Earworm of the day Anna Calvi: I'll Be Your Man

Regrettably, Anna Calvi has only been on my radar since the Mercury Prize announced its shortlist earlier this year. The PJ Harvey (who won the prize) comparisons were inevitable... and unfortunate. Not because I don't hear Harvey's influence, but it's such an easy "go-to" reference for music critics. I hear more Nick Cave and later-era Cohen, and her use of negative space makes me think of Tom Verlaine's guitar work.

Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists: Guess What's Missing?

Maura put best with this headline that came across my Tumblr yesterday afternoon: "Breaking: panel overwhelmingly made up of white men is really into the artistic output of other men."

Rolling Stone published their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time . At this point, do I even need to say it? Two. Two of the hundred legends and icons great enough to be called "the greatest" are women: Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell, respectively.

I never really wanted this site to be a collection of posts detailing yet another aspect of the music industry where women are underrepresented, but this is getting kind of old. And I don't entirely fault Rolling Stone for picking the same artists who've been topping lists for decades: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hedrix, et al... because girls are still too rarely encouraged to play guitar, but their panel of experts should, at least, be hip to the fact that some great guitarists exist outside the Beck-Clapton-Hendrix trifecta. And some of those guitarists are women.

Yes, it's a boy's game and all. This is a fact, and not something that's about to change anytime soon. It dovetails nicely with what I wrote yesterday: women aren't seen as masters of their craft. Women may be topping the charts, but lack the respect male artists get.

Why don't we ever talk about women as musicians?

I read a quote from Emma Mayhew in an anthology about popular music and culture called Music, Space and Place: Popular Music and Cultural Identity that offered some good insight on why we don't talk about women as musicians:

Women, who have dominated the position of pop singer, have often been devalued through a construction of femininity as an unskilled, and/or "natural musical position. Part of this creative disfunction between men and women has a history not only within music (both classical and popular) but within the visual arts and literature.

There's a lot of truth is this. Breaking it down in terms that's easier to understand, there's a certain "nerdiness" to being a musicians. It's implied that being a good technician is mathematical, not passionate. According to stereotype, bands like Rush, noted for their technical skill are the domain of really, really smart guys who sit in their parents basement playing dungeons and dragons. (When they're not listening to Rush, of course.)



Passion defies logic. Technical proficiency isn't required if one is passionate enough about one's art. This is a good thing. Punk couldn't have happened if, well, if The Ramones knew a few more chords. But as men are allowed to be passionate or skilled (or both), women are only noted for their passion. A well-respected rock critic recently published a book that, in no certain terms, women, as fans, aren't supposed to be "logical." They just want to dance. Granted, there is nothing wrong with dancing, but that kind of gender essentialism makes me uncomfortable. Even though we're talking about pop music, it still takes women out of the intellectual sphere, and takes away their sense of agency. (The music controls me. I don't make it.)

I am not a musician. I can't speak about the act of making music with any authority whatsoever, but I was an art major for a few short seconds, and you know what? Being an artist in whatever media is a lot of work.