It’s debate time again at Metal Army. We figured you were all burned out by the election and enough time has passed by now, so we could bring you all a worthwhile topic: Women in metal. We are always interested in analyzing social paradigms (I know, a heady concept for metal heads). I’ve always felt there was a wide contrast between how many powerful and talented women there are in the metal community and how they are treated and portrayed by that same community. Since I am not a woman, I consulted three of Metal Army’s best writers (of any gender) in Melissa Campbell, Rachel Hacker and Lynn Jordan. They each have a unique perspective to share on the subject. We have also included some concert photos of our favorite women in metal, doing what they do, so read on…..

 

 

Melissa Campbell: Overcoming obstacles to love metal 

Ever since I became a fan of metal, I knew that I some were going to look down on me for being a girl. There have been plenty of moments where I’ve been laughed at by male metal listeners or told by them that I can’t listen to “their” music. Thankfully I’ve found plenty of guys who don’t care what gender I am. Those more negative experiences with metal guys have not caused me to harbor any bad feelings towards guys either. I idolize men like RONNIE JAMES DIO as much as women like AMY LEE.

 

 

Another problem I encountered in the past was not being allowed to go to metal shows. My father forbade it because he believed all those terrible stereotypes related to shows where males were in high attendance compared to females (i.e. rapes, getting hurt in pits, being kidnapped). Even though I promised to have my sister with me at all times, he was quite uncomfortable granting me permission. In his eyes, we as women were not capable of handling ourselves alongside “those types” of men.

 

 

However, in 2010, my mother bought me and my sister tickets to go to Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. My father was not too happy about it and claimed he was unaware we had been planning to attend. He started to trust us more when we returned alive and we are now able to go to shows with relatively low complaints from him.

 

All that being said, gender discrimination in the genre has gone down in recent years thanks to the rise of female fronted (or completely female) bands. A few decades ago women were mainly viewed as sexual objects in the metal community. To those whose main goal was to just be a groupie and have fun that was alright. Other females who wanted to be taken seriously as musicians often had trouble with it (i.e. LITA FORD). The best contribution I can make (since I don’t want to be a musician) is to continue going to/writing about gigs and representing the female community.

 

 

Rachel Hacker: The Made-up Stigma

I read Jezebel every damn day of my life. Maybe if i stopped reading it, I’d get a boyfriend.

Nah.

So. Women. Consistently considered the lesser sex throughout history. Always being chastised for what we can’t do compared to men. Men are the “invisible demographic,” making them the standard for comparison on woman. However, comparing both of them side by side on every issue is absurd. This is essentially the classic apples-to-oranges argument, but this time we’re comparing penises and vaginas.

 

 

In the ever commercialized musical world of “Call Me Maybe”, there is an equally commercialized world of hard rock and heavy metal. Through seeing the 1996 stock photo of MARILYN MANSON in the local newspaper, or that GUNS N’ ROSES poster your dad secretly displays in the Man Cave, almost everyone has an image of what metal is “about.” The standard for what men wear and do as a rock artist was set in the 60s, while many women were still taking care of families to develop a true voice in metal and hard rock.

 

 

It’s only been in the past few decades that women aren’t put down on account of not having a family by age 30. Women don’t feel pressured to rush through getting married anymore, and we have some pretty damn good years of vitality in our 20s or older. The hoards of young women, with non-sagging breasts and sharp minds, are ready to do something different than clean diapers. Why not make play some metal and look hot doing it?

 

Some women and men find the “hot chicks in metal” to be degrading and embarrassing. Who’s embarrassed? Not me. The sex industry is huge, which means there are obviously people buying the porn that women and men make. Separating our sex and our music isn’t going to change much, considering most of the world is desensitized, anyways. Individuals who believe women should “cover up” are also playing the “chivalry card.” This ideal is essentially is built upon that women are “delicate flowers who can’t do anything on their own.”

Bullshit.

Women in metal are still being treated as if they can’t make their own decisions. “Oh, you’re topless, you must not be intelligent enough to know what you’re doing, let me help you.” It was only 100 years ago that masturbation was a mental illness, or that women still had sex while partially or fully clothed. So why are we still trying to cover up women- figuratively and literally?

If you’ve got a good rack and wanna show it, go for it. And while some tiny corner of the internet blogs about your lack of modesty, you’re too busy driving to the bank to care. Unfortunately, most of the bands with the “hot chicks in metal” don’t have music I actually like, but there will never be a moment where I feel like telling another women to cover up. The fashion standard for women in hard rock and metal should be the woman’s choice, not someone else’s choice. Therefore, if men are “apples” and women are “oranges,” the way they handle metal shouldn’t even be compared beyond the thought that “it exists.” The last thing we need is someone else like Mitt Romney.

 

Lynn Jordan: Women in the Metal Scene

PAUL STANLEY of KISS was once asked his opinion about a female hard rock performer. His response? “You need balls to rock ‘n’ roll”. MARC STORACE of KROKUS was doing record reviews for a magazine, and when one for a female performer came up he said,”…she should be doing better things. Like giving me head.”

I read both of these quotes many years ago. As you can see, I haven’t forgotten them; they remain etched in my brain.

I have to admit that when I first started playing bass, my inspirations were mostly male. There were women I loved that were famous with the heavier music that I admired that were writing their own songs, putting out great records and putting on incredible shows. As talented and gutsy as these women were, many male music fans still had a hard time giving them props. How dare these women get onstage and think they have what it takes?

How dare they?

But despite that, to this day no female Metal artist or all-female band has garnered the gushing recognition or respect that their male contemporaries receive as a matter of course. Why not?

 

I believe that for men to acknowledge and respect the female presence as Metal musicians is to give power to women that they don’t want them to have. Heavy Metal is a testosterone-fueled monster with images of blood, war, cars, devil worship, drinking, fucking, death, etc. None of these things are considered feminine. Men do these things. Women were intended to hang in the sidelines to worship, clean up, pay the bill, swallow, look pretty and smile while providing various services (comfort, food, shelter or sex-related) to these battle-scarred warriors of musical carnage. Many men don’t like women to be sweat-streaked, angry and storming a stage. Many men don’t like it when women speak their mind. Others don’t like a cursing, spit-fire bitch not taking their shit. Some men get defensive when a woman does something they think is exclusively theirs. And they certainly don’t like it when a woman can do something as well as they do, and does not need their approval to proceed as they please. So the very genre that prides itself on speaking its mind, empowering its listeners and letting its aggression out really doesn’t want their women to be a part of its voice.

 

There is also that double-standard of image vs. talent. If a female musician is beautiful, even if she is gifted, she had to have used her looks to get ahead. If she isn’t that attractive, but is talented, she is dismissed because some dude doesn’t want to “pee in her butt”. It’s a bitter pill and a tough choice for female musicians to make. Do you tone down the sex for respect and get shorted in attention and sales, or do you ramp up the sex, get the attention, alienate some female fans and get less respect from the male ones? It’s a tough call. Male musicians do not have this dilemma. They either are good or they aren’t.

 

As 2012 comes to a close, I do not see this changing much. Metal has popular bands with women in them, We have noted bands with women in them, such as ARCH ENEMY, IN THIS MOMENT, OTEP, LACUNA COIL, THE AGONIST, NASHVILLE PUSSY, FIREBALL MINISTRY, SISTER SIN, ALL THAT REMAINS, STRAIGHT LINE STITCH, a slew of female-fronted Goth and Symphonic Metal bands, and (on the lighter side), EVANESCENCE and HALESTORM. With all the females that can play Metal well, the mystery remains as to why it never coalesces into a one kick-ass band, and when they do…it’s a cover band playing songs originally made popular by men. We still can’t have our own voice from the stage, but we do get the annual “Hottest Chicks in Metal” pictorial. That’s another tough choice – to pose or not pose for band promotion (if you’re deemed “hot” enough to make the cut)? Is one reduced to something less than an equal once you’ve shown your ass?

 

 

All that said, let us be the women behind the men, and we soar without barrier. OZZY would be dead, or at least strung-out, broke and on Skid Row, if it wasn’t for SHARON OSBORNE. Love her or hate her (I happen to think she’s awesome) without her, OZZY would have been a footnote in BLACK SABBATH‘s history and Ozzfest would never have happened. MELISSA CROSS has been the vocal coach for male Metal screamers in SLAYER, LAMB OF GOD, MACHINE HEAD, among many others. SUSAN SILVER was a manager who brought us SOUNDGARDEN and ALICE IN CHAINS. DEBBIE ABONO managed such extreme bands POSSESSED, EXODUS, VIO-LENCE, FORBIDDEN and OBITUARY. “METAL” MARIA FERRERO was mentioned in many a Thrash band ‘thank you’ list as a promotional force back in the day, which she continues now as the founder of ADRENALINE PR. MARSHA ZAZULA, is co-founder of Megaforce Records with her husband Jon, and they have signed METALLICA, ANTHRAX, TESTAMENT and more. Many bands have started out with their girlfriends or wives acting as managers, promoters and helping to book shows. Many Hair Metal bands have admitted that if it weren’t for the ladies that gave them a place to sleep, something to eat, encouragement and support, they would not have made it – literally and figuratively. Maybe the day will come when males of the Metal scene will truly appreciate the depth of strength women bring on AND off the stage. The more we succeed as a unified supportive front, the more Metal music succeeds overall, and the more powerful we all become.

Do we dare?