To conclude, women's marginal involvement and interest in experimental music
is the result of highly complex and deep-rooted cultural norms and values. These
affect women's relationship with music at all levels, from their introduction
to the music world as a listener or performer, to the highly limited breadth of
'feminine roles' on offer within the music industry. The women that work outside
these roles and do produce challenging experimental music demonstrate the extreme
unusualness of their career (there is only one Diamanda Galas, for example)
and occasionally these women performers attract a disproportionate amount of scorn
from the mainstream world (c.f. Yoko Ono).
These norms and values conspire to deny the majority of women musicians ultimate
control over the production process, which they so often require to be 'taken
seriously' by the patriarchal music-press and music fans alike.
Despite his commendable attempt to involve women in his music, if Captain Beefheart
were to have succeeded in reversing the processes outlined in this article, he
would have to have done so much more than merely focus the content of his lyrics.
The instigation of cultural and social changes to reverse thousands of generations'
worth of patriarchism would have been a start, but that is probably beyond the
powers of any single marginal avant garde performer, even Captain Beefheart.
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