Sometimes when I’m listening to music – particularly music written and/or performed by women – it occurs to me that the music I’m listening to would probably annoy or even anger Men’s Rights Activists. And that makes me want to share this music with the world. So I’m starting a new series here: Music to Annoy MRAs With.
First up: Meredith Monk, an avant garde composer/performer/filmmaker/etc probably best known for her “extended vocal techniques” which one music critic has described as a melange of “extraordinary ululations and incantations, vertiginous leaps, drops, cries and other wordless acrobatics.” That seems about right.
If you’re a fan of The Big Lebowski, you’ve heard at least one song of hers: when the lovably pretentious feminist artist Maude Lebowski makes her memorable entrance, swinging naked through the air on a harness in a darkened studio, splattering paint onto a giant canvas, it’s the voice of Meredith Monk that provides the musical accompaniment. (Monk found the scene hilarious.)
Anyway, here are some Meredith Monk videos for you all. You may like them, you may not – Monk is sort of an acquired taste — but one thing is virtually guaranteed: they will confuse and annoy the hell out of any MRAs who happen to watch. A critically lauded female composer/musician making music they don’t understand? Noooooooo!
The first video is a selection from a longer piece called Dolmen Music; essentially, we’re supposed to be listening to a conversation in a strange language amongst Neolithic Brits (or perhaps space aliens, as Monk has suggested). I may have posted this before, but I’m posting it again, dammit.
The second is a clip from her film Book of Days depicting a variety show of sorts in a somewhat unusual Medieval village; stick with it until the end. I think I posted a shorter version of this once as well.
The final video is Monk performing a solo piano piece that actually has words; try to ignore the really patronizing voiceover.
Her official site is here, though I was having trouble reaching it today.
Sara Bareilles – King Of Anything
I don’t have the ability to link, but what about Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'”? Of course, Eartha Kitt upgraded the boots in her version – to cha cha heels.
Linda Ronstadt rejects a beta in favour of the cock carousel
@Robert, there you go:
Thanks, Titian!
Ohhhhhh there’s so many songs I want to post here. Someone mentioned bikini kill, well after they broke up kathleen hana formed a dance band called le tigre. They’re not my favorite band, but they can be quite catchy and their song deceptacon always gets stucking in my head.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KHOZwyNilZs&feature=kp
Has anyone mentioned P.J. Harvey yet? Her vocals remind me also bit of the OP and her music can be a bit messy but beautiful.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WuJE40OBt48&feature=kp If nothing tbe video would poss them off.
Last is the comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates with some lyrics that would make them cry big dudely tears.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh-0dFvTyI8&feature=kp
Heart only had two female members, the lead guitar player on Magic Man is a Roger Fisher iirc. Also, they didn’t try to copy Black Sabbath, they tried to copy Led Zeppelin, virtually every second song on their early (and best) albums is a Zeppelin pastiche. Unfortunately, at some point the band fell apart and the Wilson sisters resurfaced in the 80’s as commercialized pop stars with no individuality, but I think they recuperated and ended up touring with John Paul Jones.
Listen to this, you can often barely tell it’s a cover version.
I read that Pharyngula piece yesterday – so much laughage at that creepy loser.
There is a belief among some people that women are literally incapable of artistic expression. Try and present them a female artist and they will find some way of dismissing their accomplishments. I think two artists that stand out for their originality and influence on pop music, and that can’t possibly be dismissed unless you hate music as a genre, are Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush. Joni Mitchell pioneered a type of folk-pop music that is actually extremely complex, with advanced chord progressions and literate lyrics, and I can’t quite think of a male solo artist that could match her accomplishments. And for Kate Bush I’ll just say that her album The Dreaming is highly recommended, but otherwise I’m too tired to explain anything about her.
Eww, it gets worse: the creep in that Pharyngula piece has admitted to Facebook stalking that woman.
Ulali, just ‘cuz they’re women (and powerful).
Misandry fiesta!!!
Misandry siesta!
I don’t believe I’ve shared any pictures of my kitties with you Mammotheers yet.
Here’s Dracarys.
https://twitter.com/weirwoodtreehug/status/465648176347635712/photo/1
Wow. I didn’t realize that would embed. I thought it would be a link 😮
I’ve never seen a pic link here either! (‘cept Amazon ads)
Dracarys is SO PRETTY.
Here’s a really useful invention. Yes, I am looking at kitty pics on the internets.
Re earphones: “Be open and receptive to cold approaches” — um, NO. And this might be why you’re not making any progress with the crush, random sad dude…you expect her to be at your disposal all the fucking time.
Leslie Gore’s You Don’t Own Me with such misandrous lines as “don’t tie me down cuz I’d never stay” and ” don’t tell me what to do and don’t tell me what to say.”
Saffire the Uppity Blues Women 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S-fkIb7YXI
Even banal club music has moments of misandry!
So much awesome music! I’ve been dancing around my apartment getting absolutely no work done! Yay!
Post some good music, and I’ll delurk, especially to give even more love to Tori Amos, Diamanda Galas, PJ Harvey, Joan Jett, Siouxie Sioux, Heart, Laurie Anderson… Wait – has anyone mentioned Laurie Anderson yet? And something gives me the feeling that the MRA’s would hate Rasputina (cello rock!), The Dresden Dolls *and* Amanda Palmer’s solo stuff, and probably Belle and Sebastian, too. ‘Cause how could all those guys stand to be in bands with all those icky girl cooties?
In the middle of my good music nostalgia fix, I’m having bittersweet memories of seeing Tori Amos live, with three friends, the night before we graduated from high school. Tori was amazing, of course, but goddamn, the emotions were running high that night! Out of the four girls in our little concertgoing group, three had been raped or sexually abused, which is scary in itself. Then she sang “Me and a Gun” in her heartbreaking a cappella, and the audience went dead silent. You could hear individual tears hitting the floor of the theatre. Such mass catharsis is rare, and amazing. Looking back, I sometimes wish I had a time machine, and that we could drop all those rape-apologists, MRAs and PUAs into that concert hall, just after Tori had finished that song. Sometimes I’m not terribly nice; imagining those assheads being torn limb from limb by a hall full of survivors gives me the warm fuzzies.
Interesting music, but isn’t art and culture meant to unite people instead as being used to drive wedges between them?
Bartok like and similar to a female russian composer who uses the voice.
I get that you’re being funny and anti, but it defeats the egalitarian nature of culture, in an ironic way.
On a seperate note Keb’ Mo’ has a new album well worth a listen.
This is a mockery site. So we mock misogynists in every way we can.
I also don’t agree that art and culture is there to unite us. Art has often upset and challenged people. Nobody here wants to unite with MRAs anyway.
This is the strangest tone troll yet.
Did distanceleft have his sense of humor surgically removed?
@distanceleft:
How can art and culture unite people when 1) there are so many different cultures and such wildly different types of art and 2) people from all those different cultures have, y’know, individual tastes? Example: the music mostly being listed here is a type I simply don’t care for – that’s not a statement about the music or its culture or anything except my tastes. So how could it serve this purpose of uniting anything? Ditto, music I like isn’t necessarily going to be to anyone else’s taste. If anything I’d say music is least suitable for “uniting” because that implies being made to listen to it … and if anything triggers anger and stress in me, well, that’ll do it.
@Winter Walker, that is a GORGEOUS avatar. 🙂 Have a Complimentary Welcome Package!