Sunday 8 July 2012

No. 58- Losing my Mojo- part 2- the covers

To date there have been 225 editions of Mojo. Below is a list of the handful of covers that women have been the ‘cover star’ (i.e without any other artist or not as part of a band). It stated out promisingly enough- two women graced the cover in the first year of publication. However it took almost five years for another woman to front a cover.

Here is a complete list of all those Mojo covers which had a female covers star

Issue 2 ( December 1993)- K.D. Lang

Issue 11 (October 1994)- Chrissie Hynde

Issue 63 (February 1999)- Debbie Harry

Issue 79 (June 2000)- Janis Joplin

*Issue 111 (February 2002) – Kate Bush – UK only

*Issue 145-(December 2003)- Kate Bush – UK only

*Issue 168 (November 2007)- Debbie Harry – US only for the UK edition it was Oasis AGAIN!

Issue 170 (January 2008)- Amy Winehouse

Issue 211 (June 2011) Kate Bush

Then there is the interesting case of Yoko Ono
For Issue 114 (May 2002) there was one cover with Yoko Ono along with an alternative cover with Paul McCartney (not stoking up division there!) and Issue 186 (May 2009)- Yoko shares cover and cover story with John Lennon but her face is obscured on by a hat.
So who are the usual suspects in terms of Cover boys? I have attempted to count up the numbers and here they are
Beatles (NB 2 covers shared with Bob Dylan)

Pink Floyd - includes Syd Barrett Covers)

Bob Dylan (NB 2 covers shared with Beatles)

Rolling Stones

Solo Beatles

All the above had a great percentage of covers in their own right than women artists combined. Other usual suspects include Neil Young, Kurt Cobain and Radiohead.

Of 225 editions women have only been the cover artist on 8 issues of Mojo in the UK and 7 in the US. That is not even 4% of all covers. Compare this with Word which in its 113 issues has had a woman on the cover 10 times. Still only 9% but a big improvement on Mojo. Clash is has had female musicians as cover stars on 9 issues out of a total of 75 (12% of total) Since 2002 Q has had 17 covers which have been fronted by female artists (I have not counted the November 2006 issue which had a choice of 20 cover artists, 5 of which were women). However this higher rate of female representation is immediately undercut by the fact that for least half these covers the women are portrayed in sexually provocative poses and dress more suited to a lads mag. There have also been covers where male musicians have been shown with semi-naked women draped around them At least Mojo has never once done ths! There is one bright note in that in the past six months Q has had Lana Del Rey, Florence Welch and Amy Winehouse as cover stars in respectful ‘portrait’ photos (i.e. not in sexualised poses or dress). I can only hope that these women’s undoubted musical talent and critical/commercial success was more to do with this as their physical attractiveness.

It is not just women who are underrepresented. I also counted Black artists as cover artist on their own right and they account for only 14 covers (One of which is a Motown artists cover). This is 6% of covers. Bob Marley accounts for 5 of these covers and Jimi Hendrix 3. No woman of colour has had a cover in her own right (although Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross and Lauren Hill have appeared on the front cover with other artists). K. D. Lang is the only gay woman to have been on the cover.

My intention here is not to point Mojo out for particular censure, although its’ rate of female cover stars is low even by music magazine standards. Mojo does include a good number of reviews and news coverage of female artists. It includes a reasonable proportion of female artists on its free CDs. But there is enormous room for improvement. If I may, here are my suggestions for Women who Mojo could have as cover stars and hey they may even sell a few issues!

Aretha Franklin
The Queen of Soul. Aretha has been on the cover of No. 36 (November 1996- cover story ‘The best of everything!) along with other artists but not in her own right. There is many a tale to tell and a stack of classic albums to devote articles to.

Nina Simone
A legendary artist. She did have an article in No. 224 (July 2012) about her discography. How about a cover story?

Sandy Denny
Nick Drake, a similar cult English folk figure has been on the cover twice- Sandy Denny is similarly loved. Again there was an article in No. 223 (May 2012) about her discography

Patti Smith
There have been a couple of covers with the Ramones and a few covers with Bruce Springsteen. Why not Patti Smith who is still making vital music after 35 years? Patti was on the cover of Uncut magazine last month.

Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell has been featured on the front cover of issue 87 (August 1998- cover story ‘American legends’) but this was a long with several other artist. Neil Young has been on the cover five times, and even ‘Laughing’ Leonard Cohen has been the cover a couple of times. Why not Joni Mitchell? Joni Mitchell has managed to be on the soon to be closed Word Magazine twice in its short run.

Emmylou Harris
Emmy has had a highly respected 40 year career and is still making highly regarded music.

Kirtsy McColl
Much loved and much missed singer/songwriter.

Dusty Springfield
We have had all the important Mod bands on the cover of Mojo- The Who, the Kinks, Rod Stewart, the Small Faces – why not Dusty? There is certainly a very interesting story there to tell or is Dusty’s sexuality seen as something that might scare the readership?

Carole King
Tapestry was reissued a couple of years ago- surely an excuse for one of Mojo’s cover cds where an entire classic album gets covered? It has only sold over 10 million copies! And that is before we get into her career as a songwriter for others. She has only written over 400 songs which have been covered by over 1000 artists!

Siouxsie Sioux
We have had domestic partner murderer Sid Vicious on the cover of Mojo at least twice. Yet there has been no cover featuring one of the many women of the UK punk scene. Siouxsie Sioux is a striking looking woman who would have a few stories about Punk/music industry. And while we are at it how about included the sadly late Ari Up and Poly Strene?

Marianne Faithful
Rather than put the Rolling Stones on the cover again- why not Marianne Faithful? She is still making music and her ‘ Broken English’ album would certainly be worth an article

Bjork
A unique artist- now here is my confession. There was a lengthy article on Bjork and her new album in the November 2011 edition of Mojo. The cover boy was none other than George Harrison. Guess the reason I brought the magazine. Say ten hail Bjorks as penance
P. J. Harvey
Twice Mercury winning- the only artist to do so.

Even dare I say it Madonna? If Abba and Michael Jackson can make the cover why no Material Girl
There are also so many female artists to write in-depth articles about. Here is just a small selection- Etta James, LaBelle (First African American women to appear on cover of Rolling Stone!), The Supremes, the female artists of Motown (Martha Reeves, Mary Love, Brenda Holloway, Tammi Terrell), Marcia Griffiths, Betty Davis (one time wife of Miles), Bettye Lavette (Deep Soul legend who has made a number of excellent albums in recent years), Missy Elliott, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Carla Bley, Doris Troy, Laura Nyro, Judee Sill, Poly Strene, Ari Up and the Slits, The Raincoats (beloved of Kurt Cobain), Aimee Mann, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, ‘Lovers rock Queens’ Carole Thompson and Janet Kay, ‘Mama’ Cass Elliott along with contemporary female artists such as Thea Gilmore.

Anyway here’s hoping!

No. 57 - Losing my Mojo- part 1

First off let me say- I love Mojo magazine. I find it a more intelligent and considered in its music coverage than any other part of the music press. I have been reading it since my mid 20’s (I am now looking at 40 coming up quickly in the rear view mirror!)

However there is one major problem. Out of 225 issues, excluding bands and covers featuring several musicians, women artists have only been featured on the cover eight times in the UK edition and seven times on the US edition. I will discuss this in more depth in my next post.

The lack of women as covers stars indicates a serious issue in lack of coverage of women musicians generally. Occasionally there will be an in depth interview with a female artist who has not appeared as cover star of the issue (both Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush have had interviews flagged up on the front cover) but examining the covers has also indicates how rarely there are in-depth articles about the careers of female musicians. The names of female musicians appear on the front cover a fraction of the time that male musicians do, and it is often difficult to tell if the female musician is the subject of an article or just a review.
I am also not saying that it is just Mojo that has a problem. A quick glance at the gallery of covers of most music magazines- (Uncut, Q, Word, Clash) confirms this (again I will discuss this in my next post).

There are numerous reasons why this state of affairs has probably come about.

Firstly is the perceived audience for these magazines. Many of the magazines, particularly Mojo, are aiming at the legendary ‘£50 bloke’ a male baby boomer born c1945-1962 who would spend £50 a time in a record store (of course the digital revolution and recession have somewhat changed the music market). Middle aged men are seen as the largest audience not just for music magazines but music and home entertainment, in no small part due to their disposable income. However as I have written above I have been reading and buying Mojo since my mid 20’s and a one-time female boss was a proud subscriber to Word. There are women of many ages who are interested in music (as I show in the discussion of zines at the end of this post).

It is important to note that music magazines are finding it harder and harder to find an audience. Word Magazine has just folded and Uncut has recently changed focus to include classic interviews to try and boost sales. Inevitably Mojo will put artists on the front cover that it will know will sell copies and the Beatles, Stones and usual suspects get sales.

But to really understand this situation, we need to look at two aspects of rock writing- the masculine values and culture of rock journalism and lack of women writers (alack this is a fairly widespread issue in the media).

There are several distinct and occasionally interlinking unwelcome tendencies within rock music writing. Firstly and significantly there is a tendency towards macho values. Hard living with drinks, drugs, womanising, fighting and ‘bad boy’ behaviour are seen as the marks of an authentic artist. We are not just talking about artists such as Led Zepplin, Oasis and Rolling Stones. This is linked with the coverage of the hard living, sexually transgressive male figure such as David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. Even though these artists may seem to challenge the hetronormative expectations of their audiences, their hard living stories and their sexual confidence actually align them with acts such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin in the male audience’s eyes.

This is linked to the focus on the rock band as the ‘Boy’s gang’ reassuring male rock fans of the primacy of male friendship and the male gang. The conflict between band members is aligned a masculine concern with power The coverage of bands such as the Clash, the Sex Pistols and Ramones, and even the Smiths can be said to be part of this trend.

There is the ‘muso’ tendency which values intellectualism and musical ability (often at the expense of the musician engaging emotionally and socially with their audience). Thus the love of artists such as Pink Floyd and Radiohead.

Finally there is glorification of the mentally ill ‘Outsider’ male figure such as Brain Wilson and Syd Barrett. These figures ironically fit in with the myth of male exceptionalism, with their mental illness being a product of exceptional talent and behaviour (I have my own theory of Brian being a victim of paternalistic values and masculine aggression that were prevalent in his family but he ho).

Of course certain female artists slip through the net. Kate Bush is enormously popular in the rock press (as the number of her Mojo cover stories show) as she is undoubtedly feminine and physically attractive. She fits in with the model of ‘exceptional eccentric’ and is almost a prototype for the ‘Manic pixie dream girl’ trope. I want to make it clear that this is not to denigrate Kate Bush in any way- she is an astonishing artist who has dome things entirely on her own terms with integrity for over 35 years and unapologetically brings feminist themes to her music. It is far more difficult however for a female artist to challenge gender roles in the way that men like David Bowie have. None of the female artist who challenged the stereotypes of women in rock during the punk era – Siouxsie Sioux, Poly Styrene, Ari Up, have featured on the front covers of any of the magazines I discuss.

The second serious issue is the issue of the lack of women both as writers and editors of these magazines. The NME only got its first female editor in recent years.

I have had a look through my own holdings of Mojo and there are few if any articles written by women (Sylvie Simmons is one exception I can bring to mind). This reflects a lack of women in music writing. I can only think of Lucy O’Brien and Charlotte Grieg as two excellent women writers. Significantly they write specifically about women artists.

Charlotte Grieg wrote the magnificent ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’ (published, tellingly, by Virago) which takes a serious look at what are pejoratively termed ‘Girl groups’ and also ‘Girl signers’ such as Dusty Springfield. These groups are rarely taken seriously be the rock press. There is the double issue with many ‘girl groups’ of race as that many of these groups are African American. Grieg shoes in her book how music produced by ‘Girl groups’ illustrate the effect that the social changes of the 1950s-1990’s have had women, particularly African American women have gone through. The changes in economic, employment, relationships and sexual expectations are reflected in the lyrics of ‘Girl group’ songs (i.e. a perfect illustration of the feminist argument of the Personal is political).

This points to another issue with rock journalism. Female artists are often aligned with pop or the more mainstream side of rock music. Many of the successful artists of the last few years (most notably Adele), no matter how credible their music, have not been featured on the cover of Mojo while they have made the front of Q and Word. Would the staff at Mojo be afraid of disgruntled readers complaining that these young ladies should not be on the front of Mojo?

There are few female instrumentalists, particularly guitarists in rock (or at least mainstream rock). Only a few of the groups that have been on the front of Mojo have female members (White Stripes, New Order, Smashing Pumpkins).

There is an undoubted difference in how women approach rock music. It is no accident that women dominate the production of music ‘zines (independently produced and distributed), which allow them to discuss artists that don’t appear in the mainstream music press (many of which are female) and that these zines often have a strong political content and are highly engaged with their readership. The informality and autonomy of zines suit women and their ways of communicating with other women (I know there are far more scholarly discussions of women’s music zines).

This is only a very brief discourse on the issues of sexism in rock journalism as I perceive them. So on with those Mojo covers!