"Female vocalists" tag

There seems to be a bit of a controversy on Last.fm regarding this tag. Some people use it because they believe that it's important to give recognition to the relatively few female vocalists out there. Others think it's sexist to call attention to the mere fact that a band/artist has a female vocalist, when there are so many other things that could be said about the music---not to mention the fact that the "male vocalists" tag is much less common.

I tend towards the latter view, particularly when I see artists like TheSTART, whose largest tag is "female vocalists". Um, that's kind of ridiculous...


Anyway, I'm just wondering what everyone's opinion is, seeing as this is a group for people who like riot grrrl and female vocalists. =P To be honest, I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread on this topic yet. O_o

last.fm's a great site and everything but it allows just ANYONE to tag bands >_<

that's y there's so many wrong tags (while there could've been something more describing)
female vocalist tag is just one of them

and yeah i've been wondering too y there's nothing on that subject yet =D

what if ppl don't tag male fronted bands that way simply cuz they r not interesting at all? :P

still.. the fact that a singer is a female kinda makes a band more interesting for me from the start. it's cuz i enjoy female voice more. after i've listened to some of their songs i know wether i like or not the band female voice or not.
it's just something that gets me attracted to it in the first place.
so far it's worked for me and im only glad ^_^

It would be fine of people tagged 'male vocalists' where it's appropriate.

yeah, it's a ridiculous tag. i have the same impression every time when happen to see it.

maybe there's any chance to ask moderators of the site to get rid of it? they sometimes remove improper tags from personal accounts, when users ask - perhaps they're able to do the same to the artists' tags ?

"others think it's sexist to call attention to the mere fact that a band/artist has a female vocalist, when there are so many other things that could be said about the music"


SEXIST? since when is pointing out FACTS/calling attention to the TRUTH [however fucked up it may be] SEXIST???

why can't we acknowledge the cold hard FACT that the majority of artists on the label payrolls are MALE, most label execs are MALE without being labelled SEXIST?

IT GOES WITHOUT SAYIN--not implying not to say most talented artists worthy of a label contract are male/only persons able to manage a label are male
but it's the TRUTH
male-dominated society = male-dominated charts/artists/label execs choosing artists to top charts
easy math? i think so


okay so we got that--WHITE MEN RUN THIS JOINT nothin new here
BUT DON'T FORGET THERE'S A CHOICE there IS a fuckin choice:

whine and bitch about how america/world/everything is controlled by dicks
aka victimology aka "calling attention to the FACT that a band is fronted by a chick is SEXIST"
[[[[[[[VICTIMOLOGY ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING]]]]]]]

or

celebrate the fuckin FACT that a woman had the guts the cojones the audacity to stand up to the fuckin MAN sayin FUCK YOU TO HIS FACE SIMPLY BY EXISTING IN A UNRELENTLESS UNDENIABLE MAJOR WAY simply by showin up wakin up today by refusin to submit to his rule his authority NOT UNDER YER THUMB NO MORE MISTER sendin the message loud and clear "we will not be dominated"
AND SO we can celebrate that someone is calling attention to a woman with these traits ["female vocalists"]
aka GIVE RECOGNITION WHERE RECOGNITION IS DUE

but wait there's more IT DON'T STOP THERE

it's not enough to just give recognition
we have to understand WHY we're giving recognition

it's NOT NOT NOT about T&A
it's DEFINITELY NOT about "oh shit this chick is cool she sings in a band girls in bands are so cool it's so edgy ooh the female on g-tar makes it that much cooler"
it's about all the reasons to celebrate listed above and more
SHE ROSE THE FUCK ABOVE BEING A SEX OBJECT/SEED CARRIER/SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN
that connection must be made

BUT WATCH OUT there's a line

SEXISM DOES EXIST IN AMERICA/WORLDWIDE TODAY again nothin new
that being said..
how can we recognize/address that and fight against it/protest inequality WITHOUT falling into victimizing ideologies and subjecting ourselves once again to "special treatment" [read: "different treatment" = accomplished nothing]?
MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

no doubt some people MEN AND WOMEN have tagged artists "female vocalists" filed them away put them in a box based on their sex and their sex alone

that's not to say we cannot reclaim them take it back ROLL WITH THU MOTHERFUCKIN PUNCHES


my suggestion?
see some of yer favorite women "reduced" simply to "female vocalist"???
shout out loud:
"FEMALE VOCALIST? FUCK YEAH FEMALE VOCALIST AND YUH KNOW IT MOTHERFUCKIN REPRESENT WOMEN WE COOLER THAN YOU BREAKIN THU FUCKIN CHAINS IN YER FUCKIN FACE CAN'T DO SHIT HOW YUH LIKE ME NOW???" etc etc etc
basically just rip into that shit but do it proud like yuh know say WHUT fool? yeah it's a she GOT SOMETHIN TUH FUCKIN SAY THEN SAY IT whutcha gonna do it's a motherfuckin doubleX all over this shit an it's fuckin poppin as fuck

i dunno that's just whut i would do
there are people who are a certain way and they will fuckin stay that way but THERE AIN'T NEVER NO EXCUSE FOR NOT LETTIN EM HAVE IT


oh yeah before i forget--really that is straight bullshit if main/first tag is "female vocalist"
that should be fuckin eliminated
all this ramble i'm mostly talkin bout "female vocalist" being a secondary tag
"female vocalist" can be useful information but it is NOT a fuckin genre



p.s.
everybody check 7 seconds fuckin killer track talkin bout sexism at shows and in thu 80's hardcore scene
probably heard it already but if not it's fuckin killer..check thu lyrics too
not just boys fun
[only place i could find it online complete and not live version--if yuh gotts somethin better please upload somewhere or push me a link]
[some other tracks on that player..fuckin weird techno shit but yer gonna know which is which..take it or leave it thu other shit]

fuck i went on--sorry if it shifted into lecture-mode..

but i think it's because this is not just some trife discussion on music tags
it touches on a lot of bigger issues involving women in society and how woman's lib is defined today what it means to be a feminist and equality vs. sexism


yeah and this is just my opinion EVERYBODY SPEAK YER PIECE

That is complete bullshit.
Female-fronted metal is strictly a money-making tag. Much more than "grunge" was in the 90's.
If you feel so concerned about there being so few women in the music industry, then why don't you fucking make music yourself?
There are so few women because very few women are open-minded, and that isn't by nature.
The medias portray women as frail consumers, and most girls actually grow up that way, which is why there aren't as many girls trying to accomplish themselves in anything other than singing.
The same media you accuse of "rejecting" girls as musical icons is the same media that creates false female icons. They have them dress up as rebellious as possible for that reason. It's only for the image.

The worst thing about this whole "not enough girls trying to accomplish themselves in music" thing is that when they do, they only sing.

At least Smashing Pumpkins always had female bassists!
90's rocked... so hard...


Female-fronted metal fans = Feminists or straight guys who find the singer hot.

Any artist trying to take advantage of her sex to gain fame is trash.
Where is equality?
In modern (decent) music, there's no way to be recognized as an artist if you're a guy. People don't want to hear you play an instrument unless you have boobs.
It's such a screwed up society...

Feminists whining in a society controlled by women...
Straight men backing them up because they enjoy their hot singers.
Musicians are ignored because they can't grow boobies.

*sigh*

Sorry for the rant.
I just fucking hate when people complain about my riffs, while girls get
praised for every single note they play...

lol @ being honest on the internet, really...

Never have noticed a serious disparity, and I've never been one to listen to mainstream music, where that "false rebel" image you brought up predominates, along with the "sex idol" variety. I suppose certain genres with which I have only a passing (mainstream) familiarity, such as metal, may exhibit more of a gender inequity...but this is far from universal.

Personally, i think the female vocalists tag is a fucking joke.

THIS IS WHAT FEMINISTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

I get your point, but I personally prefer to listen to bands with female vocals, so to me it is a tag... something that stands out from the MUCH larger majority which are male vocals. Anyway, the great thing about last.fm is that there is no fascism with them, you tag music exactly what you like, and so it should be. Music is what you make of it :)

I hate it! I like when the tag is about the (proper) genre of the music. I swear I'll start to use the male vocalists tag. :P