Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sioux throws shoe

Siouxsie is unhappy with the way women are treated by what's left of the music industry:

Speaking at the launch of her live DVD, Finale, the iconic singer told 6 Music: "There are some strong female performers but the industry's pre-occupation with the packaging of how a woman looks has gone completely the other way, back to almost the 60s, early 70s.

"I like a bit of eye candy like anyone but to have it solely about the eye candy and have it fall into a category so rigidly as well is wrong."

Whenever they make a programme about Women In Rock, Sioux always pops up, shortly before Kate Bush and Annie Lennox; very few of the programmes bother to mention that despite all this trail-blazing decades ago, it's apparently still considered so unusual for a woman to be a (mainstream) rock star that it's considered worthy of a concept for a television or radio show.

But, hey, there's always Susan Boyle, right?

6Music also says this:
Siouxsie, who came to fame in 1976 in the infamous Sex Pistols interview with Bill Grundy before becoming a star with The Banshees, also criticised the way music is sold.

Did her appearance being leered over on Today really make her famous? I was too young and, besides, we got Southern not Thames, but I've always had the understanding that once TV companies felt bold enough to start running footage of the infamous appearance a few years after it happened, the idea that Siouxsie was in the background was considered noteworthy.


1 comment:

Robin Carmody said...

Well, it was the best part of two years after that before the Banshees actually released anything, at least "officially". They remained unsigned far longer than most of their contemporaries (a status which once inspired a graffiti campaign outside various record companies' offices) and didn't make their chart debut until "Hong Kong Garden", released in the fateful late summer of 1978. So you're probably right.

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