The Destruction of Modern Women

[homersheineken]

"Pretty good" doesn't pack 100 thousand people into a venue. By "rockstar" I'm talking about Robert Plant in his prime or Chris Cornell or Layne Staley. Or the Beatles with throngs of crying young women passing out at the front of the stage due to the push/pull of the natural male/female dynamic. It's just a completely different "aura" than Stevie Nicks or Joan Jett or Heart or Pat Benetar. And there is no comparison between a band with a female front "man" like Garbage (or Evinescence) in comparison to Cobain fronting Nirvana. Women just don't have the raw creativity, passion, talent, and testosterone necessary to pack a 100 thousand screaming fans into a park in Rio and level the place with a legendary performance that reverberates through the halls of humanity for decades.

I'm not saying an excessive passion for rock music and rockstars is healthy within a spiritual context, but no, women cannot be rockstars in the traditional sense of the word. They no doubt can be creative and great musicians (Joni Mitchell), but if most people around the world were to list their top ten favorite bands or artists or albums there would be very few females within that list.

For example, when will a woman guitar player or rock musician ever reach the heights of originality and legendary status as Jimi Hendrix? Correct Answer: Never.

If we're talking about Legendary status, look no further than Taylor Swift.

Her new album sold 4M in the first day alone. Her nose bleed seats fetch $1k.

She's the reason that new guitar sales have skyrocketed in the last 10 years (not since the likes of EVH).

Sure she has a team of song writers and Coca Cola level of marketing, but she's bigger than any music star since Michael Jackson.

If we're talking about just pure talent, sure cross her off (though she is quite talented), but in terms of Rockstar/Legendary, she's there.

 

[Cooper]

If we're talking about Legendary status, look no further than Taylor Swift.

Her new album sold 4M in the first day alone. Her nose bleed seats fetch $1k.

She's the reason that new guitar sales have skyrocketed in the last 10 years (not since the likes of EVH).

Sure she has a team of song writers and Coca Cola level of marketing, but she's bigger than any music star since Michael Jackson.

If we're talking about just pure talent, sure cross her off (though she is quite talented), but in terms of Rockstar/Legendary, she's there.

You're not helping with that argument, Taylor Swift is the ultimate confirmation of the thesis that women have no musical talent.

Better counterexamples would be Annie Lennox, Blondie, Karen Carpenter, Billie Holliday, Anita O'Day, Dusty Springfield. I think the problem is that the more recent mainstream female musicians pretty much all suck.

 

[KulturedKaveman]

If we're talking about Legendary status, look no further than Taylor Swift.

Her new album sold 4M in the first day alone. Her nose bleed seats fetch $1k.

She's the reason that new guitar sales have skyrocketed in the last 10 years (not since the likes of EVH).

Sure she has a team of song writers and Coca Cola level of marketing, but she's bigger than any music star since Michael Jackson.

If we're talking about just pure talent, sure cross her off (though she is quite talented), but in terms of Rockstar/Legendary, she's there.

Oh god, Taylor Swift. She is entirely a marketing gimmick who owes a lot of her success to appealing to both moms and little girls. She has absolutely zero of that aura I was speaking of. Unlike Amy Lee who had a lot of fan boys when I was a kid, many dudes are actively put off by her despite her not being ugly. Only a certain group of men like Taylor Swift. They also like mustaches, bath houses, and leather shorts too. What I find nuts about her is people act like she’s so terrible and evil. I know one guy who thinks she got her success because of demons and she’s ruining American women. So I decided to read through her lyrics and see what the big deal is.

Drop a rock, and thunk, we hit the bottom. Taylor Swift is a slop dealer. She writes simple safe songs. Despite people talking about her guitar abilities she largely left that behind for beat making largely done by a production crew that’s not her. Even when she did play we got cowboy chords. Check out The Warning and BandMaid to see women doing more interesting stuff with guitars, not Swift. Her success boils down to coming from Americas pseudo nobility - we have one. Way off topic, but We’ve gone from being largely a meritocratic society with many actors, musicians, artists, etc coming from working class backgrounds to silver spoon kids become artists now. Now you need to be part of a pseudo nobility to get into those lives. It’s even starting to bleed into work and professions as well, not just Hollywood. This is what I blame the ‘10s leftward drift on. After the ‘08 crash the nobility took over… Anyway, being a part of Americas pseudo nobility and being safe enough to take your daughter to while being normie enough to not have your friends go “wtf you listening to” is how she got her success. I think she’s just slop. Not culturally dangerous nor musically genius. And if there’s one thing I know about upper middle class American women, they love slop.

With that being said - Michael Jackson appealed to many, Taylor Swift appeals to upper class white women. I don’t think the two are comparable.

 

[Cooper]

^Taylor Swift's main appeal is that the other choices are complete ghetto trash like Cardi B.

 

[Mrs TexasJenn]

I agree with the mention of Joni Mitchell as one of the great, creative, multi-talented female musicians. I'd add Kate Bush to that list. Back in her day, she was the first female musician to do serious, high-quality production of her own writing, which is extraordinary.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour discovered her when he listened to a demo tape a friend gave him of Kate at age 16. Her record label funded her for 2 years before she released her debut album so she could develop her creative skills before entering the commercial music arena, which was very unusual even at the time.

Unfortunately, I think it's pretty clear she went to the dark side, as everyone must to step onto the world stage. But her talent and musicianship and innovations in production are in many ways unmatched by any other women.