Sex Revolts - Rock'n'roll, genre & rébellion

by Simon Reynolds, Joy Press

Iggy Pop a déclaré un jour, à propos des femmes : "Aussi intimes qu'on puisse devenir, je les laisserai toujours tomber. C'est de là que vient ma musique."
Cette férocité masculine, cette répulsion vis-à-vis du féminin, c'est le rock'n'roll à son paroxysme. Que l'on songe aux hymnes machistes des Rolling Stones, au punk et sa glorification de l'abject, ou au culte que Can et Brian Eno vouent à la Terre Mère, la rébellion rock masculine s'est souvent ancrée dans un imaginaire où les femmes étaient sinon absentes, du moins allégoriques ou reléguées à l'arrière-plan.
Sex revolts est le premier ouvrage à faire l'analyse des multiples "misogynies rebelles". Depuis les premiers rockeurs jusqu'au gangsta rap, en passant par le jazz, le psychédélique, le glam et le postpunk, il dresse un impressionnant panorama de la culture et des artistes rock dans leurs relations au "féminin". Parallèlement aux généalogies d'une contre-culture qui, depuis les années 1960, s'est attachée à déconstruire certaines formes de masculinité tout en demeurant profondément misogyne, Sex revolts retrace aussi l'histoire de la rébellion des femmes dans le rock ; celle de musiciennes qui, telles Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux ou Courtney Love, ont dû composer avec cet héritage majoritairement masculin pour créer leur propre répertoire et libérer leur propre énergie.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Feminism, Sociology, Gender, Punk, LGBT

496 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Simon Reynolds is one of the most respected music journalists working today, and his writing is both influential and polarizing. He draws on an impressive range of knowledge, and writes with a fluid, engaging style. His books Rip it Up and Start Again and Generation Ecstasy are well-regarded works about their respective genres, and RETROMANIA may be his most broadly appealing book yet. It makes an argument about art, nostalgia, and technology that has implications for all readerswhether diehard music fans or not. Its an important and provocative look at the present and future of culture and innovation."

Reviews

[Lona · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this, but ugh. I'm so torn about it.

It thematized a lot of interesting facets of Rock'n'Roll, Metal and music in general: The sexism, the sex, the feminism, gender in general - the book has two parts, one for the guys and it's mostly about misogynie in rock songs, the "flirtation" with war related topics and facism and stuff like that. The other half is for the women in rock. There's some talk about gendernoncomformity too.

But then there's all this wannabe psychoanalysis. They should have left that out, really. It's meandering and boring and more an attempt to overanalyse certain aspects of songs. The authors also confuse schizophrenia with dissociative identity disorder, psychosis with psychopathy and use autistic as adjective. Felt like reading not well researched psychopop, but with the attempt to make it sound super grave.

They also thematise cultural appropriation, racism and gender tourism (by rock bands who used femininity as a style, but were still sexist and misogynistic af) here and there. They write about voguing at some point and about Madonna using it for her song and even about "Paris is Burning". But they are not going into these topics very deeply.

In general an okay book about misoginy, feminism, gender and sex in pop culture, but I really prefer more modern reads because they mostly let the psychoanalysis out of it - overanalysing every little aspect to appear more educated is a symptom of the time the book was written. If it's well done it's okay, if not it's a pain in the ass. Like in here.

[Tootle Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the introduction to this book warns, you will most certainly not think about some of your favorite rock n'roll artists this same way again. It is a feminist and psychoanalytic take on the themes and tropes that run throughout the work of some the most revered bands in rock history, including The Rolling Stones, U2, The Clash, Iggy Pop and The Stooges and more. The most powerful and thought-provoking aspect of this book is identifying these themes and illuminating this oft-ignored aspect of popular music. A particularly powerful illumination includes the idea of The Rebel (always male) throughout both rock n'roll music and literature and pop culture as a whole. The argument is that The Rebel was ultimately rebelling against stultifying domesticity (identified with the female realm) and when women did make an appearance within say, Beatnik novels or in tales of young male rebellion such as Don't Look Back or Rebel Without A Cause, she was either a caregiver or something to be rebelled against. This book is most effective as an examination of these themes, but loses its ground when delving into the psychoanalytic aspects, and makes for cheesy moments when describing phallic symbols within rock and the symbol of the feminine in ambient and psychedelic music by way of symbols such as the ocean, etc.
The most intriguing aspect of the book is the second half, which considers female artists and their troubled contribution to rock n'roll and popular music.

[㋛ ㋡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is dense as hell. I read it over 8 months. Some bits weren't for me, but there are ideas I will come back to again and again.

[Devin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reynolds is one of my favorite rock scribes and I'd been meaning to read this book of his (written along with Joy Press) for over a decade. Maybe it was that anticipation and the lag between the context that it was written in and the current cultural environment that made me so disappointed. The thought of applying rigorous gender readings to rock music is an ingenious one and it seems all the more of a lost (never sustained?) form for rock criticism given the current digital media swarm surrounding music that provokes conversation, but conversation that is without the deep theoretical grounding that is attempted here. However, the application of theory feels hurried and superficial. It's not that I disagree with the authors' categorization of certain music and artists into certain gendered roles, nor do I find many of their comments uninteresting, but it feels like they excitedly applied all sorts of (then) new gender paradigms onto popular music, without carefully parsing their categorizations. Not many of their conclusions were ultimately revealing or groundbreaking, which was was what I was sincerely expecting from this work.

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the third section a lot more compelling than the first two, though they too had their moments.

In terms of the third section, I would have liked some analysis of artists who existed within gender roles/expectations in the context they were making music a little more. discussion of 'challenging' work is interesting, but I feel misses some fertile ground for exploration. my favorite chapters in the third section were 'open your heart' and 'all fluxxed up'

the first two sections had less high-points I thought, and some analysis I didn't agree with (thought Manic Street Preachers in particular didn't get a fair shake with a lot of their work tackling gender quite directly)

maybe if you're more into psychosexual development theory you would find the second section more interesting than I did

note: some weird references to autism in the work, probably just a consequence of when it was written (I hope)

[Aslı · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rock müzikteki eril tavrı derinlemesine sorguluyor. İlk bölüm rock müziğin cinsiyetçi yanlarını, daha doğrusu cinsiyetçi içeriği sahip şarkı ve tavırları sunuyor, ikinci bölüm ise rock müziğin eril tavrı içerisinden kendine yer edinmeye çalışan kadın müzisyenleri anlatıyor. Sevdiğimiz şarkılarla ve müzisyenlerle ilgili olumsuz yorumlar moral bozucu olabilir ama yazarlar biz hala bu müzikleri seviyoruz, sevdiğimiz şeyi de eleştirebiliriz diyor.
Yine de erkek ve kadın müzisyenlere ayrı ayrı oluşturuldukları "kalıplar ve tanımlar" bazen bana dar ve sığ geldi.

[Randy Russberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book will not appeal to everyone's taste, but to those that are attracted it offers a lot of insights and fun.

[Angelika · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kurz vor Ende dann doch abgebrochen. Voller anti-feministischer Aussagen und unbelegter Zitate.

[Brendan Grande · Rating 4 out of 5]

So interesting!! According to the binary, men with mommy issues have a bigger d*ck...

[Sülze Brot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was ist bitte eine phallische Mutter?

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in college for a class and really enjoyed it. If you enjoy pop music - pop music in general, not just a single genre - this is a good read. It has some pretty illuminating analysis of various pop music forms and the way that gender is played upon in them.

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Critical theory with familiar faces and a loud soundtrack, this work is perfect for college types who like to theorize their passions with semiotics.

[Lukas Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possibly the best book I've read about rock and gender. Possibly the only book I've read about rock and gender. Smash the patriarchy!