Whatever Happened to my Revolution?

Whatever Happened to my Revolution?
The rise and fall of the feminist rocker

By Devan Cook

Donning a purple wig, oversized sunglasses hiding her face and black boots laced up to her thighs, Lady Gaga leans back in a chair looking disinterested—until the interviewer asks her a question that suddenly makes her sit up. With a hint of condescension in her voice, she responds to his question of whether or not her overt sexuality distracts from her music:

“You see, if I was a guy, and I was sitting here with a cigarette in my hand, grabbing my crotch and talking about how I make music 'cause I love fast cars and fucking girls, you'd call me a rock star. But when I do it in my music and in my videos, because I'm a female, because I make pop music, you're judgmental, and you say that it is distracting. I'm just a rock star.”



For a moment, feminists across the nation’s ears perked up. Gaga’s comment, made during an interview segment for a Norwegian entertainment show gave them the impression that, for seemingly the first time in over a decade, a prominent musician was speaking on their behalf. But as quickly as the hottest emerging pop star ignited feminists’ hopes, Gaga extinguished the flame with her response to the reporter’s next question:

“Are you a feminist?”
“No. I'm not a feminist. I hail men. I love men. I celebrate American male culture: beer, bars and muscle cars."

In-keeping with the common misconception it seems the majority of men and women alike share in the current decade, Ms. Gaga mistook “feminist” to mean “man-hater.” Sorry, riot grrrls, it was a false alarm. The resurrection of ‘Revolution Grrrl Style Now’ had once again been put on hold. Over the last 20 years, the exploitation of the female empowerment movement in music has led to its homogenization; contributing to and cultivating a culture of apathy exemplified in today’s musical landscape.

Fifteen years ago, one of mainstream radio’s mostly heavily rotated songs was No Doubt’s breakthrough single, “Just A Girl.” While Gwen Stefani insists she never intentionally set out to write a feminist anthem, it became exactly that; the song and its accompanying video struck a chord with young women and teen girls across the globe feeling isolated and oppressed by their male counterparts. Gwen’s punk-inspired look--platinum blonde locks, Dickies, and Dr. Martens—along with ska riffs and traces of punk in the group’s sound propelled Stefani into the ranks of women rockers that topped the charts in mid 90s. During an era that Venus Magazine creator Amy Schroeder calls “a peak moment for women in music,” artists like PJ Harvey, Courtney Love and Bjork were experiencing mainstream success not in the dance-pop circuit, but as rockers.

Stefani’s commercially viable feminist message certainly wasn’t indicative of the more radical approach being taken in the underground scene. Five years prior to Stefani’s complaint that being “pretty and petite” meant she had no rights, Kathleen Hanna of seminal Riot Grrrl group Bikini Kill was screaming, “Mama says you must be a polite girl/Suck my left one!” Originated in Olympia, Washington by Hanna and fellow Bikini Kill member Tobi Vail in 1990, the Riot Grrrl movement emerged from a fanzine the women had created, which was then developed into a musical and political philosophy. These women had grown up in the hardcore punk scene of the 80s, and while they loved the music, they found the scene was too often violent and alienating for women. Following in the footsteps of hardcore’s DIY approach, they began making music that was for women, by women, and organized shows that would create a safe space for them. The punk sound was essential for Riot Grrrl as it emphasized that same notion punk had first created in the early 70s, which was that anyone could pick up a guitar and do it. And that was one of the main goals; they wanted to encourage more women to play music, regardless of their level of experience and talent. Some bands were good, some not so much, but a number of great ones that included Heavens to Betsy, Bratmobile, and Excuse 17 formed across the Pacific Northwest and in Washington DC, creating legions of new fans.

Despite operating strictly in the underground, their feminist message was spreading and becoming popularized. By the mid 90s, empowered women in rock had become so common that record executives began to see a profitable marketing opportunity. Taking the idea of pre-packaging and commodifying girl-groups-- a practice that was utilized frequently in the sixties with groups like the Supremes and the Crystals-- major label Virgin Records created its first commercial feminist pop outfit, the Spice Girls. The all-girl group from London took the U.S. by storm, co-opting the catch phrase “Girl Power,” and spurring the widespread launch of merchandise with the words emblazoned on it. While the content of their lyrics had little to nothing to do with politics-- in fact, most songs dealt with stereotypically patriarchal themes of vying for men’s affections— the “girl power” platform they ran on raked in millions. Ten-year-old girls in every town inadvertently sported “Girls Rule, Boys Drool” t-shirts while they played with their Barbies.

Ann Powers, a music critic for the L.A. Times, believes this homogenization of the feminist revolution may have contributed to its loss of steam. “The fact that it was perceived as a trend ultimately weakened its impact in some ways,” Powers says. By making feminism suddenly seem “cute” and “fun,” women rockers no longer packed the same punch, and were once again rapidly outnumbered by a new wave of pop princesses that emerged, led by former Mickey Mouse Club members Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. With a kinder, gentler sound dominating radio waves, any woman who refused to adhere to an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” mentality suddenly posed a threat. Before long, negative connotations in respect to outspoken women turned “feminist” back into the “F” word.

While the fundamentals of feminism were lost following the corporatization of the counterculture, the consequential apathy is certainly not a new, or solitary phenomenon. Pleasant pop not only dominates mainstream radio, it currently serves as the soundtrack for the underground scene as well, with demure indie pop bands like the Decemberists and Feist being offered as the “alternative.” Politically and culturally, 2011 in many ways doesn’t feel far off from 1981. Witnessing the divisiveness occurring on Capital Hill and republican resistance to tax increase feels entirely reminiscent of 80s Reaganomics. Culturally, the early 80s could be summed up as a time of pop, pastel polos, and politeness. Which is why the birth of the hardcore punk scene in the early 80s seemed only natural; with a struggling economy, empty promises of a prosperous future, and a mainstream music scene that only masked what was happening, never confronted it, the youth had plenty to be pissed about. In the 2007 documentary “Punk’s Not Dead,” hardcore pioneer Henry Rollins raises the question of “where is the revolution?” Addressing the multiple wars the U.S. is currently involved in, Rollins says, “We’re in a mini-Vietnam right now. Where are the MC5s? Where are the Stooges?” And he’s right. In many ways, it feels as though music’s gone soft. Pop singers like Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga raise awareness for issues like gay rights, kinda, but if you ask Kathleen Hanna what her take is on the pop stars’ politics, she’s calling bullshit. In a recent interview with CNN, when asked about the themes of gay empowerment in Gaga and Perry’s songs, Hanna stated,

“I mean, is it really that different when it's a skinny white woman in a bathing suit singing these things? None of these women ever wear pants, first of all. Second of all, just because you're wearing a goofy hat doesn't make it performance art. (Katy Perry's) "I Kissed a Girl" was straight-up offensive. The whole thing is like, ‘I kissed a girl so my boyfriend could masturbate about it later.’ It's disgusting. It's exactly every male fantasy of fake lesbian porn. It's pathetic.”

Similarly, a video for the new Beyoncé single, “Who Rule The World (Girls),” has taken heat from feminst blogs like Jezebel, who says “Beyoncé’s girl power rings hollow.” The song comes about as close to a feminist anthem as anything has since No Doubt’s “Just A Girl,” but a video of scantily clad women catering to stereotypical male sexual desires while Beyoncé backtracks from her proclamation that women will rule the world with lyrics like, “Boy I’m just playing/Come here baby/Hope you still like me” hardly echoes Hanna’s defiant retort to suck her left one.

So where are the musical revolutionaries of our modern culture? Sure, now, same as always, there is a counterculture actively resisting the music of the mainstream. In this case it’s more like a counter-counterculture, as basement punks are not only retaliating against the John Mayers and Jason Mrazs, but also the Modest Mice and multitude of other animal-named indie-poppers that currently clutter college radio. Overall though, today’s youth hardly seem to pack the same punch as their predecessors. Perhaps the generational apathy is a reaction to seeing every counterculture that came before it—be it the riot grrrls or the punk rockers—be co-opted for capital gain. With the knowledge that, no matter what we do, ten years from now it will be marketed to the masses, perhaps we’ve reached a point where it no longer feels worth it to try. At the end of the day though, apathy, like all trends, is fleeting, and it’s only a matter of time before the sentiment wears off and we try something new. As for the fate of feminism, once marketers have milked “girl power” for every last dime they can squeeze out of it, then, and only then, can it be rebirthed back where it began, in the underground. That’s when Revolution Grrrl Style will return, version 2.0 put back in the control of the female artists who live out its message. Then, a woman will label herself as an “F”-word with pride, actively embracing the title of feminist.