I would now like to move away from looking specifically at Captain Beefheart and take a more general look at the relationships between women, music and the avant garde.

Firstly it is important to consider any differences between masculine and feminine approaches to music in general. What do the two genders tend to invest in listening to music, and are their priorities different?

(Thornton, 1995, 13)

Thornton’s statement that boys spend more time reading music magazines is an important one. Music magazines carry significant cultural capital for teenage girls, but music magazines aimed at teenage girls "feature rock stars rather than rock music" (Frith, 1978, 65). While girls and boys will build a portion of their identity from music idols, there is a very significant difference between the two approaches - boys will gain the most peer-group prestige from owning and knowing the musician’s records while girls will prize memorabilia such as posters and magazines above the music (Frith, 1978, 65). Frith explains this in terms of the ‘culture of the bedroom’; because of the greater amount of control exerted on teenage girls by their parents, they tend to socialise in friends’ houses, in the bedroom, while boys are given much more freedom to go out and experience live music first hand.

Similarly, girls tend to use music to give them a sense of collective identity; whether this is expressed as Beatlemania or Take That fans swamping the Samaritans with calls when their idols parted company depends upon the era; the motivation behind such genuinely deep emotions is the same. Boys do not have the same potency of need for this form of release as girls as they are often more freely able to express these emotions in groups of friends at the pub, at football matches, at live concerts, etc (c.f. Frith, 1998, 381).

(Frith, 1998, 381)

Thornton considers the difference between boys' and girls' requirements from music, and states that boys will place a much higher value on ‘hipness’ than girls:

(Thornton, 1995, 13)

This opting out of ‘the game of hipness’ is emphasised by the use of language which reinforces notions that musical authenticity is a masculine domain; an example given by Thornton to illustrate this is the use of the generic term ‘handbag house’ which refers to the unsophisticated, commercial end of the rave scene which ‘hip’ ravers would shun with disgust. Interestingly, the genre is named after the traditional and ‘uncool’ feminine symbol of the night out, reinforcing the negative connotations of female musical interest (c.f. Thornton, 1995, 98-100), and even the 'degraded pop culture' is epitomised by 'Sharon and Tracy' rather than 'Kevin and Norman'.

Having briefly considered masculine and feminine trends with regard to listening to music, we should consider differences between the two genders with regard to performing music. In particular I would like to look at the way in which individuals tends to first become aquatinted with an instrument, which I believe is one of the key factors reducing women’s involvement or interest in experimental music and the avant garde.

While boys tend to have their first experiences of seriously attempting to play music by playing along on a guitar to their favourite records, girls tend to have a much more rigid introduction to classical music by having formal lessons and being taught to play ‘properly’.

Mavis Bayton conducted some research into classically trained musicians’ ability to transfer their skills to rock music, and concluded that the classical training may actually be a disadvantage and a hindrance in adapting to such a different world of music (c.f. Bayton, 1998, 238 - 258).

(Bayton, 1998, 240)

This transition from theory to instinct is a key issue for musicians attempting to move into musical fields which involve improvisation to any degree, which the avant garde clearly does. Free improv requires far more from a musician than technical adeptness and an ability to play whatever a composer requires of them. It requires an intuitive understanding of what is happening at any instant and an ability either to respond appropriately or to guide the musical direction onto a different path. This is a difficult task for any classically trained musician who has been ensconced in musical theory and all its rules, regulations and musical ‘no-nos’.

This point relates to a comment frequently made by both Beefheart and the musicians in his band; that the musicians had to throw out the rule book and ‘re-learn’ their musical ideas in order to play the exacting and deeply peculiar music required of them. These statements have often been incorrectly interpreted as claims by Beefheart that he taught the band members to play their instruments from scratch, though this is a misunderstanding as he has acknowledged that all were highly accomplished musicians before joining the Magic Band. He did, however, teach them to ignore virtually everything they had already learned and take a completely different approach to their instruments and what they could do with them. These musicians were not coming from predominantly classical backgrounds, though most still had difficulties adjusting to playing music that anyone with any understanding of musical theory and structure would be likely to dismiss as insanely ‘wrong’.

It is no surprise that this form of music would alienate certain listeners, particularly those that do have an understanding of musical theory, whether they are attempting to play it or merely listening to it; trying to make some sense of musical forms that are contrary to all their concepts of what musical forms should be. Since, as Bayton asserts, more women than men initially had formal lessons playing classical music, it would follow that women would face a greater challenge in trying to overcome what they have already learned, thus giving them greater difficulties in learning to play or appreciate free improv / experimental music. Consequently we can expect this to influence women's interest in avant garde music.

Men and women's relationship with music and musicians is perceived in entirely different ways, which can also work to hinder women's involvement in 'serious' music since they tend to not be taken seriously. Women fans are commonly regarded as being groupies, only interested in the artist romantically, financially or sexually - any genuine interest in the music is often completely overlooked or discounted. This deprecation of women's interest in music is not solely targeted at female fans, but also at women actually working within the music industry. This is illustrated by a quote from Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopaedia which considers all the different types of groupies, concluding:

(Cline, 1992, 77)

This provides an extremely narrow definition of women's role relating to music: the female music fan is always either a groupie or is a step away from becoming one. Period. Women music journalists suffer in particular from this discriminatory perception:

(Cline, 1992, 78)

If women are so discouraged from taking a serious interest in music, it is no surprise that women tend not to take much of an interest in a serious form of music such as that produced by the avant garde.

This same prejudice is also applied to women musicians - the actual artist performing on stage is denigrated to being a peripheral hanger-on if she is a woman. Her contribution to the music is marginalised and it is all too easy to see the woman musician as being the front for the ones actually responsible for the music (i.e. the male talent working behind).

A personal anecdote provides a good illustration of this obstructive phenomenon; I once played a segment of Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band album to a friend who was dismissing her talent. He almost immediately responded with the words, "But she didn't do all the music, did she?" The fact that there were other, male musicians playing on the record shifted the credit for the album away from Ono and onto the more 'serious' musicians working behind her, implying that she couldn't possibly have done it without them. This has affected women musicians conducting relationships with male musicians to an even greater degree, from Courtney Love to Justine Frischmann. The man is always perceived as being the guiding hand behind his wife / partner's song-writing abilities. Any journalist suggesting that Love had written songs for her husband Kurt Cobain to claim as his own would be laughed out of a job, though the reverse is always more readily believed.

In order to prove her abilities, a woman cannot afford to surrender responsibility for any aspect of the music that she wishes to create. This is a near impossible task for any musician. The critical acclaim that Madonna now basks in is influenced directly by the unprecedented level of control that she has over her music (and the level of critics' awareness of her control). Take the perceived control away and any recognition of her achievements dissolves as well until she is seen, again, as just another groupie.

This highlights a major barrier to women's critical success in the music industry: while women need to have a greater degree of control over the music they produce in order to gain recognition of their talents, so few women occupy the traditionally-male producer's chair, a position of ultimate control. While women producers do exist (Kim Gordon is one example) they are extremely scarce.

(McClary, 1991, 153/4)

Musical experimentation necessitates a degree of artistic control not required of musicians who are merely following a familiar formula. One can have a vision but this vision will never become reality if one is not permitted to learn the mechanics of the process of producing the music. Simon Reynolds cites Laurie Anderson as a rebuff to chauvinistic notions of female technical expertise as being a paradoxical anomaly:

(Reynolds, 1997)

Thus, the psychological and social barriers that exist within the music industry work to deny most women musicians the opportunity to exert sufficient control over their music, or even to develop the means to exert this control.

While I briefly considered the effects of Beefheart’s image in deterring women from his audience earlier in this essay, and concluded that this was a marginal explanation since it had not necessarily hindered the appeal of other musicians with a similar image, it is important to consider the music industry’s approach to, and the music press’ representations of, feminine sexuality.

I asked Kim Gordon, feminist icon with the avant-rock band Sonic Youth, about her perceptions of the limitations imposed upon women in the music industry:

(interview with Kim Gordon, February 2000)

Susan McClary asserts that, ‘Many superb women composers insist on making their gender identities a non-issue, precisely because there still remain so many essentialist assumptions about what music by women "ought" to sound like’ (McClary, 1991, 19). However, interestingly, the objectification of women that Kim Gordon referred to has also begun to creep into the classical music world as well as rock music, with women classical musicians adopting more provocative and conventionally sexual poses and styles of dress. Possibly the most extreme example of this trend is that of the orchestral violinist Linda Brava who was 'spotted' and ended up on Baywatch. Emma Johnson, the clarinettist who won BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1984 commented:

(Duchen, 2000)

The rock music industry has consistently failed to know how to market women musicians beyond this level of objectification. Women are sold as a visually pleasing spectacle - if you put a guitar in the way then the sexual image is perceived as being disrupted or tainted. Thus the traditional, objectified image is destroyed and marketing moguls are lost, failing to know what to do with this paradoxical and confusing problem. This situation has changed somewhat in the underground music world in the last decade of the twentieth century. This change has much to do with the likes of Kim Gordon and, later, the Riot Grrls, who have created their own sexual imagery which is highly compatible with being female, in a band and in full control:

(interview with Kim Gordon, February 2000)

Rather than being hidden behind a guitar, drums or keyboard, women musicians tend to make most use of their voice, expressing themselves musically and lyrically through the vocals. Pegley and Caputo see this as a form of empowerment and resistance to patriarchal structures within the music industry and society at large, refuting any perceived low status of female vocalists. They cite Giles and Shepherd who describe female vocalisation as:

(Pegley & Caputo, 1994, 304)

However, this view seems a little too optimistic when we consider the acknowledgement given to many female singers in the form of credit or perceived level of input. This instrument (the voice) often carries a relatively low status - the artist receiving credit for the performance of a song will often not be the female singer but the male writer / arranger / producer / turntablist etc. This is most common with dance acts who appear to ‘hire in’ woman singers who received little credit for their input. Women singers also often receive little credit for regular appearances with a particular artist with whom they work together in a partnership (albeit an uneven partnership). For example, Tricky’s first four albums and live performances from the time benefited from the distinctive vocal talents of Martine, though her name was only evident on the album and single sleeves in the small print while Tricky’s name, image and personality was the primary focus. Subsequently, her considerable contribution was marginalised by the music press and her vocal enhancements were seen as being a reflection of Tricky’s arranging skills rather than Martine’s own talents - Tricky was seen to have made a good choice in featuring her voice rather than Martine being seen to have given a powerful performance. It is impossible to imagine this situation in reverse. Barbara Bradby has also commented on this phenomenon as a trend of disempowerment rather than empowerment:

(Bradby, 1993, 149)

Lyrical and vocal expression are the most common female domain in music. While instrumentals by women musicians do exist (predominantly in the jazz world) they are extremely rare. A woman who has decided to express herself through music will normally do so through the words that she chooses to sing (whether written by her or not) and the emotion imbued into the vocal performance rather than through the sound, tone and tempo of the music, which are often utilised primarily as backing for the vocals. This is extremely interesting and relates strongly to the level of feminine involvement in experimental music.

There is much feminist and sociological research investigating differences in social interaction between the genders. Masculine modes of interaction tend to centre on groups of friends and socialising in gangs while feminine modes of interaction tend to centre on ‘best friends’ and socialising in pairs or very small groups. Males tend to communicate their feelings less through words and more through actions while females tend to be better at communicating through words and are more likely to express themselves verbally to an individual or within a small group of people, but tend to be quieter than males in larger groups. (c.f. Haralambos, 1995, 257-67, 580-95)

I believe that this is an important factor which partially determines the way in which many men and women express themselves through music. A woman who has taken the unusual step of expressing herself in public by performing music is more likely to do so through the words that she sings rather than the sound of the music that she uses. Some feminist musicologists consider this as a form of empowerment enabled by the direct physical ‘ownership’ of the music due to its being ‘internalised within their bodies’, and therefore sound is:

(Pegley & Caputo, 1994, 304)

Music can often provide more of a background to the words rather than being a direct form of communication in itself, tending not to ‘get in the way’ of whatever is being communicated by distracting the listener’s attention away from the voice. Male performers, on the other hand, are more likely to communicate their emotional state through the sound of the music as well as through the lyrics and vocals. An image of Neil Young from his Weld video (1991) hammering his guitar in a frenzy and screaming his head off in apparent physical pain would illustrate this point well. He doesn’t need to verbalise the frustration that he is feeling but hits the audience over the head with it by means of his physical actions and the roaring, raging sound of the music.

The potential for music distracting from the message of a song’s lyrics is demonstrated particularly well by the music of Captain Beefheart. A song such as Frownland from Trout Mask Replica has some extremely expressive and touching lyrics, however, it is impossible to focus on the message of the lyrics, or even any expressive quality of the vocals when listening to the actual song rather than reading the words. The music is so incredibly distracting and ‘in your face’ that any grasp of the narrative is lost within moments. The lyrics however, are a sensitive and beautifully expressed poem about leaving the bad times behind and finding peace of mind, completely at odds with the relative maelstrom of the music and near-demented urgency of the delivery.

If we compare this form of music with that produced by the ‘women’s music’ movement of 1970s America, we see a startling contrast. Women’s music was highly politicised in lyrical content, predominantly dealing with feminist and lesbian issues for a feminist and lesbian audience.

(Frith & McRobbie, 1998, 372)

Women’s music was very much closer to folk music than rock and aimed to avoid any of the sexist clichés and common attributes of contemporary music. However, while the lyrics and performers were highly politicised, the music itself was startlingly unadventurous, providing an often insipidly soft, formulaic folky backing for the vocals, with the whole arranged in the style of the protest song. Barbara Bradby outlined the ‘women’s music’ structure and ethos:

(Bradby, 1993, 154)

Given the fact that women have historically been either discouraged or prevented from writing and performing their own music, it is fairly inevitable that a ‘separatist’ genre such as ‘women’s music’ would emerge. However, this form of separatism; of music being produced, recorded, pressed, distributed, sold and consumed solely by women can reinforce the negative stereotype that women are not able to produce real music, merely women’s music.

'Women's music' as a genre and political movement died out relatively quickly. Many of the women interviewed by Barbara Bradby (c.f. Bradby, 1993) looked back at women's music with amusement, embarrassment and gentle ridicule. The earnestness of the lyrics and the blandness of the music put off a lot of women who were otherwise sympathetic to the genre's goals:

(Stein, 1994, 18)

With the partial exception of the ‘women’s music’ genre, there is a noticeable lack of any specifically lesbian underground music scene, with the term ‘underground’ being used to identify a particular ‘subversive’ quality to the actual music rather than to the lyrics or surrounding culture. This strikes a considerable contrast with the male gay scene, which boasts a plethora of underground (and also mainstream) gay musicians. In comparison there are very few prominent (or otherwise) ‘out’ lesbian musicians.

The absence of underground lesbian music can partially be explained by the apparent tendency for lesbian clubbers / music fans to create their own underground scene out of heterosexual mainstream culture, by fantasising about prominent women singers being lesbian, regardless of whether these fantasies are grounded in either fact or genuine supposition. There appears to be a genuine, commonly found satisfaction / amusement in the practise of imagining that mainstream women artists singing love songs that play out of every radio are actually lesbians singing about lesbian love. This is illustrated by an interview conducted by Barbara Bradby with a lesbian DJ who is talking about a regular feature that she would run while DJing:

(Bradby, 1993, 167)

This psychological shift of the heterosexual mainstream into the lesbian underground can help to explain the relative lack of need for lesbian underground or experimental musicians. They have created their own underground music scene out of that which already exists. This kind of ‘sexual inversion’ would be a much harder pursuit in the male gay scene, simply because heterosexual masculinity is much more guarded about sexually ambiguous behaviour or comments than heterosexual femininity. Heterosexual men generally avoid even unambiguous behaviour that could be misinterpreted purposefully.

Finally, I would like to refer back to the quote used above from Frith and McRobbie which states that many feminist musicologists believe that women musicians need to move away from the masculine dialogue that is rock music and create their own music, free of masculine forms. This proposal, that music can have inherently masculine or feminine qualities is an important consideration - the Harvard Dictionary of Music defines musical masculinity and femininity in the following manner:

(McClary, 1991, 9)

Reynolds and Press argue that the music of the progressive Krautrock band Can could be considered 'feminine' in structure and intent due to its oceanic qualities and avoidance of any aggressive masculine form.

(Reynolds and Press, 1995, 191/2)

The musicians 'co-operate' with each other in a way seldom found in rock music. Individuals do not step forward into the limelight for their solo; there are no individual moments of glory. Instead, the musicians work together throughout the piece, ego-free, with each component as prominent as any other. This manages to follow a similar structure to Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica-era music while also being its polar opposite. While both deny their members any singular moment in the spotlight, the Magic Band musicians are permanently in 'full-on' solo mode, locked into their own world, almost shutting out whatever is going on around them; a very different approach from the 'telepathic co-operation' demonstrated by Can.

Significantly, not only are the members of Can all-male, but the audiences tended to be all-male as well. Despite having defied every convention of masculine, aggressive rebel rock that many feminist musicologists also reject, their music has failed to attract many women in the process, thus bringing us back to the big question of this article: why?

Proceed To Part 4