female genre?

[Renee Rosen <lilitu@cjnetworks.com>]

At 10:38 AM 5/30/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Date:    30 May 1997 11:30:07 EDT
>From: <gearnoise@VNET.IBM.COM>
>To: <love-hounds@gryphon.com>
>Subject: The Bush Branch; Pistils without Stamens?
>Message-Id:  <19970530.113007.MULVENNA@RALVM17>
>
>I was recently looking at local Chapel Hill, North Carolina singer-
>song writer Heather Russell's website, and came across this quote from
>a review of one of her performances (Hope you don't mind, Heather):
>
>".... a branch of rock music pretty much invented by <Kate> Bush
> and plied solely by women. Like Bush and Siberry ....."
>
>Thinking about it, that appears to be a true statement.  With my rather
>limited exposure to the music scene, I cannot think of a male singer -
>songwriter that would belong in the same genre as Kate Bush or Jane
>Siberry or Sarah MacLaghlin.
>
>Any thoughts as to why that is so?
>Or does someone know of a male whom one might consider in the same
>classification?
>

Well, I wouldn't quite put Kate and Jane and Sarah in a "genre," though I
would group them together as being similar. At any rate, for the sake of
argument, I'll consider them a genre (though I don't know what to call
it--intelligent singer/songwriter pop w/ folkish influences?). I can,
however, think of male artists that could possibly be considered in the
same genre. Peter Gabriel, David Sylvian, and Prefab Sprout come
immediately to mind, as well as perhaps some of Sting's solo works. Dead
Can Dance could also be considered in a similar category, and they have a
male singer as well as a female one. Mike Oldfield has also done some works
in a similar style, though many of them had female singers, so I'm not sure
if that would count. The same goes for Hector Zazou (though he prob. has
had more male singers). I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of any
off hand (though I'm sure I'll think of plenty when I've sent this post
off;). 

At any rate, I'll agree it's female dominated, but there are a few males
who could be included--how many depends on how you define this genre. As to
why it's female dominated, it could be due to various reasons, both social
and "innate." Social reasons would include the perception that the style is
"feminine" and the fear of male artists to break out of the standard rock
mold. Innate reasons could be that more females than males have voices
suited to this type of music, so they are more likely to perform them--that
could also explain why some male artists (such as the aforementioned
Oldfield and Zazou) bring in female singers when they work in similar styles.

Also, don't forget that Kate Bush can be classified in many categories, and
it depends what category you classify her in what you would compare her to.
If you put her in a mellowish folk influenced category, you may come up
with different comparisons than if you put her, say, in a category of
intelligent pop with experimental elements. The former would put her in the
same category as Sarah McLaughlan, whereas the latter would put her in a
category with Danielle Dax (also female, but clearly not the same "genre"
as Sarah) or Peter Gabriel.

Just my thoughts on the matter. I'm curious what others think (and if
others would classify any of these artists the same as I do).

Renee Rosen
lilitu@cjnetworks.com