Anthony Bellore

12/8/14

Article Review #3 pt. 2

Professor Currans

            Ruby, J. (2005, Jul). Women's "cock rock" goes mainstream. Off our Backs, 35, 42-44. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.emich.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/197135561?accountid=10650

            In Jennie Ruby’s article, “Women’s “cock rock” goes mainstream,” Ruby talks about women’s cover bands that cover classic 70’s and 80’s rock band’s music.  Ruby talks about how these women who play rock songs in the industry are pushing the feminist movement to show that women can do everything that men can, even though they might not admit to it.  She also claims how famous women in the rock industry are still in the huge minority of women in the rock scene.

Jennie Ruby starts out her article by describing her experience of going to an all-girl Led Zeppelin cover group named “Lez Zeppelin.”  She talks about how in the mid-80’s, she never would have thought of going to a show where the headlining group had lesbian in the name of the group, and had there been a show like that,

“I would have been among mostly women, recognizing each other on the street approaching the venue in a secrethandshake kind of way, by the short hair, the Birkenstocks, the hermaphroditic clothing, the pairings of women, the absence of boyfriends. I would have felt the thrill of recognition of political bumper stickers on cars parked in the vicinity. I would have resisted the impulse to hold my girlfriend's hand until we were safely inside the concert hall, and then relaxed into the safety of a, for the moment, lesbian space.” (Ruby)

She goes on to explain how the concert was completely different from what she expected.  She talks about how the crowd was mostly full of straight white men, and that the concert was advertised through email, and tickets could be bought through a popular online ticket sale website.  Also, she described the band as, “And the band was not exactly what you might call "out." Or even particularly lesbian, for that matter.”

            In the next part of Ruby’s article, she cites an article written in Spin Magazine, a music publication, by Chuck Klosterman called, “The L-Word.”  “Chuck seems troubled by the possibility that women playing men's music might be political-returning to that worry throughout his article in between trying to find ways where it is just about the music, or about fun, or about sex, or about something else, anything else but "political"”.  Ruby claims that the woman cover band groups are part of the political feminist movement.  She talks about how woman in the rock scene aren’t seen as instrumentalists, but as mainly vocalists.  She claims that these rock groups are trying to show that woman are more than just the fronts of bands, but can be the whole band, as well.  These cover groups are asserting their abilities above men in the same genre of music, where the scene is a male-dominated society.

            Jennie Ruby’s article relates somewhat to my second article in terms of rock music.  In my second article review, I talked about how Hernandez writes about the hegemonic masculinity problems in Mexico, and how the band Tex Tex sings against the social norms of modern Mexico.  In the article, Ruby talks about how modern all-girl cover groups are pushing the societal norms of a male-dominated rock industry, and those groups are showing how women can do anything that men can, if not better.  Both articles write about how rock groups are going against social norms.  This article relates to our course theme of Music, as well.  In that course theme, we talked about how Nicki Minaj is pushing the feminist movement through music, well so are these female cover band groups.  Only the cover bands are asserting women’s talent while also expressing themselves.  He one thing I learned through reading this article is that there are all-girl cover groups out there.  I never knew about them before, and I find it awesome that women are proving themselves in a male-dominated industry.  I have a few bands that I really like where females are the heads of the group, and I’d like to see more succeed in the rock music scene.