After reading the excerpt from Donna Gaines book Trouble Girls: The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock, I found her view in music to be more complicated than just simply sexist. Underneath the sexist disposition there was a window into the life of the idols and empowerment in whatever way the females could get it. For example, the Shangri-Las expressed a more rebellious side of females that was oppressed. They may not have written their music, but they knew what really resonated with most young girls. Gaines explained them as, “…the ‘bad-girl’ group…”. She found inspiration in their rebellious, dangerous music. She felt the same with the other bad girl group the Ronettes. Music from the 1960’s was not sexist in Gaines eyes and actually related to her and gave her inspiration.
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Not particularly the girls themselves since Gaines even says, “…the most moving lyrics were written by men for girls to sing.” She alludes to the fact that the girls were merely puppets to the whims of their producer and studio. The girls were expected to sing and look pretty while the producer did all the technical aspects such as provide background vocalists, background instrumentals, write the lyrics of songs and advertise. Gaines described, “…girl groups rarely wrote their own material and they never played instruments.” Thus, the girls in girl groups were empowered but only enough to be used once they got a taste of power and fame. Rather by removing them from the creative process I believe producers were depersonalizing the girls from the industry and treating them as second-class citizens with talents that need to be used, abused and then discarded once it is old and
Not particularly the girls themselves since Gaines even says, “…the most moving lyrics were written by men for girls to sing.” She alludes to the fact that the girls were merely puppets to the whims of their producer and studio. The girls were expected to sing and look pretty while the producer did all the technical aspects such as provide background vocalists, background instrumentals, write the lyrics of songs and advertise. Gaines described, “…girl groups rarely wrote their own material and they never played instruments.” Thus, the girls in girl groups were empowered but only enough to be used once they got a taste of power and fame. Rather by removing them from the creative process I believe producers were depersonalizing the girls from the industry and treating them as second-class citizens with talents that need to be used, abused and then discarded once it is old and