The Girls' Guide to Rocking!
The awesome Jessica Hopper has written a new book for girls about how to start your own rock band. What I love about this idea is it takes the brilliance of the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls and gives girls (and, um, adults, too!) who can't make it to camp a jolt of music-making inspiration.
Check her out on her book tour. And get the book for the future-rocker in your life.
And, for no reason other than it's Friday afternoon, let's play a vid from the Hopper-endorsed Katie Stelmanis. (I love the animation.)
Have a great weekend, y'all!
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That sounds terrible, honestly. Just give 'em a PJ Harvey cd.
I think it devalues to work of women in music when we're still constantly going "hey, wow, women can ROCK!" with the implied "...just as hard as men!" It's not as if women in rock music is some novel development, and it's not as if there's any shortage of role models. Yes, there's still rampant sexism and male-dominance in the industry, but I think it's a bit counter-productive to have young girls seeing book titles like this that are implicitly agreeing with the assumption that there's something special or unusual about a young woman wanting to start a band.
The most interesting, influential and inspiring female artists aren't the "WOMEN who rock" they're the "women who ROCK".
"The most interesting, influential and inspiring female artists aren't the "WOMEN who rock" they're the "women who ROCK"."
i don't agree with everything in your comment, but I love this sentence :-)
Man, if I'd had something like that when I was 13 I would probably be a rockstar now. Hah, well, maybe not that far, but I'd certainly have been a lot more motivated. I remember being soo upset when they stopped doing Women Who Rock.
Holy shit, it's Katie Stelmanis! I love her and it's great to see her get publicity on a site like this.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm always frustrated at how my heroes of rock are constantly ignored due to the fact that they own lady parts. Kate Bush, Nina Hagen, Heart, etc. They get some love from the rock historians, but nothing like Iggy Pop, David Bowie and their ilk. Makes me mad.
Women and girl rockers need all the support they can get.
I'm with gholtby. "Girls' guide to rocking" makes it sound like girls need instruction whereas guys just can.
As a female musician I can't stand anything that tries to cater exclusively to girls. When you walk into a music shop and see a row of guitars, it's only when you see a couple of "girls guitars" (actually labelled that way) that you realize all the other ones are supposed to be for men. Of course the girls guitars come in pink and purple only.
I have major issues with this as I have to deal with it on a regular basis. Music shops assuming that you're buying for your brother/boyfriend, male musicians not including you in conversations about music because they assume you can't participate, etc. ARGH I'm filling with rage just typing about it!
actually, i like the idea of this book.
it kind of encourages and legitimizes girls to found rock bands and to play music.
here - in hungary, where i live - all my male friends play music, since their teens, and they keep playing az a hobby, now that they are over 30. because when they started to learn to play an instrument, it was obvious to them to form a band. while my female friends who learnt music, just quit. anyway, they didn't play guitar or the drums, they played more "feminine" instruments, like flute or they sang.
and it's so sad to watch that girls are trained to play music as they are tought to, and boys are encouraged to do rock or anything experimental, just for fun.
also, i go to a lot of concerts, and the last time i realized that there were 2 bands, 11 musicians altogether, and _all_ of them were men.
so sad.
I just feel like this kind of book separates female musicians from male musicians even more. Everyone is entitled to music. I reject the idea that girls need an "introductory course" more than any other gender.
There are plenty of good books that encourage young people into music, there's no need for a gender specific one. We also don't need gender specific guitars, unless of course my pink flower shaped guitar is going to hand me a tampon when I need it...
actually, here in my country, i have never seen any books encouraging young people into music and i haven't seen any gender specific guitars - and not in a good way. all the guitars are supposed to be male guitars.
very few people think that girls are entitled to rock music. (only a few weeks ago a grandfather told my friend that girls are not entitled to climb trees!)
i think a book like this would show that yes, girls can play rock music.
Given the fact that women in music are generally outnumbered, under-covered and underappreciated, I actually think gender-specific books about and for women in music serve a purpose. There's a fair argument to be made that this is playing into the gender segregation of books and toys marketed to kids. Of course girls don't need an "introductory course" any more than boys do, but the fact remains that girls are generally less encouraged than boys to pick up a guitar or drumsticks and let loose. And they have fewer female role models for that type of musicianship. So I see this book as helping to remedy that divide, not prop it up.
However, it's totally a worthwhile question to think about: Why couldn't it just be a kid's guide to rocking -- albeit one that prominently features women musicians and illustrations of girls rocking out?
I wonder how many tween girls out there can afford musical instruments and lessons. I don't mean that in a "Oho! Privilege!" way, I'd just be surprised if there's that many.
Yay Katie Stelmanis! She is playing tonight in Toronto at Wavelength.