Some notes on Out of the Vinyl Deeps

 

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I finally got a copy of the Ellen Willis anthology that'd I been promoting for a while, Out of the Vinyl Deeps. I think the most rewarding thing about this collection of essays is watching her transformation from a notice music critic to a politically aware pop culture pundit. Hired in 1968 by The New Yorker, her column ran for seven years, yet she still remains mostly unknown to the music listening public unlike her male contemporaries, Greil Marcus and Robert Christgau. Maybe the attention the book has gotten in the few short weeks it's been out will change that.

It's heavy on the sixties and seventies -- her years at the New Yorker -- which made me feel a little more disconnected that I'd like to admit. There were a couple pieces from the 90s, and a stellar essay on Bob Dylan's 2001 album, Love and Theft, but overall it speaks the language of that era: the burgeoning feminist and civil rights movement, and later, the birth of punk rock.

Another thing that really struck me was that Willis was a fan, first and foremost. Her writing was informed by fandom, but not clouded by it. I think this is really important to note. I've read a number of books written by critically acclaimed male rock critics whose work relies too much on gender essentialism, and the gap between fans and critics. Female fandom is often treated as silly and superfluous and over-reliant on emotion, whereas male rock fans are the true students of rock. (As if there really is such a thing.) I think Willis more than proves that fandom and critical thought aren't mutually exclusive and women are more than capable of the latter. (I know! Hard to believe, right?)

Overall, I really enjoyed Out of the Vinyl Deeps. It was long overdue, and I hope more people become aware of her writing because it, but really, I want to see more women join the music journalist canon, along with the Marcuses, Christgaus and Bangses.