The greatest white female rock singer of the 1960s, Janis Joplin was also a great blues singer, making her material her own with her wailing, raspy, supercharged emotional delivery. First rising to stardom as the frontwoman for San Francisco psychedelic band Big Brother & the Holding Company, she left the group in the late '60s for a brief and uneven (though commercially successful) career as a solo artist. Although she wasn't always supplied with the best material or most sympathetic musicians, her best recordings, with both Big Brother and on her own, are some of the most exciting performances of her era. She also did much to redefine the role of women in rock with her assertive, sexually forthright persona and raunchy, electrifying on-stage
The first half of the book, Dr. Glenn Altschuler, largely focused on how rock ‘n’ roll and those who wrote and produced it stirred up topics such as race and sexuality. As with any new social or cultural shift, rock ‘n’ roll faced an almost immediate resistance from both religious and fundamentalist extremists. In most cases, it was the same types of people that opposed rock ‘n’ roll also opposed other major social reforms such as racial integration.
In these chapters of Flowers in the Dustbin, James Miller emphasizes the origins of multiple styles of rock and roll, and highlights musicians that aided in bringing about this earth shattering new sound. Artists other than Elvis Presley, like Little Richard, ‘Fats’ Domino, Pat Boone, and a disc jockey by the name of Alan Freed all contributed to what we know and love as rock and roll. Rock and roll broke racial barriers, bringing a predominantly black style of music to the white youth culture of the time. Black artist Little Richard spoke to a younger audience through his music, because he himself was one of the youngest emerging rock and roll artists of the time. During the 1950s, the origins of rock and roll are rooted in black music of the time, it broke social and racial
Altschuler discusses media commentator Jeff Greenfield’s opinion about the influences of Rock and Roll on American youth. Greenfield states, “Nothing we see in the counterculture [of the 1960’s], not the clothes, the hair, the sexuality, the drugs, the rejection of the reason, the resort to symbols and magic – none of it is separable from the coming to power in the 1950s of rock and roll music.” He continues with “Brewed in the hidden corners of black American cities, its [Rock-n-Roll] rhythms infected white Americans, seducing them out of the kind of temperate bobby-sox passions out of which Andy Hardy films are spun. Rock and Roll was elemental, savage, dripping with sex; it was just as our parents feared.” (Altschuler, 8) Rock and Roll stood as a powerful alternative to the conformist ideals Americans had valued.
In 1943, a sheltered, young, white, middle-class girl was born in a heavily segregated state down South with a population which supported guns and the death penalty, namely Texas. The environment in Janis Joplins’ homestate at the time of her childhood years was very hostile and unethical by today’s standards, although at the time, it was simply a norm protected by law. Racial tensions fueled by extreme Christian teachings, all tied together with a bow on top – rigid gender roles. This was the place Janis called home for several years before she left to go to California with the hopes of becoming a Blues recording artist. Little did she know, the impact she would have on the entertainment industry as a whole would be studied and written about
In the reading for this week, Friedlander discusses how the rise of female musicians in the early 1960s reflected the sexism inherent in society at the time through the labelling of talented performers simply as “girl groups” (pg. 72). This term infantilized artists like The Ronettes, The Shirelles and The Crystals, and by extension, implied that rock music was still a male domain. This is supported by the fact that the production teams behind hit records such as ‘Be My Baby’ were predominantly male. According to Friedlander, if a “girl group” achieved a million-seller record in the early 1960s, they would collectively only receive around $30,000-$40,000 to split between members thanks to a 3-4% royalty rate (pg. 74). Although singles like ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ (The Crystals) and ‘Baby, I Love You’ (The Ronettes) involved little creative contribution from the performers (both of these examples were produced and co-written by Phil
During the 1950s and 60s, many young teens started to rebel in various ways to break free from the ‘Ozzie and Harriet fantasy’ their parents and generations before them have experienced. This was displayed through the themes of various rock and roll songs. A specific theme described in many songs at that time was the defiance of stereotypical gender roles. Despite being common back then, this theme and many others at that time are still evident in modern music today. A prime example of the defiance of stereotypical gender roles in modern day music is Lady Gaga.
Burak defines gender socialization as “the process of interaction through which we learn the gender norms of our culture and acquire a sense of ourselves as feminine, masculine, or even androgynous” (Burack, 1). According to Burack, people of different genders behave differently not due to biological factors, but due to socialization that teaches individuals to behave in a particular way in order to belong to a certain gender. For example, women may tend to be nurturing, not because they are biologically programed to be caretakers, but as a result of society teaching them through toys and media to act as mothers. In this way, gender becomes a performance based on expectations rather than natural behaviors or biology, a phenomenon called “doing
I remembered when I was young, there were plenty of movie that has girls play dolls and boys play football. These movies were popular among children that day until now, girls were meant to be soft and boys were meant to be powerful and strong. Then one day, I’ve watched a movie that has a girl play in the football team and I were surprised because it’s the first time that I’ve seen a movie that shows girl can be both femininity and masculinity. This movie has a huge impact on young children behaviour and has influenced children in constructing gender roles in the society. ‘Little Giants’ has shown the characteristic of the main character to be abnormal and changing the gender stereotypes in young audiences’ perspective.
“A Black Fan of Country Music Finally Tells All”, by Lena Williams in which she confesses her love for country music after being embarrassed of showing it due to criticism, reminds me of how similar my experiences were to her essay. Although I don’t like country music nor was my music taste a hidden secret, I did however find myself in a position that Williams was in- defensive mode. When I discovered rock music one afternoon after watching countless cat videos on YouTube, I thought to myself “where has this song been all my life”. Like pop and hip-hop music, I imagined that liking rock music would only be a phase. Now after seven years I can say with certainty that my love for the music genre isn’t going anywhere.
In order to be able to study how people interact with each other, sociologists have many tools which they use to break down and analyze interactions within society. A particularly important tool is the use of theories. Theories are a framework in which we use to evaluate how people interact within society. To begin, a sociologist must be able to identify which theory to use and determine if it is applicable depending on whether it is micro- or macrosociology. An appropriate theory to apply when analyzing dating is a micro-level theory specifically known as symbolic interactionism.
In the book, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism by Susan Douglas, gives insight and knowledge that digs deep into pop culture explaining how the media portrays the appearances of women that are in powerful positions in our culture. The appetencies tent undermines the actual progress of women. Douglas is interested in what these pop culture ideals shows about our culture. The way we react to women in our culture with powerful influence. What do these shows do to the female imagine in our culture?
As unsettling as “God Save the Queen” may be, this quintessential punk single understood the necessity of challenging norms and asserting its own principles. As I have grown older, I hunt for music, be it NWA, Bob Dylan, or Marvin Gaye, that shares this conviction. And I have tried to emulate this unapologetic nature, specifically in my articles. It is important to select topics that I care about and to write candidly about them, despite the possible backlash. Look for a story, an injustice, and share it with the world.
These ladies challenged the conventional depiction of women in music as compliant or obedient by exhibiting strength, independence, and assertiveness. Their success and influence on the business dispersed stereotypes that limited what women might accomplish in an overwhelmingly male-dominated music industry, and proved the point that women could break the mold of an ordinary housewife. Additionally, rock and roll music also publicly embraced sexuality to a level that had not previously been seen before. Audiences
In the play, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many examples of sexism throughout its entirety. The character, Walter, demonstrates the acts of a sexist human being. Walter is sexist to not only women in general, but to the women in his family. Not taking into consideration of other people’s sayings and their feelings, Walter generally only thinks about himself, says what he believes, and truly only cares about money. Walter constantly is fighting with all of the women in the family as well.
