Five singers who subvert the "prettiness imperative"

I've been reconnecting with the music of my misspent youth. And as someone whose musical musical diet relied on healthy servings of punk and indie rock, that means lots of white boys and guitars. Of all the genres and sub-genres of popular music, rock and all its permutations has been the least able to achieve some sort of parity, and, not so surprisingly, still maintains a sense of credibility among critics, It's plainly obvious whose music is considered art, while whose is considered commerce.

This week it's been Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I've had on repeat. I've long been a fan of Wilco -- Jeff Tweedy is from just outside my city, so he's always had that "hometown hero" appeal, even though he rarely plays and lives in the windy city now. At just over a decade old, it may not be cool anymore, and singing its praises now more than marks me as an aging rock fan, but YHF is one of the most intriguing records to come out of the 00s. and I've been paying a lot of attention to Tweedy's voice. While I've never really been a fan of his singing, which stylistically wavers from a Dylan-inspired twang to a hoarse Jerry Garcia, his broken rasp fits perfectly with the music. I wondered, what would happen if a female artist sang that way?

I keep going back to this Tiger Beatdown piece from a few years ago, but it flawlessly illustrates the "prettiness imperative" that female artists face. To make good music, one must be willing to takes risks -- to sound "ugly," but not at the cost of the inherent sexiness that sells records. 

"Because for women, prettiness reigns. Being pretty, sexy, fuckable, is of paramount importance. This extends not only to appearance but to action. Which is where rock ‘n roll comes in. Because in order to make good rock music, you have to be able to do things that are not pretty. Pretty is not interesting, pretty is not groundbreaking (unless it’s juxtaposed with things that are not pretty), pretty is boring. And pretty is the thing that our culture enforces on women with a vengeance. The prettiness problem excludes women from rock ‘n roll in a three-phase process."

Earlier this year I wrote about Merrill Garbus, whose album whokill was topping every critic's best-of for 2011. While she garnered tons of critical acclaim, some pop culture pundits were flummoxed, notably Chuck Klosterman. Her vocals are noticeably un-pretty by conventional standards. Granted there have been, and are, many artists who don't rely on sex appeal, but their voices still fell into what's considered acceptable for a "girl singer." I tried to come up with a few more examples of female singers who aren't afraid to make an "ugly" sound.