The book She’s a Rebel looks to highlight and track the role of women in the industry and genre of Rock ’n Roll. As it is stated in the introduction, the book hopes to give recognition to all females who have contributed to Rock ’n Roll; not just the big name artists, but some of the women who found success in other ways besides commercially.
In the first bit of the book there is a lot of comparison between race and gender. The Author elaborates on how females in the music industry, especially Rock, were seen almost as a lower class than the rest of the male dominated industry. The book mentions that people can classify a female artist as being the best female guitarist but asks why not just call her the best guitarist. It is because women in this genre are seen in a different lesser league then the men. This can be compared to the way black R&B artist were not appreciated by all people just because of race. To most white people in the 1940’s or 50’s R&B music was not as “clean” as Rock ’n Roll. This is ironic because most every Rock ’n Roll song is centered around either sex, drugs, or Rock ’n Roll itself. Elvis Presley, who was considered by most to be the “king of Rock ’n Roll,” was notorious for his dirty dancing and yet somehow R&B was not a clean.
Something that I found to be particularly interesting was that Big Mama Thornton, a female R&B artist, originally sang the song “Hound Dog”. This was coincidentally the song that gave “king of Rock ’n Roll” his start. “Hound Dog”, essentially the first Rock ’n Roll song ever, was written and first performed by an African American female. When white musicians such as Elvis Presley began to borrow from R&B artists the genre they created morphed into Rock ‘n Roll. This music was now “safe for the white kids to dance to.”
mpersky3 