(Trigger alert)
"The power of whiteness lies in a set of discursive techniques, including exomination, that is the power not be named; naturalization, through which whiteness establishes itself as the norm by defining 'others' and not itself; and universalization, where whiteness alone can make sense of a problem and its understanding becomes THE understanding." (John Gabriel, Whitewash)
Seems like there's a lot of blaming lately. A lot of pointing fingers and a lot of selective memory. I don't listen to hip hop/rap/r n b ... I never have. I was certain that I was a little white-boy until I hit puberty - so as a result I still listen to a lot of angry white male alt-rock (which I've been trying to change slowly). Also growing up in small white towns most of my life - it was standard to listen to hard rock vs. 'black music'.
So when all these politicians, these media people talk about evil misogyny in 'black music' they seemingly forget the sadistic, cruel, violent misogyny in white boy music - so here's just a sample of what white male supremacist culture comes up with on the top 40 charts, again and again and again. Feel free to add your own obvious examples in the comments.
Also - Make sure to check out Sour Duck's blog and especially her archives, she genders a lot of albums, album art work and lyrics! Yay for Sour Duck!
System of a Down - Sugar:
My girl, you know, she lashes out at me sometimes,
And I just kick her, and then she's O.K. ,she's O.K.(sugar)
Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing:
I am, I am, I am
I said I wanna get next to you
I said I gonna get close to you
....I said ya shouldn't have worn that dress.....
You wouldn't want me have to hurt you too, hurt you too?
I know you want what's on my mind
I know you like what's on my mind
I know it eats you up inside
Jet - Cold Hard Bitch:
Gonna take her home cause she's over romancing
Don't wanna hold hands and talk about our little plans alright!
Cold hard bitch [right, cause talking is all that bad right, she isn't a bitch once she puts out! if she doesn't she's a cold hard bitch. Bitches n hoes?]
Nine Inch Nails - Closer
you let me violate you
you let me desecrate you
you let me penetrate you
you let me complicate you
[Yo byatch it's all your FAULT]
i want to fuck you like an animal
i want to feel you from the inside
Disturbed - Sickness
I dont need this shit you stupid sadistic abusive fucking whore
would you like to see how it feels mommy here it comes get ready to DIE
[the song is about abuse, but if this was Alanis singing this how many white men would be up in arms about an angry violent young woman?]
Nickelback - Figured You Out
I like your pants around your feet
And I like the dirt that's on your knees
And I like the way you still say please
While you're looking up at me
[bitches n hoes culture? No?]
And I love the way you pass the check
And I love the good times that you wreck
And I love your lack of self-respect
While you passed out on the deck
I love my hands around your neck
[he takes a turn in this song where it's all sweet and then gets all emotionally violent later]
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Suck My Kiss :
Give to me sweet sacred bliss
Your mouth was made to suck my kiss [what's your kiss???]
Added - the worst ever lyrics IMO (I shudder whenever I hear this song):
She Wants Revenge - Tear You ApartI want to hold you close
Soft breasts, beating heart
As I whisper in your ear
I want to f*cking tear you apart
Custom - Hey Mister (Banned in the US - but a HUGE hit in Canada):
I can't lie I have to tell the truth
Man to man mister it's a total spoof
Your daughter's a freak
Your daughter's a pro
When I'm done with her
She'll do one of your bros
I hope I'll never have a daughter
Oh and lets not forget the grand old daddies of misogyny:
Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a black girl should
A-huh. [a-huh indeed, did you mean sexually available for your pleasure?]
Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb
Its down to me, yes it is
The way she does just what shes told
Down to me, the change has come
Shes under my thumb
Ah, ah, say its alright
Under my thumb
Shes the sweetest, hmmm, pet in the world
Or the 'genre-crossing' white male rapper Eminem (loved equally by rockers and rappers! Oooh yay):
Cleanin out my closet
maybe I was just a couple of months, my faggot father
must have had his pantie's up in a bunch, cause he split,
..........
shit I did was take them bullets out of that gun, cause id'a killed 'em, shit I would have shot
Kim and him both, it's my life, i'd like to welcome y'all to the Eminem show...
And before Eminem there was of course the 'genre-crossers' the Beastie Boys, Girls:
Girls - to do the dishes
Girls - to clean up my room
Girls - to do the laundry
Girls - and in the bathroom
Girls - that's all I really want is girls
Then there is the seemingly 'fair-and-balanced' sexist song, i.e. men and women are both derided but of course women are always given the 'worse' situation and subject to 'worse' stereotypes/harsher language - 'gold diggin hoes':
Good Charlotte - Girls and Boys:
She'll get what she wants
If she's willing to please
His type of girl
Always comes with a fee
Hey, now, there's nothing for free
Girls don't like boys, girls like cars and money
Boys will laugh at girls when they're not funny
And these girls like these boys like these boys like these girls
The girls with the bodies like boys with Ferraris
Girls don't like boys, girls like cars and money
Offspring - Get a Job:
My friend's got a girlfriend
Man he hates that bitch
He tells me every day
He says "man I really gotta lose my chick
In the worst kind of way"
She sits on her ass
He works his hands to the bone
To give her money every payday
But she wants more dinero just to stay at home
I guess all his money, well it isn't enough
To keep her bill collectors at bay
I guess all his money, well it isn't enough
Cause that girl's got expensive taste
[this continues for a few more verses and then they have ONE measily paragraph devoted to a male]
My friend's got a boyfriend, man she hates that dick [and that's just as offensive as 'bitch']
She tells me every day
He wants more dinero just to stay at home
............................................
I don't care to listen to 'justifications' about or the freedom of 'lyrical interpretations' so don't waste your breath telling me I'm wrong in my 'interpretation', I won't be bothering with such comments, just so you know in advance. We all know who the universal intellegentsia is and who defines 'creativity'...so spare me.
On a related note, typing in misogyny in music - I only came across one article with a similar viewpoint. Everything else was about misogyny in rap... seems like academics should be doing a better job, tsk tsk tsk. Violence is structural - and there's plenty of that violence embedded in music by white rockers too.
ETA: This violence is not just embedded in the lyrics but in rock "culture" too. The obvious being the 'sexual exploits' of rock 'gods'.
A post by Lonergrl, re 'rock culture'.
A really, old post by Twisty. (the only two other things I could find when I typed "rock and misogyny in google).
[Lyrics used for educational purposes only]
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14 comments:
Oh thank heavens someone pointed it out. I tried making that point and didn't have time to do the research to pull it all together. But yes, it's exactly that. There's misogyny in all forms of music. That doesn't mean that we should ignore it in rap, of course, it just means that other (whiter) forms of music ought not get passes just for being not-rap.
More examples for your list:
• Weezer's "No one else"
• Blink 182's "Party Song
"• The Pussycat Dolls' "Dont'cha" (okay, just about anything by them)
• N'Sync's "It's Gonna Be Me" ("Sure, you say no now, but you really mean yes... you don't have a choice in the matter." Even if it doesn't qualify as blatant misogyny, it's sure creepy. And I like the song.)
• Nickelback's "How you remind me" (I'd never read the lyrics... I always heard it as an "I'm sorry this is so hard" song, but it's actually an "I blame you for everything" song, heh)
• N'sync's "Girlfriend" (Like many of their songs, and most pop, it's not blatant... it's just manipulative and othering and kind of slimy.)
• Mario Vazquez's "Gallery" (Because nothing cures feeling objectified by one guy like being obectified by another guy and blamed for letting yourself be objectified in the first place!)
• Santana's "Black Magic Woman"
•Travis Tritt's "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" (or worse "Sometimes She Forgets")
.. and so on. That's just a quick lookthrough of my iTunes library and some poking around online. Not exactly digging deep, y'know?
Hey thanks for the add-ons for the list!
I'm glad somebody said it. Geez. Thanks A.
Awesome post - I've definitely thought about this so many times, but since I'm not a huge rock fan, I would have trouble pointing out actual examples to people who point out the sexism in corporate rap based on the assumption that 1) no black person has ever critiqued it 2) it's the only kind of rap, 3) sexism doesn't completely saturate society and the corporate rap isn't, you know, being sold by white patriarchal elites and purchased largely by white people.
I feel like I'm missing something with the Santana song - is it the "I can't leave you alone"? I'd say that's not a line that would be said by a woman to a man. It is possible that mainstream music is so saturated with the theme of obsessive, verging-on-pushy, stalkerish "love" that it has become so normalized and common.
B.G.
I can't think of the name of the song now, but wasn't there something by Matchbox 20 about "She wants" or "She's got" a "pearl necklace"? I used to hear it on the radio all the time a few years ago, and that's the one that made me shudder, because I knew what they were talking about but they were trying to pretty it up and pretend like they didn't mean what they obviously meant.
Also just about anything by Jimi Hendrix--wasn't he the one with the whole "American woman, get away from me" and "Way deep down inside gonna give you my love" etc etc? I was trying to eat my lunch yesterday and they had something from that era playing, "Black Magic Woman" or something. And how about the easy-listening Eagles "you can't hide yer lyin' eyes" which is all about woman as golddigger? Or that song "Brandi" whose sailor boyfriend uses her when he's in town but his "life/love/lady is the sea"? Classic rock" is just as misogynist and disgusting as every other kind of music men make, but do you ever hear anyone complaining about it?
And just to be fair (cause you know that's so important!) I will say that Melissa Etheridge's song "Come to My Window (crawl inside, wait by the light of the moon)" creeps me out every time, it is so damn stalkerish. She's got a couple others that totally play into that whole pornified sexuality and power dynamics mainstreamyness too. IMHO lesbians have no business promoting pervy obsessive ideology in their music. But, you know, they don't ask my permission. :)
Thanks for this post. I was going to write a similar post, although a little more old school (AC/DC, The Stones, ZZ Top, etc.). Now I think I'll just link here 'cause you do a great job pointing out what to me at least should be obvious (and probably more relevant to todays rock culture).
At least the Beastie Boys have since apologised for that song. After they became Buddhists of course.
I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!
You're absolutely right, and I have been saying this same damn thing everywhere and to everyone. But as usual racist white fucks up and it becomes the black mans fault. NEITHER are without blame, but I am SICK of every white defender of imus saying "ooh ooh look black rappers are worse where are sharpton and jackson now?"
one more thing.. I just saw the video Tip Drill by nelly, the infamous vid in which he swipes a credit card through the crack of a womans behind... I just want to throw up now... and cry till my eyes burn... :(
Amy, you're so right about the classic rock stuff --- sadly I know most of the songs you refer too! "American Woman" was actually by the "guess who" a Canadian band (cummings/bachman) not jimi hendrix.
And I actually like "come to my window"... :(
Think black dude, feel free to use this post - it would be nice to see more analysis on heavy metal etc... too. Ewww and those terrible videos like "legs" etc... from zztop or "you shook me all night long" by ACDC etc...
The two that creep me out now are that song "Lips of an Angel", She makes it hard to be faithful. Yep, all the woman's fault that he cheats, and none of his responsibility. And then there is that Justin Timberlake video for "What Goes Around Comes Around." He's basically saying...she left me and now I wish she would die in a massive fiery car wreck, only then would the karmic scales be balanced again.
It's not just rock and metal, the two up there ^ are pop. And how about 80's pop, Wham - Everything She Wants or Michael Jackson's Billie Jean about those gold diggers having babies to trap men.
80's rock videos have alot in common with current rap videos. I'm older so that's what I remember from music videos... all the boob and butt shaking in 80's rock videos led the way for the 2000's rap videos. The racists forget that.
Great Points Donna, thanks.
as a possible antidote: you've seen the Angry White Boy Polka, yes?
but, yeah, old-school...go back a ways and find some -really- creepy shit. i mean, much as i do love the Beatles, Lennon: complicated guy. later he may have evolved, but earlier, "Run for Your Life:"
Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I won't know where I am
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl
Well you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you toe the line
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl
Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl
I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl
or, there's this:
Words and Music by Hal David and Sherman Edwards
Johnny, I said we were through
Just to see what you would do
You stood there and hung your head
Made me wish that I were dead
CHORUS
Oh, Johnny get angry, Johnny get mad
Give me the biggest lecture I ever had
I want a brave man, I want a cave man
Johnny, show me that you care, really care for me
Every time you danced with me
You let Freddy cut in constantly
When he'd ask, you'd never speak
Must you always be so meek?
CHORUS
Every girl wants someone who
She can always look up to
You know I love you, of course
Let me know that you're the boss
CHORUS
Johnny, get angry, Johnny
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny...
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