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Under My Thumb: Songs That Hate Women and the Women That Love Them by Rhian E. Jones, Eli Davies
labunnywtf's review against another edition
4.0
What happens when you love a form of music that doesn't love you back?
Your fave is problematic.
Your favorite movie. Your favorite TV show. Your favorite author. Your favorite musician. Your fave is problematic. You should definitely stop liking them.
This is a common refrain on the internet. This 'problematic fave' meme has gotten to the point where it's more a joke than anything, something someone rolls their eyes at and keeps moving. Because our faves are our faves, problematic or not. And we're not interested in someone who isn't a die hard fan telling us why our beloved show, our beloved book, the song we listened to on repeat during our misspent youth, makes us bad people with no sense of the realities of this world.
And this is a problem. Because these things need to be talked about. We, the fans of Joss Whedon, the fans of Johnny Depp, the fans of Eminem, the fans of The Rolling Stones and Kanye West and yes, Taylor Swift. We need to be aware that our faves need to be held accountable for their actions, for their words, for their inaction.
This book is not about how your faves are problematic and you should hate them. This collection of essays, written by a diverse and talented group of women, is about how your faves are problematic and it is okay that you still love them.
That is the most important take away from this wonderful collection of essays on the intense problem in this variety of musical genres with the degrading and devaluing of women. It would have been very easy to have this book focus on the obvious genres. Hip hop, classic rock. But we also have classic country, emo, heavy metal, goth industrial*. These essays are in chronological order based on when the music was released, meaning the first chapter references Dion and the Belmonts (didn't see that coming, did you?).
This is exactly what is needed in any discussion of problematic faves. This isn't a bunch of old people screaming about the "kids today and their music." These are Guns n Roses fans talking about 'You're Crazy'. These are Tupac fans talking about "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch". These are the voices needed in any talks of misogyny and the problems with normalizing it in any form of art. The problem with letting the harsh words go in one ear and out the other, the problem with being okay with this treatment because "those women" being talked about are bitches, are sluts, you're not like them, it's okay because it's not about you.
These authors aren't telling you to hate these artists. They're telling you they love them, too, but that these problems need to be addressed. Love the artist, but expect better from them, and future artists in the genres we love.
Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review
* Didn't even know this was a thing. Learned so much from this book.
Your fave is problematic.
Your favorite movie. Your favorite TV show. Your favorite author. Your favorite musician. Your fave is problematic. You should definitely stop liking them.
This is a common refrain on the internet. This 'problematic fave' meme has gotten to the point where it's more a joke than anything, something someone rolls their eyes at and keeps moving. Because our faves are our faves, problematic or not. And we're not interested in someone who isn't a die hard fan telling us why our beloved show, our beloved book, the song we listened to on repeat during our misspent youth, makes us bad people with no sense of the realities of this world.
And this is a problem. Because these things need to be talked about. We, the fans of Joss Whedon, the fans of Johnny Depp, the fans of Eminem, the fans of The Rolling Stones and Kanye West and yes, Taylor Swift. We need to be aware that our faves need to be held accountable for their actions, for their words, for their inaction.
This book is not about how your faves are problematic and you should hate them. This collection of essays, written by a diverse and talented group of women, is about how your faves are problematic and it is okay that you still love them.
That is the most important take away from this wonderful collection of essays on the intense problem in this variety of musical genres with the degrading and devaluing of women. It would have been very easy to have this book focus on the obvious genres. Hip hop, classic rock. But we also have classic country, emo, heavy metal, goth industrial*. These essays are in chronological order based on when the music was released, meaning the first chapter references Dion and the Belmonts (didn't see that coming, did you?).
This is exactly what is needed in any discussion of problematic faves. This isn't a bunch of old people screaming about the "kids today and their music." These are Guns n Roses fans talking about 'You're Crazy'. These are Tupac fans talking about "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch". These are the voices needed in any talks of misogyny and the problems with normalizing it in any form of art. The problem with letting the harsh words go in one ear and out the other, the problem with being okay with this treatment because "those women" being talked about are bitches, are sluts, you're not like them, it's okay because it's not about you.
These authors aren't telling you to hate these artists. They're telling you they love them, too, but that these problems need to be addressed. Love the artist, but expect better from them, and future artists in the genres we love.
Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review
* Didn't even know this was a thing. Learned so much from this book.
goldfishgwen's review against another edition
3.0
I am someone who consistently drops snippets of abhorrent things that musicians did or said in conversation, then turns right around and listens to them, when my friend sent me this book, I thought "omg that's me". I find this topic fascinating because often times, the argument for letting lyrics slide is nostalgia and the "it was a different time" mentality, which multiple authors in this book write about in their essays. But for me, it's a different case because I'm only twenty-years-old. I didn't grow up blindly listening to songs with blissful ignorance of their meanings. I make the conscious choice to listen to the bloody murder ballads of Nick Cave, the-no matter how satirical-raunchy lyrics of Frank Zappa, and what my friend calls proto-incel songs of Elvis Costello. But why?
Overall, I feel as though I liked the concept for this book more than I actually liked the essays. I found some of them fairly surface-level and with the same mentality that I have: I'll acknowledge the bad things, but at the end of the day, good music is good music. I was hoping that most of them would dig a bit deeper into internalized misogyny and the landscape of feminine consumption. The standout essay for me was "Where the Wild Roses Grow: The Strange Allure of Murder Ballads" by Kelly Robinson.
Overall, I feel as though I liked the concept for this book more than I actually liked the essays. I found some of them fairly surface-level and with the same mentality that I have: I'll acknowledge the bad things, but at the end of the day, good music is good music. I was hoping that most of them would dig a bit deeper into internalized misogyny and the landscape of feminine consumption. The standout essay for me was "Where the Wild Roses Grow: The Strange Allure of Murder Ballads" by Kelly Robinson.
kmhoover's review against another edition
4.0
I love the thoughtful critique throughout these essays.
foundeasily's review
3.0
Gave a cursory look to most of these but focused on the essays on Weezer's Pinkerton, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. There seemed a reliable list of common sources, especially 'Gender Trouble', as well as Simon Reynolds' 'Sex Revolts', that kept coming up.
There were interesting pieces but nothing here rose above the level of an above average blog post. Which is a fine standard to meet but not one to brag about. I think the essay format here ultimately left it a little light, even if that kept it very readable.
There were interesting pieces but nothing here rose above the level of an above average blog post. Which is a fine standard to meet but not one to brag about. I think the essay format here ultimately left it a little light, even if that kept it very readable.
ms4321's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Very digestible. I definitely found some essays more interesting than others but that was more based off of my own music/genre preferences than anything else. A solid read đź‘Ť
staceface's review
4.0
Really cool book for feminist music fans. I skimmed essays about artists I didn’t really care about, and really dug into the ones about artists/genres I know and love. Recommend the read if you’re at all interested! :)