The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock'N'Roll - Softcover

Reynolds, Simon; Press, Joy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067480273X ISBN 13: 9780674802735

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1996

Synopsis

Iggy Pop once said of women: "However close they come I'll always pull the rug from under them. That's where my music is made." For so long, rock 'n' roll has been fueled by this fear and loathing of the feminine. The first book to look at rock rebellion through the lens of gender, The Sex Revolts captures the paradox at rock's dark heart--the music is often most thrilling when it is most misogynist and macho. And, looking at music made by female artists, it asks: must it always be this way?

Provocative and passionately argued, the book walks the edgy line between a rock fan's excitement and a critic's awareness of the music's murky undercurrents. Here are the angry young men like the Stones and Sex Pistols, cutting free from home and mother; here are the warriors and crusaders, The Clash, Public Enemy, and U2 taking refuge in a brotherhood-in-arms; and here are the would-be supermen, with their man-machine fantasies and delusions of grandeur, from Led Zeppelin and Jim Morrison to Nick Cave and gangsta rap. The authors unravel the mystical, back-to-the-womb longings of the psychedelic tradition, from Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and Van Morrison to Brian Eno, My Bloody Valentine, and ambient techno. Alongside the story of male rock, The Sex Revolts traces the secret history of female rebellion in rock: the masquerade and mystique of Kate Bush, Siouxie, and Grace Jones, the demystifiers of femininity, like the Slits and Riot Grrl, tomboy rockers like L7 and P. J. Harvey, and confessional artists like Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, and Courtney Love.

A heady blend of music criticism, cultural studies, and gender theory by two of rock's keenest observers, The Sex Revolts is set to become the key text in the women-in-rock debate.

About this title

Review:

The Sex Revolts is a book for those who don't just love rock music, but who also love to think about it. The book's subtitle, "Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n' Roll" might seem to presage solemn windiness. Yet the book is trenchantly written, well-researched (complete with footnotes and a helpful bibliography) and covers a very wide array of musicians. Best of all, the book is an entertaining way to bring yourself up to speed on many of rock's current upstarts.

About the Author:

Simon Reynolds writes about music and popular culture for the New York Times, ArtForum, the Observer, and Melody Maker, and is the author of Blissed Out: The Raptures of Rock.

Joy Press writes about music, books, and women’s issues for Spin, the Guardian, the Village Voice, and New York Newsday.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 067480273X
• ISBN 13: 9780674802735
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432