Dear You

We've no doubt all been in the situation of having said something rather stupid only to grasp the full stupidity of it all within moments. Louis CK, for example, has a funny spiel about it in his show. But what about those times when the realisation of your own stupidity comes a year or two later? It's too late by that point to call up the friend and say "You know when I said yada yada yada? Yeah, I didn't mean it" because they've unlikely forgotten all about it. Unless, of course, you confessed to murder/sleeping with their partner/having abnormally shaped genitals etc..

My stupid comment wasn't that I'd killed anyone (thankfully), or that I've slept with anyone's partner (that's just plain old wrong) or that my genitals are weird in any way (all good down there, thank you very much). What I said was "I don't really like female singers". WTF? How can a sane person say that? Well, I found it quite easy to let those words pass my lips when discussing the merits of Paloma Faith with a friend. What I should have said is that I don't like the fact that we are encouraged to believe that it's a "good thing" that so many women are topping the charts here and in the US when the music they make is bland, beige and boring. The suggestion is that my feelings of sisterhood should override musical taste and .. well .. they don't. If women's contribution to modern popular music is going to be summed up by Paloma Faith, Adele and Katy Perry then I despair!

This came back to me recently when chatting with a proper feminist and former punk rocket friend about the BBC series Punk Britannia. I really enjoyed the series and how it put punk (and what came after) into context. I assumed that she would feel the same, but what she highlighted was the glaring omission of women from the show. Siouxie Sioux and The Slits got brief mentions and was it. Rewritten out of history.

This conversation, and memories of my earlier "I don't like female singers" comment got me thinking so I sat down and made a list. Not a full list, but a quick list of women in music (past and present) who I think deserve a bit more celebrating:

Annie, Kate Bush,  Neko Case, Patsy Cline, Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast), Kim Deal, Julie Doiron, Kathleen Edwards, Elastica, EMA, Feist, Aretha Franklin, Liz Fraser, Kim Gordon, Grimes, Emily Haines (Metric and Broken Social Scene), Debbie Harry, PJ Harvey,Gladys Knight, Victoria Legrand (Beach House),  Lykke Li, Karen Oh (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Peaches, Ruth Radelet (Chromatics), Robyn, Frankie Rose, Santigold, Sleater Kinney, Nina Simone, Siouxie Suoux, The Slits, Patti Smith, Regina Spektor, Dusty Springfield, St Vincent, Katie Stelmanis (Austra), Vivian Girls, Martha Wainwright, Zola Jesus..

And to Becky: You know when I said that I didn't like female singers? Yeah, I didn't mean it. And when you tire of Paloma you might want to give Kate a try.

Love,
Stephanie