Library Research Notes #55
A little detour
Library Research Notes is a product of hippiegrrl media, where we believe that Black Lives Matter, Climate Change is real, Treaties should be honored, Bodily autonomy is essential, Love is love, No human is illegal, Science=Truth, Unions work, Gun Reform is imperative, and the time for Trans Liberation is now! We value your readership. If you enjoy the Library Research Notes newsletter, please share it with a friend.
Hello dear readers!
This month has been pretty interesting when it comes to combating bigotry in the music industry. Or, more specifically, the music journalism arena. Due to that, I’ve decided to take a little detour to connect a few dots in the world of music. This might seem like a strange topic, but I also studied music before I pivoted to sociology and librarianship so it feels right to write about it. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy this little sidetrack. If so, please comment and let me know!
Writing about rock and roll
On 15 September 2023, David Marchese published an interview in the NY Times with Jann Wenner, discussing why he chose to only include white men in his new collection of interviews, The Masters. If you know of Jann Wenner, even tangentially, I’m sure you can guess what the answer was. Wenner has always been a misogynist, but this interview shows how it truly influenced Rolling Stone from its inception through today. Normally that would be the end of the story, but this time something happened. A few days after the interview appeared online, Wenner was removed from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame due to his comments.
This, honestly, was astounding and exhilarating. When I read the original article I thought, sure, this is how it goes. Old, white, dudes will continue to prop up their old, white, dudes club and never be held accountable for the fact that they box out everyone who isn’t an old, white, dude. But this time, was different. First - let me share a couple of quotes from the interview, to consider.
“In terms of the women - none of them were articulate enough on this intellectual level”
“Joni was not a philosopher of rock and roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock.”
When asked by the interviewer, “How do you know if you didn’t give them a chance?” Wenner replied:
“Because I read interviews with them. I listen to their music. I mean, look at what Pete Townshend was writing about, or Jagger, or any of them. They were deep things about a particular generation, a particular spirit, and a particular attitude about rock ’n’ roll. Not that the others weren’t, but these were the ones that could really articulate it.”
I don’t want to let Wenner off the hook in any way, but I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of his place in the history of music journalism. Because he was and is friends with the white dudes he included in this book, his vision is skewed toward a specific love of their music/lyrics/prose/philosophies/etc. But that doesn’t mean that there were not black artists, women artists, or, for that matter black women artists, who were not worthy of the same treatment in the pages of Rolling Stone. Rock journalism is a white boys club. It always has been, but it doesn’t have to be going forward.
And this is where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame comes into view. By stripping Wenner of his position on the board, they show the world that they are done with this macho, ‘only white guys have interesting or intelligent things to say’, garbage that has been at the heart of rock journalism from the beginning. They are throwing a wrench in the works and I love it.
On the radio
Prior to the article by Marchese, Emily Nussbaum wrote a piece for the New Yorker entitled, “Country Music’s Culture Wars and the Remaking of Nashville”. In this article, she detailed the struggle of artists in Nashville who don’t fit the mold of white, straight, and conservative, and how they rarely, if ever, get played on country radio. Deep into the article, Nussbaum quotes an interview she had with a former radio consultant named Keith Hill, where he reiterated his stance from a previous interview on radio programming that he gave in May 2015 for Country Air Check Weekly. Doubling down on his misogynist opinions,
He blamed one woman after another for blowing her chance at success. The Chicks had “opened their big mouths.” Musgraves had “self-inflicted wounds.” Morris had “injured herself significantly”—she’d shift to pop, he predicted. He saw a cautionary tale in the divergent careers of two Black artists, Kane Brown and Mickey Guyton: Brown, a shrewd bro-country star, knew how to play the game, but Guyton had “hurt herself by being a complainer.”
Hill obviously felt, and still feels, completely correct in his opinions. Insisting that the data bears out not playing two women in a row, citing “the reason is mainstream Country radio generates more quarter hours from female listeners at the rate of 70 to 75%, and women like male artists. I’m basing that not only on music tests from over the years, but more than 300 client radio stations.” But that statement is inherently bias. Women don’t only like male artists. Perhaps because the rules of country radio have been to “not play too many females” and “playing them back to back is a no-no”, that skews the data toward more male artists being played and, in turn, more survey respondents claiming they enjoy male artists better. (countryaircheck.com)
It seems obvious that the music tests are skewed toward white, male artists simply because that is all that the country DJs are willing to play. At least in high numbers. If you never give the women, black, LGBTQ+, non-binary, etc. artists a chance to be heard, you cannot claim that listeners just like white dudes more. When you skew the data in favour of white dudes, then white dudes will always prevail.
So, again, Jann Wenner, Keith Hill, and so many others that have influence in the music industry have, for years, been tipping the scales in favour of white dudes. So apparently, the music industry is just white dudes all the way down.
The Entertainment Industry
Warning: The conversation and links below may be triggering if you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault or abuse, so please be aware before clicking.
In the category of “white men who thought they could get away with anything and everything”, this past month has been rife with activity on the #MeToo front. When the #MeToo movement began, we were seeing a trend in predatory and abusive behaviour amoung the older elites in Hollywood. Now, it appears that the trend is continuing into men in the X and Y Generations. White supremacist patriarchy knows no bounds when it comes to age. As long as we are beholden to this way of life, we will continue to witness behaviour from those in power who see everyone else as subservient.
There were two steps forward this month for victims of sexual assault, though, and hopefully we will see the trend of accountability continue. First, Danny Masterson was convicted and sentenced to 30 years to life and second, police in London launch[ed an] investigation into allegations against Russell Brand. Both men had preyed on young women and girls for decades and are finally being brought to justice. Let’s hope that the Brand case actually goes somewhere and he doesn’t get away with years of physical and mental abuse.
I realize that this section is quite heavy, but we must consider how the ideas presented above lead to the predatory behaviour of those in power. Viewing women and girls as less than in our society for their ability to speak philosophically or not speak out politically, can lead to men having a sense that they can do anything they like because society tells them they have the upper hand. The scourge of white supremacist patriarchy has seeped into every crack and crevice of our culture and movements like #MeToo and #ChurchToo, amoung others, are flushing it out. The process is slow, but we are moving in the right direction.
Good news from the stacks
If you made it this far you DEFINITELY deserve some good news…
U.S. history classes are mostly about men. Two teachers are looking to change that. (19thnews.org)
LeVar Burton to lead 2023 Banned Books Week as honorary chair (ala.org)
A Welcoming Space: Celebrating the strength and transformative power of libraries (americanlibrariesmagazine.org)
Banned Books Reading Challenge Book List (pfaw.org)
Saturday is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. “The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.” (canada.ca)
Before his death in October 2017, Gord Downie (lead singer of the Tragically Hip) was working on a project that would bring national attention to the horrible legacy of residential schools in Canada. From this work, a documentary called Secret Path was created. Please take a moment to consider the legacy of indigenous people throughout the continent of North America as the atrocity of colonization continues to traumatize descendants and survivors.
Remember: although life might be heavy sometimes, good people do exist and will win in the end. Thank you for reading this time and I look forward to seeing you again “down the road somewheres”.
