AFRAM Blog Post #1

Marissa Kahler
AFRAM 337
Blog Post #1


Throughout time social norms have generated models by which individuals and communities should fall into. These models create "boxes" that we try to push people into based on previous models and social stereotypes. Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton faced the discriminatory aspect of these models throughout her career. The social models at this time caused Thornton to not fit within the "boxes" that society had created for her. Maureen Mahon describes the struggle perfectly in her work "Listening for Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton's Voice" in which Mahon writes, "This work also examines the race- and gender- rooted biases that have made it difficult to recognize the presence of innovative black women in the rock-and-roll context and their involvement in cross-racial exchanges" (Mahon 2). Clearly we see the boxes of race and gender working to exclude Thornton's artistic abilities from the rock-and-roll industry. The more invigorating aspect to this model is that Thornton had to watch as her works became covered and the performers coping her artistic characteristics got praise for the work; "Of particular interest is the impact of Thorton's transgressive, liberated black femininity on her performances of the originals and the way it influences the artists who covered her songs...These choices are evidence of an unconventional, transgressive, and liberated form of black femininity that rejects prevailing expectations of how women should comport themselves to secure respectability"(Mahon 5). All of which shows the gendered element in these models as well. Thornton could not perform in her signature style of a way, however when a man copied that signature style they became famous. This shows the models that were in place to keep Thornton within her societal "boxes" and also letting men stay within theirs.
The basis of these models transcend time to reflect themselves in new forms today. The Women Who Rock organization establishes a place in which today people like Thornton can get the recognition and appreciation they deserve without having to fit into these discriminatory models. In the "Notes on Women Who Rock" these models are called out and fought against as a root foundation of the organization; "By way of WWR, we seek to transform traditional models of popular music studies, instigating new convergences between academic disciplines and critical approaches that create alternative histories and new forms of knowledge" (Habell, Retman, Macklin 2). Women Who Rock is able to not only go back in time to recognize the women like Thornton and their impact on the musical industry as well as recognize their struggle to fit within the obscene social constructs of their time but also pave the way for modern Women like Thornton to freely express their abilities without scrutiny to the models still present today.


DJ Selections:
Old Town Road by Lil Naz X (Original Version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0H39NEsrdY

Teardrops On My Guitar by Taylor Swift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCek6_dB0M

Each of these artists faced the scrutiny of the models mentioned above. When Lil Naz X released Old Town Road there was so much controversy over what "box" or genre it fell into, this was a merging of the country and rap sounds of modern music that was originally rejected by the genres because it could not perfectly fit within one or the other-- that is until Billy Ray Cyrus (a white man) joined the Old Town Road remix and then it could qualify to fit within the country "box" in our modern day model. Taylor Swift faced a similar issue in her early career-- is she a pop singer or a country singer? Her earlier songs didn't fit into one or the other, similar to Lil Naz X, they were mixtures of the classic pop and country songs and there was also speculation as to what category her music fell into. Each of these songs shows the reinforcement of the same models Thornton faced in her time and how the concept of rockism is still present today.