“Upon its release in 1977, Rumours became the fastest selling LP of all time, eight hundred thousand copies per week at its peak, that success makes Fleetwood Mac a cultural phenomenon. The million-dollar record that took a year and untold grams of cocaine to complete became a totem of 1970s excess, a yardstick by which to measure just how ’70s the ’70s were.” (p. 115)
“In short, Lana Del Rey is Amy Winehouse with the safety on.” (p. 59)
“I can still listen to Led Zeppelin and take joy in…James Brown. I condemn the things they did. I’m not reminded constantly in the art, because the art is not about it. But if you’re listening to ‘I want to marry you, pussy’ and not realize that he [R. Kelly] said that to Aaliyah, who was fourteen, and making an album he named Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number–I had Aaliyah’s mother cry on my shoulder and say her daughter’s life was ruined, Aaliyah’s life was never the same after that.” (p. 43)
Jessica Hopper has been a rock journalist for decades. Her articles in The First Collection of Criticism By a Living Female Rock Critic (2021) cover Major and Minor groups and singers over the past 30 years.
As you can discern from the passages above, Hopper has a crisp, snarky writing style. The third excerpt comes from an interview with Jim Derogatis, the reporter who covered R. Kelly’s molesting of young girls for years. Like Jeffrey Epstein, R. Kelly ruined the lives of many, many girls for many, many years before Justice finally prevailed.
Anyone who is interested in contemporary music will enjoy The First Collection of Criticism By a Living Female Rock Critic. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Forward by Samatha Orby — xi
Introduction: I have a strange relationship with music — xiii
PART I: Chicago.
Chance the Rapper (June 2013) — 3
Viva la filthy noise! : Coughs’ Secret passage (October 2006) — 7
Sweet things (January 2006) — 13
LIL’ SQUIRT: JUICEBOXXX TAKES HIS SHOW ON THE ROAD, RIGHT AFTER HE GRADUATES HIGH SCHOOL — 15
San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Oswego: An Up-and-Coming British Post Punk Trio Wows the Preteens of a Suburban High School Gym — 21
Pogoing Across Boarders — 26
The “Stomach-Churning” Sexual Assault Accusations Against R. Kelley: Conversation with Jim Derogatis (December 2013) — 31
Part II: Real/Fake
We Can’t Stop: Our Year With Miley (January 2014) — 49
Gaga takes a trip (April 2011) — 53
Deconstructing Lana Del Rey (January 2012) — 56
St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (November 2011) — 66
Kacey Musgaves, Pageant Material — 71
Louder Than Love: My Teen Grunge Poserdom (Spring 2005) — 76
Part III: Death/Redemption
The passion of David Razan (July 2009) — 83
Flirting with religion : Rickie Lee Jones (March 2007) — 94
Superchunk : I hate music (August 2013) — 99
Why Michael Jackson’s past might be Gary, Indiana’s only future (July 2009)– 102
Between the viaduct of your dreams : On Van Morrison (July 2008) — 106
Part IV: Nostalgia
When The Boss went moral : Bruce Springsteen’s lost album (November 2010) — 111
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours Box Set — 115
Shouting out loud : The Raincoats (October 2009) — 123
Chalk Circle: Reflection — 127
You’re reliving all over me : Dinosaur Jr. reunites (April 2005) — 131
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me — 137
Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation Deluxe –141
Nevermind already : Nirvana’s 20th anniversary boxset (September 2011) — 146
PART V: CALIFORNIA
Kendrick Lamar : not your average, everyday rap savior (October 2012) — 153
Lana Del Rey: HONEYMOON — 162
California demise : Tyler, the Creator and EMA feel the bad vibes (2011) — 166
Will the stink of success ruin The Smell? (February 2009) — 169
Part VI: Strictly business
Punk is dead! Long live punk! : a report on the state of teen spirit from the mobile shopping mall that is the Vans Warped Tour (August 2004) — 181
Chief Keef, King of Chicago’s Insurgent Rap Scene (August 2013) — 191
How selling out saved indie rock (November 2013) — 196
Not Lollapalooza : Rollin Hunt, Screaming Females & Abe Vigoda (August 2007) — 213
Part VII: Desire, power, pleasure
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville, Expanded Reissue — 221
Cat Power : Sun (September 2012) — 228
Body/Head, Coming Apart — 238
Joanna Newsom — 243
Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do — 247
Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday — 251
Part VIII: Personal/Political
Emo : where the girls aren’t (July 2003) — 257
TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain — 265
SWF, 45 : Mecca Normal’s The observer (April 2006) — 269
An Interview with Lida Pimienta — 275
Robyn Knows What It’s Like to Feel Bad — 290
M.I.A.’s Maya (July 2010) — 295
Janelle Monae is Breaking Rules and Creating Space for Others to Do the Same — 308
Part IX: She said
You will ache like I ache : the oral history of Hole’s Live through this (April 2014) — 315
“It Was Us Against Those Guys”: The Women Who Transformed Rolling Stone in the Mid-1970s — 338
Joni Mitchell: The Studio Albums 1968-1979 — 358
Sleater-Kinney: A Certain Rebellion — 369
The Invisible Woman: A Conversation with Bjork — 379
A Woman Every Hour: How Nashville’s Women Are Fighting Country’s Bra Rule — 392
Kacy Musgraves, Janelle Monte, and the Year of the Woman…Again — 399
Afterword — 411
Acknowledgments — 425
— — — —-
I think I would have to be more familiar with the music to enjoy this and I seem to have faded out midway through. Somehow a female rock critic seems unusual. Is it?
Not really. But the likes of ROLLING STONE magazine have not been, on average, a feminist Mecca (though even they better than some). Those that get paid well have certainly leaned chromosonally XY (when not XXYY).
My typo. I meant XYY.
Patti, pretty much. Female rock critics are almost as rare as female sports writers.
It’s been a lot more equal opportunity for at least thirty+ years or so, at least. I’ve never found any lack of women writing about varieties of rock and related music over time. What makes you think so?
Todd, as pop music becomes more computer generated and AI powered, these real bands and singers will be nothing but nostalgic.
I’m not as certain how many women sports-wirters there are, in comparison, even though I gather that’s become more egalitarian, too, because I don’t pay attention in any methodical way to sports or the journalism around it.
Feminism, punk rock, dance musics of various sorts, and other factors have brought a lot of women into the field at various levels. Patti Smith was a critic before she was a pro musician, and was a spur/role model. Ellen Willis’s work jor the NYT and VILLAGE VOICE was another, even if some wanted to argue with her…
Todd, Diane and I went to a Patti Smith event where she discussed her brief career as a rock critic before she became a music performer.
Well, George, she didn’t ever stop altogether…
From 1995, this anthology of rock writing from women–nptably, from just over 30 years ago…the numbers have not thinned out since, even if pro gigs for everyone might have: Rock she wrote
edited by McDonnell, Evelyn; & Powers, Ann
https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780385312509/mode/2up
Robot music has been with us for some decades, George…but it’s never extinguished other sorts.
Likewise, this: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/women-rock-critics-music-journalism-misogyny-change-1234853829/
Todd, thanks for the link!
And this leaves out all the fanzines and such in the various subcultures put together by women and sexually/gender-mixed groups. (I co-published one of those.)
Yeah, I agree with Patti. Tell me about Chuck Berry and Brian Wilson. I have no interest in Lana Del Ray.
Jeff, Jessica Hopper is also an excellent album reviewer. I learned a lot from her article on Joni Mitchell’s early albums.
Well, it wasn’t the First…but the hook is that much of her audience wouldn’t know that.
Typo on Janelle Monae where you have “Monte”…
Jerry –she does tell you about Fleetwood Mac. Lana Del Rey is about how badly Brenda Lee was treated, as well…
Man, I’m still waking up…sorry, Jerry and Jeff, for conflating you.
Believe me, Todd, I have been called much, much worse.
I call myself worse, and often have been justified…
Todd, I’m in a fog each morning until I drink a couple cups of coffee!
Todd, thanks for the heads up! WORDPRESS has a lot to answer for!
The Sleater-Kinney Band (their name refers to a street corner) have perhaps been typoed as “Sweater-Kinney” before, but I’d guess mostly on WordPress.Or NY those who like Kinney deck shoes (assuming some are or were available) with their sweaters.
I’m pretty sure, even groggy, I typed “Or by those who like Kinney deck shoes…”
WordPress will take vengeance on those who mock!
Todd, once again, WORDPRESS changes my correct spelling with its own AI version. It’s exasperating!
I was a voracious reader of film, music and book criticism from childhood on up but that faded away by the nineties. Looking at the chapter headings here is a perfect example of why. I just can’t care less about what is mainstream in this day and age. It’s all like the proverbial xerox of a xerox of a xerox….(Lana Del Rey, for example, sounds like someone whose entire exposure to music was her parents’ rather sad AAA CD collection from the eighties). I’ve heard good things about Hopper but I doubt I’ll give her a glance.
It’s not an age thing either. I’ve been ordering a ton of wonderfully fresh sounding and weird-ass new CDs off of Bandcamp this past year.
Byron, contemporary music is in flux. We used to have a dozen rock ‘n roll stations–some of them Oldies stations–and today most of them have been sold to Talk Radio networks or Religious Radio networks. Streaming music has taken over for most younger listeners. We’re down to just a couple record stores. My son and daughter listen to music on their computers and iphones: no vinyl, no CDs.
Whose blog is this!? Careful, George, Todds is going to usurp your throne!
Bob, Todd has a lot on his mind.
You’re a patient soul!
Bob, Patience is a Virtue.
Some topics do strike closer to my core than even I might assume…along with jazz (particularly third stream and some free jazz), among the closest to my heart are such bands as Fanny, the Go-Go’s, the Bangles, Bikini Kill, et alia, and particularly in their “hardest” music…and all the women they and Patti Smith inspired to pick up instruments, pens or both. (Boy, does WP hate “et alia”…)
Todd, WORDPRESS Spell Check hates a lot of things! I battle with it every day!