ABSTRACT
Of all the musical developments that marked the transition from the 1960s to the 1970s, few were more pronounced than the emergence of the singer-songwriter genre. If the rock group, with its collective membership, had symbolized a certain communal countercultural ideal, then the singersongwriter as solo artist heralded the arrival of what Tom Wolfe would famously label the “Me Decade.” This turn inwards precipitated a rise in more intimate autobiographical songwriting, and provided a welcoming environment for a wave of women eager to explore more personally meaningful details in their music. In her 1971 article, Chicago Tribune music critic Lynn Van Matre highlights three of the most acclaimed artists at the forefront of the new female-centered genre: Carole King (born 1942), Carly Simon (born 1945) and Joni Mitchell (born 1943). Like the rapidly maturing rock audience that they mirrored, all three women were in their mid-late twenties at the time, and their songs reflected increasingly adult concerns. Simon’s poignant Top 10 hit, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be,” for example, deals with post-collegiate friendships and expresses a deep ambivalence toward the societal pressures of marriage. Given such lyrical subjects, it is unsurprising that Van Matre acknowledges the inevitable connection with the Women’s Liberation movement, which had politicized various personal issues ranging from reproductive rights to equal pay. Van Matre expresses hope that this new attention accorded to women, both socially and musically, will turn out to be a “natural thing” rather than a passing fad. Did this indeed turn out to be the case?
