Description
The Lost Women of Rock Music is a book about female guitarists, bass players, keyboard players and drummers who played in rock bands in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Britain. These women were part of a new phenomenon that emerged in response to punk rock and the Equal Opportunities Act. However, their presence in rock music quickly disappeared and other priorities became more important to music audiences. This book investigates the social and commercial reasons for why these women became lost from the rock music record.
In Britain during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a new phenomenon emerged, with female guitarists, bass-players, keyboard players and drummers playing in bands. Before this time, women's presence in rock bands, with a few notable exceptions, was always as vocalists. This sudden influx of female musicians into the male domain of rock music was brought about partly by the enabling ethic of punk rock ('anybody can do it!') and partly by the impact of the Equal Opportunities Act. But just as suddenly as the phenomenon arrived, the interest in these musicians evaporated and other priorities became important to music audiences. Helen Reddington investigates the social and commercial reasons for how these women became lost from the rock music record, and rewrites this period in history in the context of other periods when female musicians have been visible in previously male environments. Reddington draws on her own experience as bass player in a punk band, thereby contributing a fresh perspective on the socio-political context of the punk scene and its relationship with the media. The book also features a wealth of original interview material with key protagonists, including the late John Peel, Geoff Travis, The Raincoats and the Poison Girls.