Why don’t guys like female musicians?

One of the enduring mysteries I’ve encountered in my life is the phenomenon of why men don’t take female rock and pop musicians seriously. Ask any regular woman who their favorite musicians are, and you’ll probably get a fair number of women mixed in with quite a few men. Ask a man they same question, and it’s 100% dudes, all the way down. Occasionally, a male music critic will grudgingly admit that Patty Smith’s Horses isn’t bad, or admit to liking some of Aretha Franklin’s work, but the average guy on the street has nothing but disinterest or contempt for female musicians, and it astounds me. Are you telling me, guys, that there are no talented lyricists, composers or singers who happen to be women? That the sounds that come out of a woman’s mouth cannot be soothing and beautiful?

Apparently so. I have never, ever met a fellow man who will admit to liking - or even, God forbid, purchasing - a song done by a female artist. If one comes on the radio, the following exchange usually takes place between two guys:

Guy#1: “This song sucks.”
Guy#2 “Yeah, good thing she’s easy on the eyes.”

Whenever I make the mistake of admitting that I don’t think all female musicians are just untalented pieces of eye candy, the other guys always look at me like I’ve just come out of the closet at a Westboro Baptist Church rally and am asking them on dates or something. (I’m not gay, BTW, and I think being a dude and wanting a bunch of dudes to sing to you is quite a bit gayer than me liking Veruca Salt or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.)

Bono, lead singer of U2 (another band no one ever admits to liking, even though they’re all dudes), once said that the popularity of female vocalists rested partly on the fact that the first sound that we all hear when we are born is the screaming and crying of a woman, and that we are drawn to that on a primal level. Call me a momma’s boy, I guess.

Thoughts?

Not true:

College dorm mate loved Sarah Maclachlan and Tori Amos...his favorite performers.
Male friends of mine and I like female artists and have no problem listening to them...but then again, I'm a Gen Xer...so that's just how we rolled.

Eta: I do love quite a bit of U2 up to and including Achtung Baby, but they do have a good share of turds as of late, When my son was 4,his favorite song was "Mysterious Ways".

I listen to Cannibal Corpse, Slayer, Slipknot, Pig Destroyer etc., but I also LOVE to listen to Bjork.

Her music is beautiful.

reply to post by the owlbear


The list of female artists I listen to and love as musicians is far too long to list here so I'm having a hard time relating to the OP.

To me it's not about the person,rather it be female,or anything. If I like it ,screw the rest of you....

Here is an example,she rocks,but do I care if she is female or not? No.

Total non-sense. But it all depends on the type of music you like.
I'm pretty open about it. Just keep me away from the bubble gum stuff.



Peace,
K

reply to post by Snsoc


Uh, Janis Joplin?
The fact is, rock and roll is a man's invention. Always was, always will be. Born of the blues and an angst that only a man can feel. Women who are good at it are few and far between. It's just not in their nature. But there have been many who are respected songwriters and performers.. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, etc. Mostly all from that generation. Females aren't doing so good as musicians these days.. actually neither are the dudes.

reply to post by kdog1982


Alabama Shakes rule. That's a woman who knows how to use it.

reply to post by Snsoc


You're kidding right?
There are some great female musicians

Yeah, sorry. I think this is a gross generalisation, and not true at all.

Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls is incredible. Yeah Yeah Yeahs are brilliant. Tori Amos, fantastic. Florence from Florence and the Machine is not eye candy, but great lyrically, and compelling vocally. This list goes on ad infinitum.

I have a feeling you're mistaking females who are genuine musicians who form incredible solo or band careers, with females who are packaged by the music industry to sell pre-produced albums with pre-written songs. The Brittneys, the Aguileras, the Taylor Swifts... that list goes on ad infinitum as well.

So what I think you're really asking is "hey, don't you think that these talentless divas whose careers are manufactured by the recording industry are all shallow and talentless, with bland, boring music?"

To which the answer is "of course". It's like comparing the works of Hendrix or Dylan to the works of N*sync and 1Direction and calling them all talentless boy-bands.

But not every female musician follows that path. I think putting all female singers or musicians into that same basket shows a massive lack of diversity in music knowledge. It is very shallow minded. Chicks are awesome.

Regards,
Rewey

There certainly is some kind of stigma attached to guys liking female singers, in that they might be automatically labelled as being gay. ie Kylie Minogue has a huge gay following. I don't care really what the gender is of a musician, i'll listen to anything if it appeals to me. I'm straight and listen to a lot of female artists whether as soloists or lead singers for a band.

Cat Power. Chan Marshall is amazing.

Jenny Lewis and the Watson twins

Kaki King

I could go on.

And Sarah from the band Murder by Death. She plays cello. I love her.

reply to post by Snsoc

I love music. Period. I also love female musicians. Past, present, and future. There are some up and coming females that are going to be the next generation of music. Check out Sarah Longfield, Desiree Bassett, Orianthi, and others. Whether it be drums, guitars, singing, or whatever, there are females that excel at doing it.
I will say, I believe the industry itself, has some prejudice yet to overcome in the rock genre. But it's gradually getting there.

A short list of some of my favorite gals:


Goodnight Moon

Total Control

It's All Over Now

Fruits Of My Labor

Look On Down From The Bridge

Miles From Our Home

Baby Dont Go

I think your statistics are wrong.

I'm willing to say that men like male musicians just as much as women like female musicians.

Me personally, i like all musicians. i have respect for them as artists. I also like a lot of their music.

reply to post by kdog1982


Great song, thanks for that. New Fan here.

...................


OP.. I disagree, as a man there are some great females in rock, hard to fake the funk, unlike electronic mainstream trash.

I don't care what genitalia the person making a song has as long as they are good. I'm a woman though.

I have met a few men that don't listen to many women musicians. What they usually have in common is that their genre of favorite music doesn't have as many female musicians. I don't think it was a deliberate exclusion of female made music from their collection. An example of this is a friend I had who was into that really heavy, heavy metal. I think it's called metalcore or something like that. Anyway, the percentage of female musicians in a genre like that is very very low.

Bono, lead singer of U2 (another band no one ever admits to liking, even though they’re all dudes), once said that the popularity of female vocalists rested partly on the fact that the first sound that we all hear when we are born is the screaming and crying of a woman, and that we are drawn to that on a primal level.

reply to post by Snsoc


Speaking of that twit Bono.....

He's So Vain


Another favorite, Britta Phillips....

Night Nurse

When I took up drums recently I watched a lot of Meytal Cohen. Punch that name into YouTube for "Eye Candy and Talent...Me Likeee.......For both!

I'll take the nuclear option. ALANIS & K.T. Tunstall.

reply to post by Snsoc

a man who does not comprehend the male and female energy in music comprehends neither theory or practice. for when the muse becomes the art does art truly reveal itself? how can a man seduce a women with his music if he cannot appreciate a female vocalist, that's why so many men back in the day men enjoyed jazz , country singers. mars even lusted after venus. i like mordichrist, then there's l7 is awesome, wendy o' williams, , nashville pussy. i like the fact that abagail lee nero is playing guitar in necrophagia, she is awesome. and what my my wife shows me aryia, kmfdm, unter null, i:scintilla, throbbing gristle/cosey, siouxsie and the banshees, 45 grave- do you wanna party?, genitortures, jack off jill, switchblade symphony, that's just some of them.