| 490- |
[Mar. 6th, 2008|08:27 pm] |
I'm back after a two day absence. Why was I gone? Well, I thought it was because we had a big storm and it had knocked out our internet service. I was wrong. Squirrels had eaten the cable lines. Yes, squirrels.
Well now I'm back and ready to take on a new theme- the rock and roll cliche and bands who have avoided them. Hmmm, which one should I shoot for first, being that there are so many? I know. Okay, here's a puzzle for you. There's a band. The band has four members. One is a woman. She is not the singer. What part of the band is she? If you said the bassist (and you likely did), you know rock cliche #1, the girl bassist.
It happens all the time. If you have a four member rock band with one woman, she's either the singer or the bassist. Examples include Smashing Pumpkins (Darcy and then Melissa Auf der Maur and then Ginger Reyes), A Perfect Circle (Paz, though APC was 5 member, it still counts), The Pixies (Kim Deal), White Zombie (Sean Yseult), Coal Chamber (Rayna Foss-Rose then Nadja Peulen), Talking Heads (Tina Weymouth), Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), Kira Roessler (Black Flag)...
I have nothing against female bassists. I'm a big fan of Auf der Maur, Foss-Rose and Peulen. But why is it that you get that dynamic instead of 3 men and a woman drummer? or a woman lead guitarist?
One band with a different dynamic is Ash. Ash's bassist was Mark Hamilton. Guitar duties were shared between lead singer Tim Wheeler and Charlotte Hatherley. Ash had started out as a three piece band but struggled and recruited Hatherley who added a whole new dimension to the band. Yes, Ash had their big crossover hits before Hatherley came ("Girl From Mars", "Goldfinger") but all their more creative and technical stuff came after. Plus they did score some hits with her too like "A Life Less Ordinary", "Burn Baby Burn" and "Shining Lights".
Song 490-"Burn Baby Burn" by Ash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW8mEMqiNhc
But please note, I am not saying that Charlotte was in a great situation, just a different one from the usual dynamic. She had been in the band for 9 years and then gets kicked out when Ash wanted to become a three piece again and "needed to shake things up". They figured she was going to leave them eventually anyway since she had released a successful solo album. They called firing her the end of a contract situation. Ouch. If I was in a band for almost a decade, I'd want to be thought of as more than a contractor... |
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