In the beginning...

Well, I realise how out of wack my blog is... in the beginning....?

Okay, so, women in punk?

Punk did not create opportunities for women because they were women, they created an opportunity for anyone who wanted to step up to the mark - and some women did this.

In the 1960s and 70s women were finally able to crack into the music market. Prior to this, only few women musicians had ever been fully appreciated, I do really enjoy Billie Holiday for this reason. But in the 60s and 70s folk and motown musicians were being discovered: Janis Joplin (headcase?), Joni Mitchell, The Supremes etc.

Enter: Siouxsie and the Banshee. The band formed in 1976, and was formed by singer Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin - who remained the only constant members of the band. They lasted from 1976 - 1996 and 2002. In their two decades of creating music, they began to become one of the most poignant bands of that period, because prior to them, there was very few, if any, credited girl-fronted punk bands. Sioux had done what so many women seemed to want to do, enter the punk scene and not be rejected. The band at one point even had the face of punk as a member, Sid Vicious and Robert Smith of The Cure.

Iggy Pop

There should be a firm distinction made from the overly sexy photos that emerged from this period of women involved in punk. The photos have been labelled as the women trying to sex themselves up to show themselves off and inevitably sell records - however, if you look at the likes of Iggy Pop or Sid Vicious, you can see that the punk movement was all about sex and that these women were just immersed in a movement, not in the idea that 'sex sells' and that they should be utilising this common conception. While Siouxsie Sioux’s 1976 appearance wearing a “fishnet stockings, a black cupless bra, a swastika armband, and mismatched leather shoes” was a shockingly sexual move that created a stir, Iggy Pop’s infamous stage antics including frequently exposing himself, proved that it was not just women playing at that game.

Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungent

Siouxsie and the Banshee - Red Ligh


Jesus died for somebody's sins... but not mine - Patti Smith


But before this even was Patti Smith, known as the 'godmother of punk'. She once was quoted to say, “The surge of power you feel when people are applauding for you…man what a great feeling. I have to admit, it’s even better than being with a man”. This could explain the over-powering sexuality that Smith delivered onstage. Although, not the most attractive of women in the music industry, Smith was able to still display this advertently sexual side.
90s punk babe Shirley Manson has marked Patti Smith as one of her biggest influences, and so has REM. The original punk goddess is filled with talent, originality and most importantly sexuality... it's a brutal world, and Patti Smith was a contributor to its brutality.



Patti Smith - Because the Night