MUSIC FROM THOSE WHO LOVE LIBERTY part 2:women in charge

MUSIC FROM THOSE WHO LOVE LIBERTY part 2:women in charge | November 24, 2009

In the past fifty years woman’s roll in the entertainment industry had been bitter at best; as well as reflecting the stereotype that women are nothing more than a receptacle, unthinking and docile. Especially in the eighties it seemed women were portrayed as nothing more that cheerleaders for a bunch of spandex wearing jocks with big hair metal bands. This isn’t just limited to glam metal it is an epidemic sweeping all of the industry’s stages; where you find musicians you find groupies. In fact only a handful of serious female musicians ever break mainstream and the first time they say or do anything scrupulous the record companies will drop them if the public doesn’t do it first. Despite the pressures of society occasionally progressive women break through their chosen genres and change the life of both women and men in that part of the culture leaving the rest completely ignorant. The macho image put off by the early punk rock counter-culture seems an unlikely place for a woman to vent; however most early punks would agreed that the patriarchy was a manifestation of an involuntary hierarchy, part of the struggle for the lower social classes and at the heart of censorship and the world’s most oppressive governments. Crass was no exception to the punk rock stereotype; they were a very aggressive sounding band for there time.

Eve Libertine was a fan of the group when they formed in the late seventies, and became a full fledged member before their first album. Penis Envy, released in 1981, was the third L.P. of the British punk band and the only one that features exclusively female vocals and writings. Immediately after it’s seizing in 1985 it came under fire in the British press for it’s risqué name and provocative cover, but as history shows there is no such thing as bad publicity. From the first few sentences the album’s harmony with feminism is clear. Clearly in a sarcastic tone, unique to punk rock, addressing the social attitudes towards women and the notion that they are property.

People like Eve Libertine and Wendy O’ Williams may not have made a huge mark on the feminist community as a whole, but it is clear that they did have an impact on men and women in their genre. They took what was primarily a boys club and opened their minds to their own prejudice so that both sexes to enjoy it. It would be hard to imagine what the punk genre would be like without them.