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Nobody Ever Asked Me about the Girls: Women, Music, and Fame
An intimate, critical look at the lives of female musicians by a famed music journalist, based on new interviews with Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Adele, Bette Midler, Sade, and more
From the effects of fame on family and vice versa to motherhood and drugs, sex, and romance, Lisa Robinson has discussed every taboo topic with nearly every significant living female artist to pass through the pages of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.
Here, in Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls, her interviews with and observations of fabulous female pop and rock stars, from Tina Turner and Alanis Morrissette to Rihanna, show how these powerhouse women, all with vastly different life experiences, fell in love with music, seized their ambitions, and changed pop culture.
Grouped by topic, ranging from hair and makeup to sexual and emotional abuse, Robinson’s interviews reveal each individual artist’s sense of humor, private hopes, and personal devastations—along with the grit and fire that brought each woman to the stage in the first place and empowered her to leave her mark on the world.
From the effects of fame on family and vice versa to motherhood and drugs, sex, and romance, Lisa Robinson has discussed every taboo topic with nearly every significant living female artist to pass through the pages of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.
Here, in Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls, her interviews with and observations of fabulous female pop and rock stars, from Tina Turner and Alanis Morrissette to Rihanna, show how these powerhouse women, all with vastly different life experiences, fell in love with music, seized their ambitions, and changed pop culture.
Grouped by topic, ranging from hair and makeup to sexual and emotional abuse, Robinson’s interviews reveal each individual artist’s sense of humor, private hopes, and personal devastations—along with the grit and fire that brought each woman to the stage in the first place and empowered her to leave her mark on the world.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published July 14, 2020
70 people are currently reading
2261 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews
November 26, 2020
Lisa, perhaps the reason no one ever asked you about the girls is because they know you're that particular kind of monster - a female misogynist who picks and chooses who she thinks is worthy of accolades and praise and then shits on all the others.
Had I remembered that I had read your previous book and HATED it, I might not have gotten this from the library. But I did and I read it quickly since it is nothing more than random snippets of transcribed interviews from the 1970s to the 2010s hapazardly scattered into chapters with headings like "Fame" and "Business."
Ladies in music, make sure you never evince one iota of ambition or Lisa will shit all over you, too.
Had I remembered that I had read your previous book and HATED it, I might not have gotten this from the library. But I did and I read it quickly since it is nothing more than random snippets of transcribed interviews from the 1970s to the 2010s hapazardly scattered into chapters with headings like "Fame" and "Business."
Ladies in music, make sure you never evince one iota of ambition or Lisa will shit all over you, too.
December 28, 2020
DNF at page 94. I had really hoped this would be a positive experience. From the synopsis, it sounded like it would be a tribute to the women in music who are almost always overshadowed by their male counterparts. Sadly, it comes off as nothing more than a gossipy tell-all by someone who perpetuates the very misogyny she claims to be fighting. Robinson clearly has her favorites in the business, which is fine - she's entitled to her opinions - but to write other artists off as talentless hacks is just mean. At the very least, she could acknowledge the drive and ambition these women have, thereby lifting them up instead of treating them just as badly as the men in the music business do. I may not like or listen to a certain artist's music, but I can sure as hell respect her struggle to make it in show business.
March 28, 2021
DNF. At about 30% I realized this book touting itself to be pro-woman was nothing but a judgmental laundry list meant to air the writer's credentials.
May 25, 2021
I was looking forward to this book and was beyond disappointed. I thought this book would shed a positive light on female musicians/celebrities and how many of them are badass females being over shadowed by the men and trying to break the glass ceiling...however it was anything but that. Shame on the author Lisa Robinson for writing this horrendous book that brings women down and whoever her publicist was for letting this book sell. Lisa came off as a miserable music journalist who has been in the business to long, hates the world and every female musician in the industry. This book is sad gossip putting female celebrities down for being fat, unattractive, talentless, bashing because they have endorsements/branding, ageist and it goes on and on. Can you say misogyny. Sorry to my fellow book clubbers if you had to spend money on this book.
May 25, 2021
Lisa Robinson, I am really glad nobody ever asked you about the girls (and I hope we continue not to) because you are a condescending misogynist who loves to shame other women (for being ambitious, for having children, for what they wear, for having sex....).
This reads like a long winded (extremely subjective/biased/SUPERFICIAL) gossip mag.
Do not read this. You will come out a shittier human if you do.
This reads like a long winded (extremely subjective/biased/SUPERFICIAL) gossip mag.
Do not read this. You will come out a shittier human if you do.
December 25, 2020
Lisa is a misogynist. So this book is awful.
November 16, 2020
This was disappointing. The author's decision to break up her chapters by themes means she provides little snippets of information about a lot of female musicians but not very much depth about any one of them. Yeah, we get it - being a woman in a male-dominated music world is hard. Appearance is overly emphasized. There's a double standard about sex for men and women. It's hard to maintain a relationship when you're a famous musician, and it's hard to stay popular when you're an aging female musician. Tell me something I don't know.
Robinson also seems to have a personal grudge against Madonna and Taylor Swift, viewing both of them as fame-hungry hacks without any real talent. She's allowed to have her opinions, I guess, but a) I don't agree with her and b) she's unnecessarily cruel and dismissive of two women who, for better or worse, have both changed the landscape of popular music.
There are a few musicians who get a slightly deeper focus than the others, including Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell and Sheryl Crow. I wish Robinson had written a book that examined the lives and musical histories of these three greats instead of this scattershot hodgepodge that only skims the surface. I understand that Robinson's late husband digitized thousands of hours of interviews that she used for the book, and in some ways the book feels like a tribute to his work, but she could have made the book much stronger with some judicial editing.
Robinson also seems to have a personal grudge against Madonna and Taylor Swift, viewing both of them as fame-hungry hacks without any real talent. She's allowed to have her opinions, I guess, but a) I don't agree with her and b) she's unnecessarily cruel and dismissive of two women who, for better or worse, have both changed the landscape of popular music.
There are a few musicians who get a slightly deeper focus than the others, including Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell and Sheryl Crow. I wish Robinson had written a book that examined the lives and musical histories of these three greats instead of this scattershot hodgepodge that only skims the surface. I understand that Robinson's late husband digitized thousands of hours of interviews that she used for the book, and in some ways the book feels like a tribute to his work, but she could have made the book much stronger with some judicial editing.
dnf
February 2, 2021The internalized misogyny in this book is grating. The author also clearly has no journalistic neutrality, she clearly has favorite artists. She takes pot shots at Taylor Swift for a focus on being successful, especially as a teenager (making sure we knew TSwift had buck teeth as a kid), while lauding Beyoncé for the same (with a dig that maybe marrying Jay-Z was strategic), bags on Lady Gaga and others for having extremely crafted public personae while bemoaning a lack of privacy, lauds the natural unpolished look of Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell while being openly ageist about Madonna and Cher (and Britney, too, for some reason) and branding and makeup and hair styling and god knows what. Plus the sheer Janet Jackson erasure when she talks about the rise of the music video era. The last straw for me was when she basically gave a “hey, it was the time period, a lot of us put up with it, I didn’t want to lose my access” excuse when talking about abuse, sexual assault, and me too and how shit happened with groupies in the 70s and 80s and I decided I could not with the book anymore. Life’s too short for shitty books (luckily this was a galley, I hadn’t spent money on it)
February 12, 2021
2.5 stars. Eh, not really any new and/or interesting insights on what its like to be a woman music industry - past and present. To me, this book was just a compilation of all the Wikipedia pages and articles that I've already read about female musicians and their careers & personal lives. I would agree with the criticism of this book for being misogynistic (a clear hint is that she chose the title to include the word "Girls," as opposed to "Women"). I thought this would be a progressive analysis on the actual musicianship of these female artists, but it was just another shallow commentary about their looks, relationships, fame, etc.
May 19, 2021
With more than 40 years covering the world of rock music, chronicler and journalist Lisa Robinson knows very well what the situation was and is for female musicians who perform and record in this genre. She wrote about the rock music scene in her memoir, There goes gravity : a life in rock and roll, and it was all about the guys. She seems to have been witness at the creation for many a career, performance, disaster or misdeed. It all began in 1969 when she met her future husband, Richard Robinson, whose writing gig he asked her to take over. Ever since she has been watching and listening, with her work published in numerous magazines. There were some women on the scene as performers, frequently as backup singers, but it was a world of male performers. The music was rock, with a way of life that took pride in rockin' it hard: raucous, irresponsible and often ignited by drugs and alcohol, on stage and off.
Since nobody ever asked, Robinson took it upon herself to present what women rock musicians think and feel about their personal lives and work as performers. One thing is clear, which will not surprise any woman, gender discrimination still exists and in its most insidious form, how women's appearance and behavior are judged above and beyond their talent. After a performance, when the guys relax and carouse, it is cheered and praised, but if the women do it, they are denigrated. The women know it, and will rein in and temper their own inclinations. The world of rock has been as sacrosanct and closed as football. However, Robinson says, "No matter how tough it's been these women all took risks, faced rejection, and made something happen. All while being--to paraphrase a Joni MItchell song title--frail and cast iron."
With clarity and justification, she is definitive in her analysis of why she likes or does not like certain musicians. Her take on Madonna and Lady Gaga are examples of that candor. In the efforts to appear young, she states there is a time when too much plastic surgery has rendered some of these women unrecognizable. Age and time are reflected in how the industry itself has no patience or endurance. Diane Ross says, " ... if you can make money for them, the business is there for you. When we started, artists were geared for longevity. Now they throw someone out there and if it makes money, great. If not, on to the next one."
Lisa Robinson is still excited and curious about rock music, with a new podcast on SiriusXM, and has her eye on how the women musicians are keeping on, "Things are better for these women now. Not enough. But better."
Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction
Since nobody ever asked, Robinson took it upon herself to present what women rock musicians think and feel about their personal lives and work as performers. One thing is clear, which will not surprise any woman, gender discrimination still exists and in its most insidious form, how women's appearance and behavior are judged above and beyond their talent. After a performance, when the guys relax and carouse, it is cheered and praised, but if the women do it, they are denigrated. The women know it, and will rein in and temper their own inclinations. The world of rock has been as sacrosanct and closed as football. However, Robinson says, "No matter how tough it's been these women all took risks, faced rejection, and made something happen. All while being--to paraphrase a Joni MItchell song title--frail and cast iron."
With clarity and justification, she is definitive in her analysis of why she likes or does not like certain musicians. Her take on Madonna and Lady Gaga are examples of that candor. In the efforts to appear young, she states there is a time when too much plastic surgery has rendered some of these women unrecognizable. Age and time are reflected in how the industry itself has no patience or endurance. Diane Ross says, " ... if you can make money for them, the business is there for you. When we started, artists were geared for longevity. Now they throw someone out there and if it makes money, great. If not, on to the next one."
Lisa Robinson is still excited and curious about rock music, with a new podcast on SiriusXM, and has her eye on how the women musicians are keeping on, "Things are better for these women now. Not enough. But better."
Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction
November 27, 2021
The author clearly is an established music journalist and critic. Her expertise is there. Her writing is okay. This book was, quite honestly, about nothing. The chapters were based on subjects such as “Age”, “Sex” and “Business” and offered quaint anecdotes and quotes from women singers she has interviewed over the years. It’s interesting enough, but again she really does not offer anything of substance other than a plethora of quotes from these women strung together to kind of relate to the topic of the chapter. Based on her commentary, she clearly believes that some women artists are superior to others. She remarks that she isn’t interested in ever interviewing Taylor Swift and that her repacking of albums into more marketable and therefore higher profiting albums she looks down upon. She mentions some of the obvious great artists over and over again. She called Britney Spears untalented. She also mentions making a weird antisemitic against Gene Simmons when he was a drunk asshole one time… She has a lot pf anger toward younger generations and clearly thinks millennials have no time or interest in actually listening to good music. This had the potential to be an awesome book but her personal views and poor book writing skills ruined it. She can stick to articles.
December 30, 2021
The title of this book really should be “Nobody Ever Asked Me about the [White] Girls”. To say I found this book unpleasant would be an understatement. I was thoroughly disappointed with how such a book could make it to publication. It’s so narrow in scope and frequently nasty for no reason.
Right out the gate it was not off to a good start. The entire first chapter is made up of blurbs detailing the start of various female artists. It's tedious because there's not enough info to be a full summary and it's random facts for each with no consistency across the board. The arbitrary length of the blurbs doesn’t help. Lauryn Hill gets like three sentences about her performance on Star Search while Beyonce and Katy Perry get a lengthy paragraph dedicated to their background and use actual quotes from them and everything. I was confused as to why this was needed in the first place as it was nothing I couldn’t have found myself through casual research.
However, my number one issue is how much this book lacks intersectionality.
Everything Robinson discusses is filtered through the lens of her limited white perspective. Obviously, this book is using her experiences as a music journalist as a foundation so it makes sense that her opinions will set the tone for the subject matter. But, the synopsis and Robinson herself act as if this book is going to be an in depth critique of how all female musicians are treated in the industry. If it’s meant to be all female musicians then I expect Robinson to step outside of herself to ensure she’s not unwittingly operating solely off of her own bias. Like it or not, race is a defining factor in how musicians in general, let alone the female ones, are treated in the industry. To not investigate this difference when applicable means the book is inherently flawed.
In the synopsis two Black artists are name dropped giving the impression that the usage of artists used will be balanced. In reality 90% of the artists she discusses are white female rock artists.. Her idolization of Janis Joplin is dripping from every page. She even calls her the world’s first female rock star which while technically true ignores the theft of rock n roll out from underneath Black people that made that fact possible. Janis wouldn’t be the first if Sister Rosetta Tharpe was given her due. That’s not to say Janis doesn’t deserve acclaim for her own pioneering contributions and to be fair, Robinson does use qualifiers to imply she knows this isn’t correct. Still, why use qualifiers instead of outright stating it to be false? Not everyone is going to be able to pick up on clues or is aware of the long storied history of appropriation regarding Black music.
When it comes to Black artists she sticks primarily to recent acts and the same two or three at that. For example, at one point when talking about hair and makeup standards being so ridiculous she uses Rihanna despite all the surrounding examples being white women in the 60s to the 80s. Why couldn't she have interjected with an example from a Black artist who was current at the time period she's discussing? Janet Jackson would have been perfect here rather than relegated to a single mention 62% of the way into the book - a wild realization for me seeing how influential she has been on the musical landscape.
Her lack of inclusivity ultimately makes for an incomplete conversation. Look at the chapter on the pitfalls of fame. She doesn't discuss at all how much worse it is to be a famous woman of color. The fetishization of your race quadruples the objectification not to mention the average ‘normal’ racism. Nor does she discuss the burden of being Black and needing to be famous as one of the few means of making it out of poverty or the stress of supporting your entire family. The artist can be grateful for the fame yet feels guilty for not wanting it or feels they have to put on the front of being happy because it's what they asked for. Robinson tries to say in a previous chapter we've come far using the fact that unlike in decades past Lizzo has been allowed to be on the cover of magazines as a measurement for it.
Only to then completely ignore how much shaming and fat phobia Lizzo has faced for it or the toll on her emotional state which Lizzo has been extremely forthcoming about. She restricts the entire chapter to a basic 'fame bad, women long for days before fame'. It’s not like she’s wrong, but she's missing a ton of much needed nuance to the situation by centering the topic exclusively around white women.
The chapter on business marks a spike in anecdotes about Black women. Too bad it’s 72% into the book. It’s almost like she forgot to talk about them and needed to make up for it. In the same chapter she uses Black women to make a point about the industry being shady only to reduce it to their sexuality selling and a demonization of rap and hip-hop. The demonization of rap and hip-hop for the same exact practices other musical genres engage in is well documented. Rap and Hip-hop deserve criticism for their failings, however, it’s interesting that the other genres don’t get half as much smoke as the ones with predominantly Black artists at the helm.
Case in point, she singles out Hip Hop albums as having tons of writers working on them as a thinly veiled attempt to cast its validity as a genre into question. But, like so does rock? As well as pop? That's a reflection of how songwriting as an art is becoming less valued. It's not genre based.
She doesn't speak at all about men of color when she casually speaks about white men for comparisons’ sake regularly. It makes me question her reach as a music journalist like were they really not sending her to talk to Black people? Or is it a personal blind spot at play here? I’m willing to blame the music industry too because it’s well known it’s a corrupt institution. I just think she needs to be more open about it if that were true.
Outside of race, are other aspects Robinson has allowed her point of view to skew.
Like the chapter on sex. Robinson is a monogamy isn’t natural kind of person. I already disagree heavily as I believe neither sexual proclivity - monogamy vs polyamory - should be pushed as the one true option. It’s a personal choice everyone has to make for themselves based on what’s comfortable. There is no one size fits all.
She then goes onto assert that when people say that their husband is their best friend it means that they aren't having sex any more? First off, that is an extremely conservative look at relationships. Your partner should ALWAYS be a good friend to you. I won’t say your best friend because people get different things from different people and sometimes it’s fine to not have your partner be the end all be all for you in terms of relationships. But, it’s a great thing if your best friend is your partner. It does not at all have anything to do with your sexual activity.
Now more than ever we are trying to shift the discourse surrounding heterosexual relationships. It is far healthier to have a best friend as a partner. It’s harmful to perpetuate the idea that there is some arbitrary point when two people get too comfortable so the sex dies. There is no level of ‘too comfortable’ to have sex in the confines of a romantic relationship. There are other factors that contribute to a breakdown of sex. Actually, liking one another a lot is absolutely not one of them.
Her overall point seems to be that a lot of people lie about their sex lives. I agree on that front. Where I diverge is I don't think it's a sign of weakness or a sign of a major deficit if you have to work to have more sex when it ebbs. Having a schedule can be helpful for people as life piles up. There’s no reason to degrade what other people do as long as it’s not harmful.
It's also telling that she doesn't even use polyamory or open relationships as alternatives. All she says is that relationships absolutely don’t work.
I cannot possibly see how someone basically implying that ALL people should solely be engaging in one night stands because trying to maintain a relationship is a fool's errand can be considered anything other than jaded and overly self involved. Just looking at it statistically it makes no sense to apply such a metric to everyone.
Secondly, this goes back to my initial point about the whiteness embedded at the core of the book. Promoting hook-ups, one night stands, and situationships as committed relationships are somehow 'unempowering' or 'anti-feminist' is such a white feminist way of viewing the world. Historically marriage has been rooted in female empowerment for Black women or women of color because unlike white women we were not able to marry with a measure of autonomy like them.
Promiscuity inherently is weighted against women in general, but it's a whole other ball game for women of color where we have to consider fetishization, safety and accessibility to an extent white women rarely have to. Yeah a bunch of white women in the 80s rock scene might have feared and faced unfair judgment for their sex lives. On the flip side is as long as they didn't care or ignored the judgment they could typically find willing sex partners. Admittedly the caliber is a different story, though, they still had plenty of viable options. Black women could not do the same because the recrimination would be twice as toxic as well as abundantly more likely to kill their career and they wouldn't have nearly as much as a choice in terms of offerings. White women view their ability to do whatever they want with no consideration for others as freeing because they aspire to be like white cisgender males whereas women of color tend to be more collectivist with their concerns.
In the end of the book I was stunned by the revelation that she was married for 49 years and was married until her husband died. Where did all that 'we aren't made for monogamy’ come from then? She talked of each cheating on one another so I suppose that soured her on the concept to some extent. But, it further solidified in my mind that she was using that rationale to justify her personal failings i.e. their inability to stay faithful to one another. That doesn't make monogamy bad. It merely means it was bad for them, the two were just poor partners or their feelings about divorcing outweighed the cheating.
This is more beef with how Robinson thinks of relationships, which is her prerogative. Still, since that opinion informs her outlook as a whole I feel comfortable speaking on it.
Bear with me, I’m going to let a little of my inner Swiftie out for a moment. Lisa Robinson joins the hordes of elitists who hate Taylor Swift for twisted reasons that boil down to buying into misogynistic rhetoric against her. I’m not saying you can’t hate Taylor Swift. She has done plenty of problematic things. For all my love for her I fully acknowledge she’s the embodiment of white feminism. Or maybe you just don’t like her music. Perfectly fine, not all music is for everyone. What I am saying is that there is a certain way certain people talk about her that lets you know their criticism is in bad faith.
She specifically states of a complimentary article about her '”how dare anyone think [Taylor] and Joni Mitchell be mentioned in the same sentence or be part of the same species or on the same planet is laughable'. I have never listened to Joni Mitchell though I do know she’s highly praised. I can’t speak to her quality. I do know Taylor Swift who is a great songwriter especially for her age. We can argue about it all day long - it’s subjective. Still, Taylor Swift has rightfully been acclaimed for it by legitimate sources for years. She may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no arguing she’s got the goods. I don’t think this level of derision is warranted.
She goes onto say ‘[Taylor Swift]made a fool of herself with an inane song called Welcome to New York'. Why even bring this up? Is it the pinnacle of songwriting. No. Is it a cute, snappy tune that reflects Taylor’s specific mindset at that time? Yes. So what’s the problem?
She’s not half as critical about the other singers as she is about Taylor Swift. It's also interesting how she's all judgy about Taylor Swift for making sure she has perfectly paparazzi curated outfits when going to and from the gym right after a whole chapter where she said that she has so much sympathy for female performers today who are under so much strain based on their looks. Yet, she derides Taylor whose clearly terrified of what the media will say about her if she’s seen as less than perfect. It’s a defense mechanism and a fear response. She’s contemptuous of Taylor for being happy in what she calls her little gilded cage as if there isn’t bucket loads of evidence about how awful the impact of fame has been on Taylor Swift.
She's so considerate of the struggles of every other artist yet is so catty about Taylor Swift. Right after Taylor she brings up Beyonce but because she respects her music she lets her off even though Beyonce has done equally as performative gestures as Taylor Swift.
She does this again, to a lesser degree, later in the book with a snide remark about Britney Spears not having as much talent as Aretha Franklin. Whether or not I agree isn't the point, it's that it doesn't add anything to mention that she thinks so in this context because it's such a throwaway remark. Her providing her own opinion about being childfree and not believing in monogamy are expanding on her viewpoint going into her interviews or on the topic at hand. A rude comment to make her contempt clear is unnecessary. If this were a memoir I'd argue it was mean-spirited, but she'd have every right to say it since memoirs by definition reflect the innermost thoughts of a person whatever they may be.
Many chapters are rehashes of the same issue. None of the information she presents is particularly new. All that she has to say on motherhood, beauty, abuse, etc in the confines of the music industry has been said before in better ways. The writing style is stiff and detached.
I have nothing good to say about this book. Steer clear or suffer the consequences. You have been warned.
Right out the gate it was not off to a good start. The entire first chapter is made up of blurbs detailing the start of various female artists. It's tedious because there's not enough info to be a full summary and it's random facts for each with no consistency across the board. The arbitrary length of the blurbs doesn’t help. Lauryn Hill gets like three sentences about her performance on Star Search while Beyonce and Katy Perry get a lengthy paragraph dedicated to their background and use actual quotes from them and everything. I was confused as to why this was needed in the first place as it was nothing I couldn’t have found myself through casual research.
However, my number one issue is how much this book lacks intersectionality.
Everything Robinson discusses is filtered through the lens of her limited white perspective. Obviously, this book is using her experiences as a music journalist as a foundation so it makes sense that her opinions will set the tone for the subject matter. But, the synopsis and Robinson herself act as if this book is going to be an in depth critique of how all female musicians are treated in the industry. If it’s meant to be all female musicians then I expect Robinson to step outside of herself to ensure she’s not unwittingly operating solely off of her own bias. Like it or not, race is a defining factor in how musicians in general, let alone the female ones, are treated in the industry. To not investigate this difference when applicable means the book is inherently flawed.
In the synopsis two Black artists are name dropped giving the impression that the usage of artists used will be balanced. In reality 90% of the artists she discusses are white female rock artists.. Her idolization of Janis Joplin is dripping from every page. She even calls her the world’s first female rock star which while technically true ignores the theft of rock n roll out from underneath Black people that made that fact possible. Janis wouldn’t be the first if Sister Rosetta Tharpe was given her due. That’s not to say Janis doesn’t deserve acclaim for her own pioneering contributions and to be fair, Robinson does use qualifiers to imply she knows this isn’t correct. Still, why use qualifiers instead of outright stating it to be false? Not everyone is going to be able to pick up on clues or is aware of the long storied history of appropriation regarding Black music.
When it comes to Black artists she sticks primarily to recent acts and the same two or three at that. For example, at one point when talking about hair and makeup standards being so ridiculous she uses Rihanna despite all the surrounding examples being white women in the 60s to the 80s. Why couldn't she have interjected with an example from a Black artist who was current at the time period she's discussing? Janet Jackson would have been perfect here rather than relegated to a single mention 62% of the way into the book - a wild realization for me seeing how influential she has been on the musical landscape.
Her lack of inclusivity ultimately makes for an incomplete conversation. Look at the chapter on the pitfalls of fame. She doesn't discuss at all how much worse it is to be a famous woman of color. The fetishization of your race quadruples the objectification not to mention the average ‘normal’ racism. Nor does she discuss the burden of being Black and needing to be famous as one of the few means of making it out of poverty or the stress of supporting your entire family. The artist can be grateful for the fame yet feels guilty for not wanting it or feels they have to put on the front of being happy because it's what they asked for. Robinson tries to say in a previous chapter we've come far using the fact that unlike in decades past Lizzo has been allowed to be on the cover of magazines as a measurement for it.
Only to then completely ignore how much shaming and fat phobia Lizzo has faced for it or the toll on her emotional state which Lizzo has been extremely forthcoming about. She restricts the entire chapter to a basic 'fame bad, women long for days before fame'. It’s not like she’s wrong, but she's missing a ton of much needed nuance to the situation by centering the topic exclusively around white women.
The chapter on business marks a spike in anecdotes about Black women. Too bad it’s 72% into the book. It’s almost like she forgot to talk about them and needed to make up for it. In the same chapter she uses Black women to make a point about the industry being shady only to reduce it to their sexuality selling and a demonization of rap and hip-hop. The demonization of rap and hip-hop for the same exact practices other musical genres engage in is well documented. Rap and Hip-hop deserve criticism for their failings, however, it’s interesting that the other genres don’t get half as much smoke as the ones with predominantly Black artists at the helm.
Case in point, she singles out Hip Hop albums as having tons of writers working on them as a thinly veiled attempt to cast its validity as a genre into question. But, like so does rock? As well as pop? That's a reflection of how songwriting as an art is becoming less valued. It's not genre based.
She doesn't speak at all about men of color when she casually speaks about white men for comparisons’ sake regularly. It makes me question her reach as a music journalist like were they really not sending her to talk to Black people? Or is it a personal blind spot at play here? I’m willing to blame the music industry too because it’s well known it’s a corrupt institution. I just think she needs to be more open about it if that were true.
Outside of race, are other aspects Robinson has allowed her point of view to skew.
Like the chapter on sex. Robinson is a monogamy isn’t natural kind of person. I already disagree heavily as I believe neither sexual proclivity - monogamy vs polyamory - should be pushed as the one true option. It’s a personal choice everyone has to make for themselves based on what’s comfortable. There is no one size fits all.
She then goes onto assert that when people say that their husband is their best friend it means that they aren't having sex any more? First off, that is an extremely conservative look at relationships. Your partner should ALWAYS be a good friend to you. I won’t say your best friend because people get different things from different people and sometimes it’s fine to not have your partner be the end all be all for you in terms of relationships. But, it’s a great thing if your best friend is your partner. It does not at all have anything to do with your sexual activity.
Now more than ever we are trying to shift the discourse surrounding heterosexual relationships. It is far healthier to have a best friend as a partner. It’s harmful to perpetuate the idea that there is some arbitrary point when two people get too comfortable so the sex dies. There is no level of ‘too comfortable’ to have sex in the confines of a romantic relationship. There are other factors that contribute to a breakdown of sex. Actually, liking one another a lot is absolutely not one of them.
Her overall point seems to be that a lot of people lie about their sex lives. I agree on that front. Where I diverge is I don't think it's a sign of weakness or a sign of a major deficit if you have to work to have more sex when it ebbs. Having a schedule can be helpful for people as life piles up. There’s no reason to degrade what other people do as long as it’s not harmful.
It's also telling that she doesn't even use polyamory or open relationships as alternatives. All she says is that relationships absolutely don’t work.
I cannot possibly see how someone basically implying that ALL people should solely be engaging in one night stands because trying to maintain a relationship is a fool's errand can be considered anything other than jaded and overly self involved. Just looking at it statistically it makes no sense to apply such a metric to everyone.
Secondly, this goes back to my initial point about the whiteness embedded at the core of the book. Promoting hook-ups, one night stands, and situationships as committed relationships are somehow 'unempowering' or 'anti-feminist' is such a white feminist way of viewing the world. Historically marriage has been rooted in female empowerment for Black women or women of color because unlike white women we were not able to marry with a measure of autonomy like them.
Promiscuity inherently is weighted against women in general, but it's a whole other ball game for women of color where we have to consider fetishization, safety and accessibility to an extent white women rarely have to. Yeah a bunch of white women in the 80s rock scene might have feared and faced unfair judgment for their sex lives. On the flip side is as long as they didn't care or ignored the judgment they could typically find willing sex partners. Admittedly the caliber is a different story, though, they still had plenty of viable options. Black women could not do the same because the recrimination would be twice as toxic as well as abundantly more likely to kill their career and they wouldn't have nearly as much as a choice in terms of offerings. White women view their ability to do whatever they want with no consideration for others as freeing because they aspire to be like white cisgender males whereas women of color tend to be more collectivist with their concerns.
In the end of the book I was stunned by the revelation that she was married for 49 years and was married until her husband died. Where did all that 'we aren't made for monogamy’ come from then? She talked of each cheating on one another so I suppose that soured her on the concept to some extent. But, it further solidified in my mind that she was using that rationale to justify her personal failings i.e. their inability to stay faithful to one another. That doesn't make monogamy bad. It merely means it was bad for them, the two were just poor partners or their feelings about divorcing outweighed the cheating.
This is more beef with how Robinson thinks of relationships, which is her prerogative. Still, since that opinion informs her outlook as a whole I feel comfortable speaking on it.
Bear with me, I’m going to let a little of my inner Swiftie out for a moment. Lisa Robinson joins the hordes of elitists who hate Taylor Swift for twisted reasons that boil down to buying into misogynistic rhetoric against her. I’m not saying you can’t hate Taylor Swift. She has done plenty of problematic things. For all my love for her I fully acknowledge she’s the embodiment of white feminism. Or maybe you just don’t like her music. Perfectly fine, not all music is for everyone. What I am saying is that there is a certain way certain people talk about her that lets you know their criticism is in bad faith.
She specifically states of a complimentary article about her '”how dare anyone think [Taylor] and Joni Mitchell be mentioned in the same sentence or be part of the same species or on the same planet is laughable'. I have never listened to Joni Mitchell though I do know she’s highly praised. I can’t speak to her quality. I do know Taylor Swift who is a great songwriter especially for her age. We can argue about it all day long - it’s subjective. Still, Taylor Swift has rightfully been acclaimed for it by legitimate sources for years. She may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no arguing she’s got the goods. I don’t think this level of derision is warranted.
She goes onto say ‘[Taylor Swift]made a fool of herself with an inane song called Welcome to New York'. Why even bring this up? Is it the pinnacle of songwriting. No. Is it a cute, snappy tune that reflects Taylor’s specific mindset at that time? Yes. So what’s the problem?
She’s not half as critical about the other singers as she is about Taylor Swift. It's also interesting how she's all judgy about Taylor Swift for making sure she has perfectly paparazzi curated outfits when going to and from the gym right after a whole chapter where she said that she has so much sympathy for female performers today who are under so much strain based on their looks. Yet, she derides Taylor whose clearly terrified of what the media will say about her if she’s seen as less than perfect. It’s a defense mechanism and a fear response. She’s contemptuous of Taylor for being happy in what she calls her little gilded cage as if there isn’t bucket loads of evidence about how awful the impact of fame has been on Taylor Swift.
She's so considerate of the struggles of every other artist yet is so catty about Taylor Swift. Right after Taylor she brings up Beyonce but because she respects her music she lets her off even though Beyonce has done equally as performative gestures as Taylor Swift.
She does this again, to a lesser degree, later in the book with a snide remark about Britney Spears not having as much talent as Aretha Franklin. Whether or not I agree isn't the point, it's that it doesn't add anything to mention that she thinks so in this context because it's such a throwaway remark. Her providing her own opinion about being childfree and not believing in monogamy are expanding on her viewpoint going into her interviews or on the topic at hand. A rude comment to make her contempt clear is unnecessary. If this were a memoir I'd argue it was mean-spirited, but she'd have every right to say it since memoirs by definition reflect the innermost thoughts of a person whatever they may be.
Many chapters are rehashes of the same issue. None of the information she presents is particularly new. All that she has to say on motherhood, beauty, abuse, etc in the confines of the music industry has been said before in better ways. The writing style is stiff and detached.
I have nothing good to say about this book. Steer clear or suffer the consequences. You have been warned.
January 24, 2021
There are some fascinating stories in this book, but there are also a lot of strange and offensive remarks by the author that undermine the whole theme of the book. The amount of times she feels the need to very specifically dig at Madonna is baffling. You love Joni Mitchell, we get it. So do I! But the constant harping on certain women feels immature at best and often straight up offensive. I’m not familiar with the writers other work. Maybe there’s meant to be a very arch, sarcastic tone but it doesn’t read that way.
February 15, 2022
I really wished I could love this book, but I couldn’t. The bashing of some female artists for being different while praising others for doing the same thing, puzzled me.
In a book that you would think would be an empowering feminist take, only seemed to have a female misogynistic take on the industry.
In a book that you would think would be an empowering feminist take, only seemed to have a female misogynistic take on the industry.
April 9, 2021
Alternate Title: “Nobody ever asked me about the girls, so I’ll write a catty, condescending compilation book with the journalistic integrity of a tumbleweed and the emotional intelligence of a tin can.”
December 31, 2023
…does she actually like women
December 19, 2020
Great insight into women in music, and the uphill battle they face in the man's world of music. Some great stories the author shares, and her not-so-subtle negativity about certain singers (Madonna, Taylor Swift, etc.) was fun to read. She pulls no punches and gets the real personality and inside scoop on a lot of the artists interviewed over the years.
March 4, 2021
As Entertainment Weekly pointed out, the new Billie Eilish film The World's a Little Blurry is the continuation of a trend away from long-form magazine profiles and towards deep-dive authorized documentaries that allow artists to explore the same depth of storytelling — but on their own terms (and, not incidentally, to benefit their own bottom lines).
If that trend continues, and there's no reason to think it won't, Lisa Robinson will remain one of the last journalists to have just casually hung out with Beyoncé. Oh, and Stevie Nicks. And Rihanna, Katy Perry, Janelle Monáe, Adele, Joni Mitchell, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love, Annie Lennox, Fiona Apple, Gwen Stefani, and Chrissie Hynde. Iggy Azalea, on the other hand, may remain accessible.
Robinson's also hung out with the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and Van Halen...but she's spent enough time talking about those guys, she writes in the prologue to her aptly-titled book. I reviewed Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls for The Current.
If that trend continues, and there's no reason to think it won't, Lisa Robinson will remain one of the last journalists to have just casually hung out with Beyoncé. Oh, and Stevie Nicks. And Rihanna, Katy Perry, Janelle Monáe, Adele, Joni Mitchell, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Alanis Morissette, Courtney Love, Annie Lennox, Fiona Apple, Gwen Stefani, and Chrissie Hynde. Iggy Azalea, on the other hand, may remain accessible.
Robinson's also hung out with the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and Van Halen...but she's spent enough time talking about those guys, she writes in the prologue to her aptly-titled book. I reviewed Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls for The Current.
December 6, 2020
Closer to 3.75 -not quite four stars. This compendium of sound bites from women musicians provided the same entertainment that you’d derive from reading gossip columns. Good stuff here and there; shade thrown about at times.
Truthfully though, I found myself wondering or leafing back to what year this or that was said, so even though this was released in 2020. The book’s feed-type structure made it seem the comments were current, other than the archival treasure trove Lisa’s 5000+ hours of interviews actually is.
I’m a big admirer of Lisa’s work (I had a big collection of Creem, Hit Parader, and Crawdaddys under my bed as a kid.) And although this is super readable and enjoyable, I’m afraid Lisa sold herself short in this one. I think she can offer a lot more insight on women’s changing roles and tactical strategies in the music industry. Will we everget past physical appearances? It doesn’t seem to affect Keith Richards’ career! Lisa has the data, and this book sparks a lot of questions she could, and I think should, try to answer in a deeper dive.
Truthfully though, I found myself wondering or leafing back to what year this or that was said, so even though this was released in 2020. The book’s feed-type structure made it seem the comments were current, other than the archival treasure trove Lisa’s 5000+ hours of interviews actually is.
I’m a big admirer of Lisa’s work (I had a big collection of Creem, Hit Parader, and Crawdaddys under my bed as a kid.) And although this is super readable and enjoyable, I’m afraid Lisa sold herself short in this one. I think she can offer a lot more insight on women’s changing roles and tactical strategies in the music industry. Will we everget past physical appearances? It doesn’t seem to affect Keith Richards’ career! Lisa has the data, and this book sparks a lot of questions she could, and I think should, try to answer in a deeper dive.
September 28, 2024
This was very disappointing. Part of being a journalist is supposed to be having a neutral take on things, but every other paragraph was her going off on her aggressive opinions. Trash talking some artists, while praising some… It felt like there are only about 10 female artists worth mentioning. There’s so many wonderful bands fronted or made up entirely of women and you wanna just talk about… Adele? I also found it funny that while she would say something about the women, she would also make sure to mention that men had it hard too. I this was supposed to be about women and their experiences. And boy was the monogamy part just bullsh*t. It’s “unnatural?!” Get over yourself. You’re one person, and that’s your choice. Telling someone the way they love is wrong is so infuriating. Everything in this felt so judgmental and the audiobook made that worse. Lots of smug little laughs and cut downs… I managed to finish it but what a waste of time.
March 9, 2021
This would have been a solid 4, perhaps even 5, if not for the sneering comments about several A+++ artists whom the author clearly has no respect for. Doesn't the male dominated industry and music press do this enough to women? In this case, perhaps the Thumper rule should have been applied: “If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.” While women shouldn't be exempt from criticism, it felt unnecessary and mean-spirited to criticize certain artists for doing the exact same things that the author praised others for.
August 31, 2022
I would have enjoyed it more if the author wasn't so openly contemptuous of Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and pop music in general. Also, her open worship of Janis Joplin and comparing the aforementioned people to her was ridiculous. She comes across as pretty judgy in general unless you were one of her contemporaries from the 70s.
I also felt that leaving out Pat Benatar in chapters dealing with relationships and motherhood when she chronicled in her own book Between a Heart and a Rock Place: A Memoir how the record company tried to break up her relationship and made her shoot a video 2 days after she gave birth would have been an additional dimension to the discussions here.
Mostly, it's snippets from various interviews, grouped in chapters about various topics. I appreciated hearing from the breadth of people across the decades but it did feel lacking. I liked that for the most part we hear from the artists in their own words (oh, speaking of judgy, she has things to say about that term too, because she'd rather hear the terms "singers", "bands", "groups" - and hip-hop artists fit in none of those categories).
In the end, I think it comes down to dismissing a lot of the music that inspires me as not being as good as the music that inspired the author and it flows throughout the book. So what could have been a great book from one of the women who pioneered rock journalism becomes a rant.
I also felt that leaving out Pat Benatar in chapters dealing with relationships and motherhood when she chronicled in her own book Between a Heart and a Rock Place: A Memoir how the record company tried to break up her relationship and made her shoot a video 2 days after she gave birth would have been an additional dimension to the discussions here.
Mostly, it's snippets from various interviews, grouped in chapters about various topics. I appreciated hearing from the breadth of people across the decades but it did feel lacking. I liked that for the most part we hear from the artists in their own words (oh, speaking of judgy, she has things to say about that term too, because she'd rather hear the terms "singers", "bands", "groups" - and hip-hop artists fit in none of those categories).
In the end, I think it comes down to dismissing a lot of the music that inspires me as not being as good as the music that inspired the author and it flows throughout the book. So what could have been a great book from one of the women who pioneered rock journalism becomes a rant.
July 28, 2022
It was fascinating to learn about various musicians through snippets, woven together by theme.
August 12, 2025
no narrative, bad take after bad take (if any take at all). nobody ever ask me about this book!!! lest I get all pissed off again
May 29, 2020
4.5
This is an amazing book. It's a compilation, a culmination of not only Lisa Robinson's life work as a music writer and interviewer, but of the many artists she's interviewed over her (30?40? year long) career. The greatest thing about this book, imo, is that is a written record of female artists in their own words for the past 40-ish years. This is archive material. It is musical history.
Because the book is broken up into topics rather than artists, it takes a while of getting through the book to feel like you've gotten anywhere in time. But it is there, time goes on even though the commentary jumps from the 70's through the late aughts. Another amazing quality of the book is reading about artists who were influenced by other artists who we also get to read about in this book. We get to read about Adele breaking down in the presence of Stevie Nicks, and later about how Stevie Nicks would lay on her bedroom floor for 10 days listening to a new Joni Mitchell album - and reading about how Joni Mitchell was passed over during a jam session, being the only woman in the room, but applauded in the theater during a screening of Rolling Thunder Revue, Scorsese's film about Bob Dylan's 1975 tour. It's multi-generational. Granted the generations may spawn faster in the music industry, but it is wonderful to have compiled and connected here. And even though this is a book about the women of music, of course through them, we learn things about many of the men in the music industry as well -the good, the bad, and the (though they're never called it) ugly.
Would absolutely recommend to any fan of music, female musicians, musical history at all, non-fiction, or any fan of the MANY artists written about and quoted within -many more than mentioned in my review.
Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. for providing me with an e-copy via Netgalley.
This is an amazing book. It's a compilation, a culmination of not only Lisa Robinson's life work as a music writer and interviewer, but of the many artists she's interviewed over her (30?40? year long) career. The greatest thing about this book, imo, is that is a written record of female artists in their own words for the past 40-ish years. This is archive material. It is musical history.
"In the more than a thousand interviews I've done with women, I've heard all their stories. The paths they took were different. The level of talent was different. Their luck was different. The effect of success or failure on their lives was different. But their goals and struggles were often similar. To be heard. To be seen. To be loved. To be famous."We get to hear from artists like Bette Midler, Mary J. Blige, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, Adele, Mariah Carey, Madonna on a swath of topics ranging from sexual freedom to sexual harassment. Success, failure, gains and losses. We hear about their families, their businesses, their empires. Their hard work and blood, sweat and tears. We learn things about Alicia Keys, Brittney Spears, Dolly Parton, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston. Robinson covers Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and JLo. She even has some scathing commentary about specific artists (and even how the term is used to loosely) and serious side-eye opinions about Taylor Swift. I don't know what that's about, but Robinson's observations and opinions added a good dash of flavor to this info dump of musical history.
Because the book is broken up into topics rather than artists, it takes a while of getting through the book to feel like you've gotten anywhere in time. But it is there, time goes on even though the commentary jumps from the 70's through the late aughts. Another amazing quality of the book is reading about artists who were influenced by other artists who we also get to read about in this book. We get to read about Adele breaking down in the presence of Stevie Nicks, and later about how Stevie Nicks would lay on her bedroom floor for 10 days listening to a new Joni Mitchell album - and reading about how Joni Mitchell was passed over during a jam session, being the only woman in the room, but applauded in the theater during a screening of Rolling Thunder Revue, Scorsese's film about Bob Dylan's 1975 tour. It's multi-generational. Granted the generations may spawn faster in the music industry, but it is wonderful to have compiled and connected here. And even though this is a book about the women of music, of course through them, we learn things about many of the men in the music industry as well -the good, the bad, and the (though they're never called it) ugly.
Would absolutely recommend to any fan of music, female musicians, musical history at all, non-fiction, or any fan of the MANY artists written about and quoted within -many more than mentioned in my review.
Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. for providing me with an e-copy via Netgalley.
July 24, 2021
I have really mixed feelings about this book. In some ways, it was a feminist work about the challenges faced by women in the boys’ club of the music world, but, at the same time, when some of the misogyny seems to come from the author…. I enjoyed interesting insights from a nice variety of artists. I was a bit turned off by the author’s snark and clear dislike of certain artists and fawning praise of others. She also gave the impression (or tried to) that these people were her friends and that they somehow gave her info in interviews that is never heard by anyone else.
The opening chapter gave me the impression that each chapter would be a topic and words of various artists would tell their view on such things. While the book was divided up that way, more and more of the content became author commentary which, perhaps, I should have expected from a journalist. At times I thought “ooh, let’s give it a 5” and then “WTF? Give it a 3.” And that’s how I settled on a good solid 4.
The opening chapter gave me the impression that each chapter would be a topic and words of various artists would tell their view on such things. While the book was divided up that way, more and more of the content became author commentary which, perhaps, I should have expected from a journalist. At times I thought “ooh, let’s give it a 5” and then “WTF? Give it a 3.” And that’s how I settled on a good solid 4.
April 6, 2021
The interview author did with Rick Rubin to promote this book is far better then the book itself. The author has interviewed the biggest names in music but this book’s execution is incredibly poor. The book consists of almost entirely random quotes an from famous ppl and random information. For example, there is a roughly one page biography of Marianne faithful that’s followed by a quote from Alanis morrisette on how she wanted to control her own career to the author’s thoughts on monogamy. This is supposed to be in a chapter about sex. The entire book goes on like this. There are of course interesting bits but this book should have been rewritten and re-edited completely before publishing.
July 21, 2021
I don't interpret misogyny from this book. I do see that Ms. Robinson disapproves of women not aging gracefully, although she acknowledges this feat comes with difficulty. Sometimes, I'll read an article online from Vanity Fair. Even with those excursions, I had not heard of Lisa Robinson. The more you know. I read this book gleefully. It's not gossipy but there's plenty of succulent anecdotes to keep you enthralled. I became aware of this book from browsing the catalog of my public library. So blessed to live in a country with abundance of public libraries!!!
February 16, 2021
Lisa Robinson is an incredible music journalist who's covered basically every musician you could think of - including and especially the big names - since 1969. I don't even want to list how many celebrities she name-drops, because the list would be endless - the point is, if you've heard them on the radio, Lisa probably knows them.
The book begins with this fantastic line: "Nobody ever asked me about the girls. Until now." The premise is that, in her decades-long career writing about musicians, people always asked Robinson about the big stars - What was it like meeting Michael Jackson? Is Jay-Z normal? Tell me about Mick Jagger! Yet no one asked her about the girls - the women who have had history-making careers, both big and small, despite those women having to overcome many obstacles of not only breaking into a male-dominated industry, but dealing with the challenges of love and life and kids while doing it.
Women musicians have blown up lately, with figures like Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and more topping the charts without fail. Robinson brings insights from these modern stars, but also from the stars of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, like Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, etc. She's spent probably thousands of hours getting to know the biggest musicians of our days, not just through interviews, but really getting to know them as people, as women, as wives and mothers and individuals. Nobody is better suited to tell this story than Lisa Robinson.
The book is organized by theme rather than by artist - instead of giving linear biographies of the dozens of women musicians in the book, Robinson structures the narrative around their shared struggles. Although the paths and directions that these women took to get to where they are now differed, many of the issues they had to deal with are similar. She discusses the topics we hear about often - hair and makeup, body image, fame, sex, and drugs - and many that are intensely private and difficult - abuse, motherhood, love and marriage. She doesn't just tell you what the tabloids and newspapers tell you - she gets into the details of what's often not revealed to the public, the private struggles that women have to go through to try to balance fame and public recognition with their own personal growth and success.
Overall, if you like music and you like women, this is probably one of the defining books about the intersection of these two topics. You'll certainly learn something new and come away with a greater respect for women in this industry. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley!
The book begins with this fantastic line: "Nobody ever asked me about the girls. Until now." The premise is that, in her decades-long career writing about musicians, people always asked Robinson about the big stars - What was it like meeting Michael Jackson? Is Jay-Z normal? Tell me about Mick Jagger! Yet no one asked her about the girls - the women who have had history-making careers, both big and small, despite those women having to overcome many obstacles of not only breaking into a male-dominated industry, but dealing with the challenges of love and life and kids while doing it.
Women musicians have blown up lately, with figures like Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and more topping the charts without fail. Robinson brings insights from these modern stars, but also from the stars of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, like Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, etc. She's spent probably thousands of hours getting to know the biggest musicians of our days, not just through interviews, but really getting to know them as people, as women, as wives and mothers and individuals. Nobody is better suited to tell this story than Lisa Robinson.
The book is organized by theme rather than by artist - instead of giving linear biographies of the dozens of women musicians in the book, Robinson structures the narrative around their shared struggles. Although the paths and directions that these women took to get to where they are now differed, many of the issues they had to deal with are similar. She discusses the topics we hear about often - hair and makeup, body image, fame, sex, and drugs - and many that are intensely private and difficult - abuse, motherhood, love and marriage. She doesn't just tell you what the tabloids and newspapers tell you - she gets into the details of what's often not revealed to the public, the private struggles that women have to go through to try to balance fame and public recognition with their own personal growth and success.
Overall, if you like music and you like women, this is probably one of the defining books about the intersection of these two topics. You'll certainly learn something new and come away with a greater respect for women in this industry. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley!
November 28, 2022
What a mess. Like a traffic accident you can’t look away from, I stuck with this all the way to the end. Robinson does dish about a ton of famous women - which kept me turning pages - but I honestly can’t believe someone published this. Like a stream of thought run-on sentence, this 230-page book bounces from Bette Midler to Beyonce to Joni Mitchell (repeatedly) in a whip-lash, non-sensical fever dream that only Robinson seems to understand.
While she does loosely title chapters around absurdly large themes like “family” and “sex,” there is otherwise no rhyme or reason to her recollections of time spent with icons - other than a consistent tone of cynicism and arrogance. Robinson’s distain for the bulk of her subjects is jarring, sitting at complete odds with a jacket description promising “a deep understanding of how hopes, dreams and the drive for recognition have propped led our most beloved female musicians to leave an undeniable, lasting mark on the world.” That was the book I wanted to read - skip whatever misguided vanity project this is.
While she does loosely title chapters around absurdly large themes like “family” and “sex,” there is otherwise no rhyme or reason to her recollections of time spent with icons - other than a consistent tone of cynicism and arrogance. Robinson’s distain for the bulk of her subjects is jarring, sitting at complete odds with a jacket description promising “a deep understanding of how hopes, dreams and the drive for recognition have propped led our most beloved female musicians to leave an undeniable, lasting mark on the world.” That was the book I wanted to read - skip whatever misguided vanity project this is.
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