IT'S OVER! The bathrooms are done, the cleaning lady has come and dealt with all the dust and now I can finally get back to real life - when I'm not screaming at the kids for getting the grout dirty, or H for leaving water pooled on the marble counter top. I did manage to escape last weekend, however, and squeeze in a quick trip to Houston to see my sister. Of course, there was plenty of barbecue, although not enough to horrify a small, Mexican waitress. We also stuffed ourselves with Indian food, which I tried reluctantly, at my sister's urging, since the restaurant smelled like a spicy armpit.
To and from said restaurants, we listened to The World's Most Eclectic Mix, on Pandora. Is Pandora not the best invention ever? It's like your own personal DJ! I was all set to listen to some C+C Music Factory, but, yes, I would also enjoy some Technotronic! Thank you, Pandora! My sister, musical genius that she is, has figured out a way to merge stations, which still eludes me (which is not surprising since I still find touch screen technology intimidating. Seriously, Apple, whose fingers are that tiny?), so we listened to Dolly Parton, Daft Punk, The Spice Grils and The Bangles. While rocking out to "I Hate Myself for Loving You", I got to thinking, where did all the girl rockers go?
You remember them, or maybe you were too young (I'm looking at you, V). These gals were the badass older sisters we all wanted to be like. Performers like Joan Jett, The Go-Gos, and the previously mentioned Bangles*, they were tough, and strong and sassy and, awesomely, played their own instruments. They made little girls on play dates everywhere argue over who got to play bass and who got to play drums (and back then it was just called "having a friend over"). I myself had quite the kerfluffle over who got to be Belinda at my friend Danielle's house. She won, stupid bitch. These women had balls. The jumped in fountains in their videos (The Go-Gos in "Vacation"), they were the stars, not the background eye candy.
So how come my girls now get to choose between Rihanna and Ke$ha?
One could argue these are both strong women as well. Ke$ha, when not singing about glitter (seriously, it's in, like, four of her songs), wants guys to just shut up if they want to have sex with her, and Rihanna clams she perfectly good at being bad. Although someone needs to talk about that nauseating lyric about loving the smell of sex. I threw up in my mouth when I heard that. Go take a shower. The problem is these gals are SO sexual. I can't even let my girls listen to half the music on the radio. Thank God for the annoyingly misspelled Kidz-Bop, that changes lyrics even as innocuous as "I think you're sexy" to I think you're funny" in Top 40 songs. Of course, Joan Jett sang about taking guys home, and The Bangles were begging to be taken to their bedroom in one of their most popular songs, but that wasn't their one trick. They had love songs, and get-the-hell-away-from-me songs, and fun, hanging out with my friends songs (I dare you NOT to dance to either "Our Lips Are Sealed" or "Walk Like an Egyptian"). You kind of get the feeling, without all the audio tricks and back up dancers, the likes of Ke$ha and Rihanna wouldn't know what to do with themselves, but have you seen footage of any of these 80's gals playing live? Intense and sweaty (OK, maybe that's from the coke, Belinda Carlisle), and really, you know, performing. And the fact that the groups were formed by friends with a common love of music, rather than by the puppeteering of a producer, makes you love them even more.
A lot of things were cringe-inducingly dorky in the 80's, including my hair and the clothes, but some of the music still really rocks. In the middle of all the Taylor Swift, who, again, is a mystery to me, so awful is her live singing, and the Selena Gomez, I try to throw in some of these gals to round out my daughters' musical education. They need to know women can be more than pretty solo acts, backed by no-named musicians. They can wear crazy-ass outfits and play instruments.
And for God's sake, you don't need a friggin' dollar sign in your name.
*Yes, there was also Chrissie Hynde and Patty Smyth, but did I mention I was dork?
1 comment:
In 4th grade, my friend Joanna and I choreographed a balance beam routine to Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll" -- yes, a balance beam. She had one in her house. I was extremely jealous. We rocked that routine. I could probably still do it. Or parts of it. With wine, of course.
Ah, the memories.
Joan Jett is awesome.
Molly
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