I Like Your Spotty Dress, Miss
I was going to write about how there's a few good girl groups around at the moment until the thought struck me: I wouldn't say how there was some good boy groups around at the moment, it's pretty much a given. So why do people insist on making a point of this sort of thing?
I guess it's true - there just aren't as many girls making pop music as there are guys. I've racked my brains and I can't come up with any reason for this. I've met a few people who say they can't listen to female vocals, or just don't get on with them, but that strikes me as just weird. It doesn't occur to me all that much, if it's good, it's good.
There was Riot Grrrl, if you recall, in which girls tried to wrest some power from the hands of the tyrannical men, which is all well and good but tends to leave an impression that if girls are going to play rock music, then they have a chip on their shoulder. Everett True was quite happy to assert that all rock music should be played by girls, and listening to the vast majority of male-orientated bands out there, I certainly see his point. Bands like Throwing Muses managed to fit so much more into their songs than their contemporaries, but again: I'm not sure it's related. I think in this case, it comes down to an individual talent (in TM's case, two plus) that were very gifted for this sort of thing.
However: until the day (and that day may never come (c) Marlon Brando, 1971) when no-one really notices who's in the band , there's several groups bubbling just under the public radar that are predominantly female and are producing music that revels in it. None of your hippy whinging here, no angry young things, but basking in the girliness almost laughing at the men who will inevitably be fawning over them precisely because they are female.
The Pipettes 
The Chalets
Magneta Lane
Of course, being attractive young ladies doesn't hurt them, as such.
I don't really like linking in MySpace profiles because I find the whole concept a little creepy but at the same time I'm too lazy to upload anything, it takes too long on my wee dial-up. So if you want the music (which really is worth listening to, especially in the case of the Chalets), go there via the respective websites.
Edit/Addendum: The Pipettes play the Garage, Highbury Corner, London on Wednesday 22nd March
4 comments:
Hehe, good slant. Having listened to all three, Magneta Lane are the only ones that have grabbed me instantly. The Pipettes and The Chalets are both slightly lightweight for me, but The Pipettes sound better to these ears. No accounting for taste, eh?
I like the Chalets best out of those three. On several levels. I couldn't really get into Magneta Lane all that much, unfortunately.
I also think I may have unwittingly watched the Pipettes once, there was a band very much in their style played the Garage one indie disco night in the past. I liked them, but there was general scorn from various other quarters.
Hot Puppies are very good as well. They wowed a bunch of us when supporting some not quite as cool men who had also formed a band.
Men in bands? Whatever next?
Consider them looked into, thanks. I wondered about putting The Like up there after being reminded of their existence this evening, but then was simultaneously reminded that they weren't very good.
So I didn't blog 'em.
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