ABSTRACT
The role of “women in rock” has long been a topic of serious contention for feminist critics. Writing in 1970, Patricia Kennealy-Morrison lamented the limited “male-specified” stereotypes assigned to female musicians. Folk singers and singer-songwriters aside, she argued that women were expected either to be a distant and brittle “ice princess” along the lines of Grace Slick or assume the passionate, sexy “down-home ball” stance of a Janis Joplin.1 In the years that followed, punk, new wave, and indie introduced spaces where women could expand and move beyond these roles. But it was specifically the rise of 1990s alternative rock that finally pushed images of aggressive, confrontational female musicians fully into the mainstream. In 1993 Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville became the first album in almost two decades by a female artist to top the Village Voice’s prestigious “Pazz & Jop” poll, a feat which was duplicated in 1994 by Hole (and their front woman Courtney Love), and in 1995 by PJ Harvey. By the mid-90s, the notion of a strong, independent female rock musician no longer seemed an anomaly. Rock critic Kim France’s 1996 article surveys the situation at that time, examining from a feminist perspective the conflicting opinions surrounding the liberating rise of these female performers. Her discussion begins with Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, which along with Shania Twain’s Come On Over and Whitney Houston’s soundtrack to The Bodyguard would eventually rank as one of the three best-selling albums of the decade-all by women. Near the article’s end, however, France wonders if women have made any real progress. Indeed to what extent have feminist attitudes gained a hold or transformed rock since the 1990s?
