Last night I was looking at this Tori Amos bio and remembered what a tremendous effect the singer/pianist had on my teenage years. I wanted to honor some of my teenage idols who not only kept me (kind of) sane during high school, but beckoned me to a clearer feminist consciusness.
I remember treking to the Avalon Mall in St. John's, Newfoundland to purchase her albums the day they came out. I horded bootleg albums, posters and paraphrenalia featuring the feminist fairy queen.
Yes, I know Love's status as a feminist has been highly debated (and that she has gone a little more than nuts lately), but I have to admit, Courtney Love (and Hole) was probably the single greatest influence on my musical taste and personal style. She just didn't give a FUCK (or at least she pretended not to). Her baby doll, overly girly dresses contrasted so sharply with her growly voice and in your face attitude and I, as an insecure ninth grader, wanted, more than anything, to achieve that level of what I percieved as independance and confidence. So maybe for her it came partially from drugs. Besides all the drugs, fighting, etc. back then she was still an embodiment of my personal goals and helped me to stop caring so much what others thought and believe that women could seriously ROCK!
7 Year Bitch
Super fierce grrrl band from Seattle screaming about everything I was feeling during junior high and high school. Need I say more?
Tori Amos
I remember treking to the Avalon Mall in St. John's, Newfoundland to purchase her albums the day they came out. I horded bootleg albums, posters and paraphrenalia featuring the feminist fairy queen.Not only was (and is) Tori's music beautiful and incredibly complex musically, it really spoke to my personal and political concerns regarding gender and sexuality. Whether Amos sang about rape (Me and a Gun), breakups (Putting the Damage On, among so many others), female circumcision (Cornflake Girl) or sex and religion (Icicle and the infamous God), she was always spot on.
Courtney Love
Yes, I know Love's status as a feminist has been highly debated (and that she has gone a little more than nuts lately), but I have to admit, Courtney Love (and Hole) was probably the single greatest influence on my musical taste and personal style. She just didn't give a FUCK (or at least she pretended not to). Her baby doll, overly girly dresses contrasted so sharply with her growly voice and in your face attitude and I, as an insecure ninth grader, wanted, more than anything, to achieve that level of what I percieved as independance and confidence. So maybe for her it came partially from drugs. Besides all the drugs, fighting, etc. back then she was still an embodiment of my personal goals and helped me to stop caring so much what others thought and believe that women could seriously ROCK!7 Year Bitch
Super fierce grrrl band from Seattle screaming about everything I was feeling during junior high and high school. Need I say more?
1 comment:
Back in the day you loaned me a copy of the Beatles Anthology cd which got me into the Beatles. You also had the book with all the chords to all their songs (years later I own the same book).
Anyhow, me and Sue kinda got to know eachother in part because of our mutual love of the Beatles. Thanks for the CD.
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