most famous rock groups to this day. The Beatles consisted of four group members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. In the beginning, The Beatles were playing in clubs in Hamburg, Germany until they returned to Liverpool where they were noticed by Brian Epstein, their soon to be manager, in November of 1961. This sparked their decade long impact that they made on music from the 1960’s to today. The Beatles’ style was of significant importance to the evolution of music.
The New Romantics was a subculture born out of dissatisfaction with the way ‘punk had become a parody of itself’ (Cole, 2000) that, once adopted by the mainstream, began to alienate ‘many of those who were at first attracted to it’s embracing of difference and individuality’ (Cole, 2000). Where punk had originally been about a very ‘DIY’ ethic and energy, it evolved into something uniform and hyper-masculinised. In doing so, the punk scene became much less of a welcoming space for LGBTQ+ youth, such as George O’Dowd (better known today as cultural icon, Boy George) and the Bromley Contingent (which included Siouxsie Sioux and Billy Idol) who ‘spent more time hanging out at gay clubs’ (Rimmer, 2003). Consequently, those who didn’t fit
Imagine that America is still in its eighties stage. As far as the eye can see, “[g]uyliner” (From Bowie to Adam Lambert, 20 Rock Stars Who Made Guyliner Cool) and grunge clothes take over the scene. Flaming outfits practically drenched in plumage, boas, sequins, glitter, and even sashes with hyper-realistic eyeballs. Artists and bands such as The Cure, Queen, David Bowie, Pete Burns, Culture Club, and the Eurythmics started festering into the radio stations of every home. Within just a few years, America was alive with this sweeping ‘new wave’ of androgyny.
I) Introduction: Hello everyone today I will speak to you about an English rock band who most of you have heard off, “The Beatles”. They were one of the biggest musical icons in history. The band consisted of 4 legends: John Lennon (guitar), George Harrison (guitar), Paul McCartney (bass) and Ringo Starr (drums).
Reputation is a controversial topic, it requires deep analysis and patience. This essay studies the positive and negative sides of the reputation of a pioneer ground-breaking woman who has challenged gender boundaries, stereotypes and sexism in the rock music industry during the 1970s. Known as the ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and has been named the ‘Best Female Guitarist’. Joan Jett, former guitarist and vocalist in The Runaways and lead vocalist in Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. A living inspiration with a lasting impression for generations.