Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T18:28:24.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Popular music, gender and sexuality

from Part III - Debates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2011

Simon Frith
Affiliation:
University of Stirling
Will Straw
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
John Street
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Get access

Summary

On a cold winter evening in the mid-1990s a three-piece indie rock band named Kyzer Sozer performed at Liverpool's Lomax venue. There were around twenty or so people in the audience and most of them stood far back from the stage, clustering around the bar with pint glasses in hand and leaving the area in front of the stage quiet and deserted. This did not appear to bother the members of Kyzer Sozer and they launched energetically into a song entitled ‘Girls’. The band were well-rehearsed and ‘tight’ and the song revolved around a strong melody and dynamic variations in volume and pace, beginning with a softly strummed electric guitar accompanied by the deep throbbing beat of a Fender bass and bass drum, and then shifting to a slightly distorted riff-driven guitar sound that built up to a crescendo for the finale. Darren altered his powerful and resonant singing voice accordingly, varying its pitch and timbre. He had a shaved head and wore a feather boa and silver trousers which accentuated the twists of his body as he played the guitar and stretched towards the microphone. Chris stood beside him in training shoes, black jeans and a leather jacket that swung open to reveal a scarlet bra and bare stomach. Her hair flopped over one side of her face and shone as she accompanied her basslines with nods of her head. Sam sat at the back of the stage in a black shirt and purple velvet trousers that were largely obscured from view by his drum kit.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×