Dear Emma,
This is my second attempt at writing this letter, for the first one was so filled with venom that I decided anonymous hacks like you weren't worthy of my full fledged ire. So, I'm toning it down a bit.
I received your letter of inquiry from my honorable friend, Matt Cohen. And I must say I find your method of attack interesting.
I will not speak on behalf of everyone else, but careful scrutiny of my list reveals that your accusation regarding the lack of women artists is only applicable to the main list (if you want to go one on one with me regarding my list, I'd be happy to..), but even then...it's pretty weak for you to sit there and throw cheap shots at my friends and co-workers for offering up their opinions on. Even more than that, it shows what kind of character you truly have to not even open up a chance to refute your claims on your own site. Can throw a punch but not let anyone swing back, huh?
Hm. That makes me question your credibility on several fronts.
Good luck in life, and let's hope Rolling Stone comes a knockin on your door for a job real soon.
X,
Rob Theakston
Posted by rob at February 6, 2005 02:18 PMmay i submit here the reply i gave on matt's site? i was being a dumb broad and buried it in the old list section....if you'd rather i didn't, delete at will. i won't hate.
to be honest, i'm a nobody and just some cube monkey who works with matt. when i made my list, i thought of the songs that made me laugh, rage, cry, etc. i had no idea title fucking IX would be applied. i figured there'd be backlash, but come on people, it's a list. not a part of the never-fully-ratified equal rights amendment (now there's something to be mad about). make your own list and post it if this isn't up to your liking. that was the premise of this list: matt didn't like the one the folks at rolling stone made, so he asked for submissions. besides, it's fucking boring in the winter in michigan. it was either this or drinking ourselves blind, which we'll probably also do.
and it's not my fault my college roommate listened to so much tori amos that i can't stand the sound of her, talented and skilled as she may be. it's not like we made this list with a frying pan in hand, ready to smack down women (imagine me smacking myself with a frying pan, if you will. it's funny!). so please, with all due respect, get off our collective testicles and ovaries. we'd appreciate it. if you have an actual point you want to debate, do so. if you don't like the list, make your own.
thanks
rsm
I emailed her as well... she obviously didn't check my list... cuz ladies like Cat Power and the like are on it :)
Posted by: MacKenie at February 7, 2005 09:45 AMAfter reading Maud's open letter, I found myself thinking of the following points:
(a) That group of sexist music writers who contibuted to the list happens to include several women ... just how "phallocentric" would they happen to be? Where do their penises fit into the picture, anyway?
(b) Several of the artists she mentioned as conspiculously absent happened to be on my own list (PJ, Patti, Joni), as are several she doesn't bother to mention (Bobbie Gentry, Exene Cervenka, Kim Deal, Maureen Tucker, and so on). So just what is it I'm ignoring here?
(c) In retrospect, I do wish I'd found a place on my list for, among others, Lucinda Williams, Koko Taylor, Marcy Mays, Thalia Zedek, Iris DeMent, Poison Ivy, Gillian Welch, Bessie Smith, Aimee Mann, or my old pals Deb Norris and Jenny Hoyston, but c'mon, Maud ... Hole? Tori Amos? THE CARPENTERS? (Hell, Karen didn't even write any of those songs, and her big brother Richard didn't let her play drums in the studio -- not much of a role model for aspiring female musicians.) If you've got to pad out a list of "worthy female musicians" with losers like Courtney Love and Tori "hope you've forgotten my lite-metal past" Amos, you're shooting your own arguement in the foot.
Posted by: Mark Deming at February 7, 2005 10:25 AMThere is a lot of actual discrimination out there, but this is so obviously not an intentional (or even existing) slight...this chic's energy is far better spent elsewhere.
god i hate patti smith.
Sarah Jeanne
Posted by: sarahjeanne at February 7, 2005 05:57 PMJust wanted to say how impressive your precog abilities are: http://www.chromedecay.org/rob/archives/000191.html
Weird; your post was almost a year ago to the day. About that show, from Creem magazine: When Sebadoh shared the bill with Mascis at a benefit for an autism center where Barlow's mom works, there was no Dinosaur reunion. There was, however, a reunion of Deep Wound, the pre-Dinosaur band that featured Barlow and Mascis.
Anyway, the buzz has been building and I managed to uncover this little nugget: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/music/comments.php?id=5112_0_28_0_C
Posted by: Splotch! at February 9, 2005 01:49 PM