Women Make Noise

‘When was the last time you heard an all-girl band on the radio? Why don’t all-girl bands get attention they deserve?’ In Women Make Noise musicians, journalists, promoters and fans excavate the hidden story of the all-girl band: from country belles of the 20s–40s and girl groups of the 60s, to prog rock goddesses, women’s liberationists and punks of the 70s–80s; from riot grrrl activists and queercore anarchists of the 90s to radical protesters Pussy Riot and the most inspiring all-girl bands today. These aren’t the manufactured acts of some pop svengali, these groups write their own songs, play their own instruments and make music together on their own terms. All-girl bands have made radical contributions to feminism, culture and politics as well as producing some unique, influential and innovative music. It’s time to celebrate the outspoken voices, creative talents and gutsy performances of the all-girl bands who demand we take notice. Including commentary from members of the original 60s girl groups and classic punk-inspired outfits like The Raincoats and The Slits, as well as contemporary Ladyfest heroines like Beth Ditto, this timely exploration shows the world that sidelining all-girl bands is a major oversight. Contributions by Victoria Yeulet, Elizabeth K.Keenan, Sini Timonen, Jackie Parsons, Deborah Withers, Jane Bradley, Rhian E.Jones, Bryony Beynon, Val Rauzier, Elizabeth K. Keenan and Sarah Dougher This book is a celebration of girl bands in all genres: girl bands who make music on their own terms. With a unique focus on the talented girl bands of the past 50 years rather than casting female musicians in the typical solo ‘singer-songwriter’ mode. New perspectives on each genre – from 1960s Motown groups to 1970s prog rock and punk to 1980s protest music, 1990s queercore, riot grrrl and beyond – written by musicians, performers, journalists, promoters and fans. Contents Introducing the All-girl Band: Finding Comfort in Contradiction | Julia Downes 1. Female Pioneers in Old-time and Country Music | Victoria Yeulet 2. Puppets on a String? Girl Groups of the 50s and 60s | Elizabeth K. Keenan 3. Truth Gotta Stand: 60s Garage, Beat and 70s Rock | Sini Timonen 4. Prog Rock: A Fortress They Call ‘The Industry’ | Jackie Parsons 5. Feminist Musical Resistance in the 70s and 80s | Deborah Withers 6. You Create, We Destroy: Punk Women |Jane Bradley 7. Post-Punk: Raw, Female Sound | Rhian E. Jones 8. Subversive Pleasure: Feminism in DIY Hardcore | Bryony Beynon 9. Queercore: Fearless Women | Val Rauzier 10. Riot Grrrl, Ladyfest and Rock Camps for Girls | Elizabeth K. Keenan and Sarah Dougher Epilogue: Pussy Riot and the Future | Julia Downes Notes Bibliography Reviews “Tales of race riots, intimidation and abuse by male music fans and management, and inspiring moments of in-your-face activism provide fascinating background to some of your favourite bands (and many you’ve never heard of). The greatest strength of Women Make Noise is that many of the contributors were themselves part of the bands they are chronicling. These women offer up inspiring, funny and enraging stories of being radical activists and prolific musicians in a world that worked constantly to push them down.” – Gender Focus “Women Make Noise is a wonderful collection of essays, taking the reader from the days of Sassy country and Western women carving out a place in a horrendously sexist fledgeling music industry, all the way up to the Riot Grrrl movement of the 90s and beyond. Each chapter is written with such boundless enthusiasm for the subject matter that it’ll keep you enthralled until you drift slowly out of your comfort zone without even realising it. Read the book cover to cover, have your eyes opened, discover your next favourite band and perhaps think about the role of Women in music a little differently from now on.” – Intuition, review by Owen Chambers “Fascinating, diverse and, most importantly, inspiring – the title alone is as much a rallying cry as a joyous statement of the truth.” – Zoe Street Howe, author of Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits, and other music titles “It’s exhilarating to learn about different generations of female musicians from such diverse, strong voices.” – Kathleen Hanna, American singer, musician, artist, feminist activist, pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement “A very important and timely contribution to the debates about “women in rock”. All-girl bands have too often been written off as novelties, and this exciting book sheds new light on an under-researched area.” – Lucy O’Brien, author of She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul

In Women Make Noise musicians, promoters, journalists, and fans explore the best girl bands of the last fifty years. Includes interviews with members of the original '60s girl groups and classic punk outfits like The Raincoats and The Slits as well as household names of today.

In this fascinating cultural history, Mary Chapman demonstrates the importance of the aesthetically innovative print culture produced by US suffragists in the two decades leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment, seven decades after women's rights activists first met at Seneca Falls.

"You have to make more noise than anybody else" - Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the British Suffragette movement An incredible collection of brand new short stories, from ten of the UK's very best storytellers, celebrating inspirational girls and women, being published to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in the UK. £1 from the sale of every book will be donated to Camfed, an international charity which tackles poverty and inequality by supporting women's education in the developing world. Featuring short stories by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize-wining The Girl of Ink and Stars, M.G. Leonard, author of Beetle Boy, Patrice Lawrence, author of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize-winning Orangeboy, Katherine Woodfine, author of The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow, Sally Nicholls, author of Things a Bright Girl Can Do, Emma Carroll, author of Letters from the Lighthouse, and more!

Pink Noises brings together twenty-four interviews with women in electronic music and sound cultures, including club and radio DJs, remixers, composers, improvisers, instrument builders, and installation and performance artists. The collection is an extension of Pinknoises.com, the critically-acclaimed website founded by musician and scholar Tara Rodgers in 2000 to promote women in electronic music and make information about music production more accessible to women and girls. That site featured interviews that Rodgers conducted with women artists, exploring their personal histories, their creative methods, and the roles of gender in their work. This book offers new and lengthier interviews, a critical introduction, and resources for further research and technological engagement. Contemporary electronic music practices are illuminated through the stories of women artists of different generations and cultural backgrounds. They include the creators of ambient soundscapes, “performance novels,” sound sculptures, and custom software, as well as the developer of the Deep Listening philosophy and the founders of the Liquid Sound Lounge radio show and the monthly Basement Bhangra parties in New York. These and many other artists open up about topics such as their conflicted relationships to formal music training and mainstream media representations of women in electronic music. They discuss using sound to work creatively with structures of time and space, and voice and language; challenge distinctions of nature and culture; question norms of technological practice; and balance their needs for productive solitude with collaboration and community. Whether designing and building modular synthesizers with analog circuits or performing with a wearable apparatus that translates muscle movements into electronic sound, these artists expand notions of who and what counts in matters of invention, production, and noisemaking. Pink Noises is a powerful testimony to the presence and vitality of women in electronic music cultures, and to the relevance of sound to feminist concerns. Interviewees: Maria Chavez, Beth Coleman (M. Singe), Antye Greie (AGF), Jeannie Hopper, Bevin Kelley (Blevin Blectum), Christina Kubisch, Le Tigre, Annea Lockwood, Giulia Loli (DJ Mutamassik), Rekha Malhotra (DJ Rekha), Riz Maslen (Neotropic), Kaffe Matthews, Susan Morabito, Ikue Mori, Pauline Oliveros, Pamela Z, Chantal Passamonte (Mira Calix), Maggi Payne, Eliane Radigue, Jessica Rylan, Carla Scaletti, Laetitia Sonami, Bev Stanton (Arthur Loves Plastic), Keiko Uenishi (o.blaat)

A bold and unabashed guide to finding your voice, harnessing your true desires, and leading the life you really want. Women are tired of worrying that they are being "too loud" if they speak up and say what they believe, want, or need, and are ready to feel their power and make themselves heard. A certified life coach and author of the bestseller How to Stop Feeling Like Shit, Andrea Owen knows that this is absolutely attainable if women can channel their righteous anger and desire. But she also knows that they'll need to disrupt a status quo in which women have been conditioned and socialized to remain on the sidelines and to put others before themselves. With all of the expertise of a veteran feminist and hell-raiser, and the relatability of a dear friend, Make Some Noise will push women to step outside of rigid societal expectations and show them how to take back control of their lives, and make them all their own. In Make Some Noise, Owen deconstructs common behavior patterns that sabotage our power as women, and instead suggests new behaviors for creating a life that truly serves our desires and needs. From unlearning the notion that women should stay quiet and take up little space to trusting your inner wisdom, Make Some Noise is a raw and honest guidebook, and, ultimately, a call to arms.

One of the New York Post's Top 10 Career Books of 2012 and a Booklist Top 10 Business Book DO YOU WORK WITH A MEAN GIRL? A woman’s field guide to the new frontier of professional development—working with other women Women-to-women relationships in the workplace are . . . complicated. When they’re good, they’re great. But when they’re bad, they can ruin your day, your week—even your year. Packed with proven advice from two of today’s leading experts in workplace relationships, this one-of-a-kind guide gives women the tools they need to navigate difficult situations unique to women-to-women relationships—whether with a boss, a colleague, a client, or an employee. Have you dealt with a woman in the workplace who: “Accidentally” excludes you from important meetings? Seems intent on taking you down professionally? Gossips about you with other coworkers? Makes you look bad by missing deadlines? Forms a “pack” of mean girls to make your life miserable? Mean Girls at Work isn’t just about surviving difficult situations. It’s about transforming a toxic relationship into one that benefits and supports both of you. This book is also for women who engage in mean behavior . . . but don’t know it. After all, who hasn’t gossiped about a female coworker? Who hasn’t rolled her eyes in the presence of a woman she doesn’t like? Who hasn’t scanned another woman head to toe—which is just a nonverbal way of saying, “You’ve just been judged”? The authors provide invaluable advice to the more subtle ways of being mean—even if they’re not intended. With a workforce composed of a higher percentage of women than ever, workplace dynamics have changed. Crowley and Elster cover every conceivable scenario, providing critical advice on how to rise above the fray and move forward professionally. Mean Girls at Work is your map to dodging the mines and moving forward in today’s transformed workplace. Praise for Mean Girls at Work “An invaluable suit of armor for surviving nine to five!” —Leil Lowndes, bestselling author of How to Talk to Anyone “If you think the emotional cruelty of comedies like Mean Girls and Heathers doesn’t exist in the real world workplace, think again. In Mean Girls at Work, Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster valuably chronicle female vs. female predators and offer solid defensive strategies.” —Ann Kreamer, author of It’s Always Personal: Navigating Emotion in the New Workplace “Whether you are in your twenties and just starting your professional career, your midcareer forties, when you are supposed to have figured it out already, or a woman in her fifties or sixties who’s seen it all—this book is a must-read. . . . The authors have finally given women the tools and the sound advice necessary to deal with . . . conflicts that keep us all from succeeding. . . . Carry this book with you to work every day!” —Carolyn Cassin, President, Michigan Women’s Foundation “A must-read for women of all ages in today’s workforce. This book offers what we all need to develop the capacities to endure this ever-changing workplace. We know it is all about relationships and you need the skills outlined in this book to survive and thrive when the Mean Girls attack.” —Kim Harrington, Coordinator, Professional Development and Training, Office of Human Resources, California State University, Sacramento

A bold and unabashed guide to finding your voice, harnessing your true desires, and leading the life you really want. Women are tired of worrying that they are being "too loud" if they speak up and say what they believe, want, or need, and are ready to feel their power and make themselves heard. A certified life coach and author of the bestseller How to Stop Feeling Like Shit, Andrea Owen knows that this is absolutely attainable if women can channel their righteous anger and desire. But she also knows that they'll need to disrupt a status quo in which women have been conditioned and socialized to remain on the sidelines and to put others before themselves. With all of the expertise of a veteran feminist and hell-raiser, and the relatability of a dear friend, Make Some Noise will push women to step outside of rigid societal expectations and show them how to take back control of their lives, and make them all their own. In Make Some Noise, Owen deconstructs common behavior patterns that sabotage our power as women, and instead suggests new behaviors for creating a life that truly serves our desires and needs. From unlearning the notion that women should stay quiet and take up little space to trusting your inner wisdom, Make Some Noise is a raw and honest guidebook, and, ultimately, a call to arms.