Editor’s Note: Back in my past life as an extraordinarily small-time freelance music writer (as opposed to whatever the fuck I am now), I had the opportunity to interview Beth Ditto of the Gossip for this article in my local “alternative” weekly, the Lansing, Michigan City Pulse. The interview was, to be honest, the main reason why I wrote about the Gossip for today’s Women’s History Month post: don’t get me wrong, Beth Ditto was and remains a badass, but even more than her music, our conversation is what made a lasting impression on me. Ditto’s reflections on growing up as a queer woman in the deep Bible Belt were fascinating and incisive; she was also funny, gregarious, and a pleasure to speak to in general. So, whether you’re a fan of the Gossip or not, I highly recommend reading this interview: not because 21-year-old me did a great job as an interviewer–I emphatically did not–but because it’s a warm exchange with a decent human being, and that’s something I think we can all appreciate. – Z.H.
Category: Uncategorized
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Women’s History Month: Trina’s “Da Baddest Bitch”
First and foremost, I love Trina. Trina is my shit. She’s a bossy, nasty, fellow Sagittarius woman who is obsessed with her own ass: sounds like a role model to me. In high school I was constantly listening to “Look Back At Me,” and for better or worse, the confrontational line “yeah you runnin’ now, you runnin’! I’mma put this pussy on you!” continues to influence me to this day.
Trina and Trick Daddy in the bubble bath; photo stolen from Gangsta Boo’s Instagram. Trina has been outrageously raunchy since her debut verse on fellow Miami rapper Trick Daddy’s “Nann Nigga,” which jump-started Trina’s music career. Her 2000 debut album, Da Baddest Bitch, expands on the financially and sexually astute persona she introduced in “Nann Nigga.” The title track is essentially a book of proverbs for bad bitches, with such gems of wisdom as, “You see the bigger the dick, the bigger the bank / The bigger the Benz, the better the chance to get close to his rich friends”–and of course, my personal favorite, “make him eat it while my period on.”
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Women’s History Month: Wanda Jackson’s “Hard Headed Woman”
Wanda Lavonne Jackson was not the first woman to sing rock and roll music; but she very likely was the first white woman to release a rock and roll single, and that was an achievement in and of itself. One barely needs to scratch the surface of 1950s moral panic to recognize that the “danger” of rock and roll was its perceived threat to the moral sanctity of white womanhood. But there was Wanda, in her red fringed dresses and high heels, tearing through racy–and “race-y”–rockabilly songs with the kind of blitzkrieg energy a punk rocker would envy.
Given the time and place in which she originated–Oklahoma City in the mid-’50s–it’s unlikely that Jackson explicitly thought of herself as a feminist trailblazer, much less a transgressor of racial lines. But she didn’t need to: she broke those boundaries simply by existing. Take, for example, her 1961 version of “Hard Headed Woman.” Written by Black Rhythm & Blues songwriter Claude Demetrius and recorded, most famously, by her ex-boyfriend Elvis Presley for the King Creole
soundtrack, it’s frankly a sexist song in its original incarnation: little more than a light-hearted rundown of Biblical stories (Adam and Eve, Samson and Delilah) presented as evidence that “a hard-headed woman is a thorn in the side of a man.” But Wanda clearly takes a defiant pleasure in identifying with “that evil Jezebel”; and her hellion vocals sound just as raw today as they did 55 years ago.
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Women’s History Month: Grimes’ “Venus Fly” (featuring Janelle Monáe)
We begin women’s month with Canadian producer Claire Boucher, the singer, songwriter, and visual artist (among other things) better known as Grimes. As a self-made songwriter and musician, Grimes is especially notable for her unrelenting do-it-yourself work ethic, which allows her to be in complete control of every aspect of her work: from the creation of her music to the manga-inspired cover art of her albums.
© 4AD Records Grimes has been vocal about sexism in the music industry, particularly for female producers working in a male-dominated field. She has also been infantilized for her high, feminine voice and pop sensibilities. “Venus Fly,” featuring fellow vocal feminist singer Janelle Monáe, is a response to this sexism. The lyrics uses a venus fly trap to represent something that, in Grimes’ own words, is “too scary to be objectified,” a beautiful plant that also eats living things. Monáe’s verse uses imagery of typically pretty things, such as curls and pearls, used as weapons, while the chorus repeatedly asks why her music is overshadowed by her appearance and femininity. Plus the song is an all-out banger, with amazing futuristic fairy tale visuals in the music video.
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Our New Sister Site: dance / music / sex / romance
Just a brief interruption of the Jheri Curl June festivities to note that I’ve launched a new sister site for Dystopian Dance Party on its own domain (princesongs.org). The blog is called dance / music / sex / romance, and is a chronological, song-by-song exploration of the music of Prince: sort of like a much, much bigger version of the Kanye West Oeuvre series, or a more inept version of Chris O’Leary’s chronological David Bowie blog Pushing Ahead of the Dame. I’ll probably occasionally cross-promote Dystopian Dance Party on d / m / s / r and vice versa, but you can also see the latest d / m / s / r posts on the little RSS feed widget toward the bottom of the D.D.P. sidebar. I’ll be updating two times a week or so, hopefully, until the blog is finished or I die, whichever comes first.
Here’s the first post to whet your appetite. Enjoy.
Funk Machine: Prehistory, 1963-1968
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My Type of Hype: A House Party Series Retrospective
Last month marked the 25th anniversary of the release of House Party: the definitive early ’90s African American teen comedy, starring pop-rappers Kid ‘n Play and directed by Reginald Hudlin. So what better time than now to look back and recall the classic film, the sequels it spawned, and the moment in urban youth culture it inimitably captured and preserved? If you have fond memories of the House Party films, read this post and you just might learn something new–especially about the franchise’s lesser-seen third and fourth installments.
The original House Party, an expanded remake of a student film Hudlin made while attending Harvard University in 1986, structures itself loosely around a single day in the lives of a group of high school seniors. Peter, a.k.a. “Play” (Christopher “Play” Martin), is throwing the titular house party while his parents are out of town. His friend Christopher, or “Kid” (Christopher “Kid” Reid), wants to use the party as an opportunity to showcase his “dope lyrics” as an M.C., but his plans are jeopardized when he runs afoul of the school bullies: hulking “Stab” and “Zilla” and diminutive, squeaky-voiced “Pee Wee,” played respectively by real-life brothers Paul Anthony, Brian “B-Fine,” and Lucien “Bowlegged Lou” George of the R&B group Full Force. Also attending the festivities are Tisha Campbell as the “bougie” upper-class girl, Sidney, who harbors a crush on Kid; A.J. Johnson as her worldly friend from the projects, Sharane; and Martin Lawrence–in only his second feature film role, after Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989)–as Bilal, the party’s irascible D.J.
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