AFRAM Blog Post #1

In reading Mahon’s article titled “Listening for Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton’s Voice,” it became clear that influential women in rock-and-roll struggled to gain the recognition they deserved. It is shown that even when presented with praise, women - especially those of color - were belittled in a way that white men were not. This was exemplified when “Ralph Gleason, the dean of San Francisco music writers, declared, with a superfluous reference to her size, that Thornton was ‘pound for pound the best woman blues singer alive today’” (Mahon 2011. 6). Even within this praise, Thornton’s talent was reduced with a snide reference to her body, which didn’t fit within the gendered and racialized view of rock-and-roll. Much like Thornton's “distinctive voice notable for its volume”, women have had to use their own voices to do “much of the heavy lifting of writing black women musicians into rock-and-roll history” (Mahon 2011. 7, 3). I believe this long standing history of women being forced to fight for their place in the music scene has resulted in a unique modern movement of expressive music and culture. A large part of this movement is due to the development of new media that has shifted the narrative from a ‘white America’ dominated music industry to a more decentralized account of popular music. An example of this new media is the Women Who Rock archive that presents a “collective digital archive that fosters community collaboration” and emphasizes “from numerous angles the importance of rethinking the archive and its performative function” (Habell-Pallan et al 2014). I think that this shift towards a decentralized media-based representation of popular music has begun to give women artists a platform to freely express themselves and draw from and vocalize the historical neglect of women in rock-and-roll. “Cool Slut” by Chastity Belt and “1950” by King Princess are two songs that I believe portray an expressive era of rock-and-roll that unapologetically pushes against historical normative ‘rockism’ that has kept women out of the spotlight. As media technologies continue to develop, I think that popular music has the potential to drastically change in the coming years to better represent the women that have long influenced mainstream music from beneath the glass ceiling. “Cool Slut” - Chastity Belt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ffS__MlVZI

“1950” - King Princess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNxWTS25Tbk