Monday, February 16, 2009

Critical Review #4 - Schilt - "Riot Grrrl is..."

Schilt, Kristen. Ch. 6. Music Scenes.
"Riot Grrrl is...": The Contestation over Meaning in a Music Scene.

Riot grrrl was/is a genre that attempted to keep itself undefined in order to be whatever the person wanted it to be. Unfortunately, mainstream media, in its attempts to label the movement, may have destroyed it by focusing on its fashion of cut-up aesthetic, instead of the values held by members of the movement.

Described as a punk DIY mixed with feminist politics, Schilt portrays riot grrrl as more of a political movement than a musical one. Riot grrrls attempted to take control of the mainstream media by being a part of the production of fanzines and bands and using these as a format for discussing sexism. Although the subculture attempted to be all-inclusive, saying that anyone could be involved, mostly female, white middle class punks became a part of it; and eventually alienated other races and classes from joining.

This article also discusses the topic of mainstream vs. independent. How does one get a political message out to the masses without being a "sell-out"? This is an issue that bands struggle with across all subcultures, not just riot grrrl. By joining a major label, bands lose subcultural capital (no longer being as cool), but may gain more fans due to exposure.

Although she attempts to mention that those involved struggled between having a political message or being musicians first, Schilt herself focuses a lot more on the politics than "the music itself". She uses lyrics as an example of the feminist nature of bands such as Bikini Kill, but says nothing of the music or sounds that the band created.

Schilt does mention that the riot grrrl subculture may have been frustrated with the increasing amount of moshing at concerts from punk bands at the time - does that mean riot grrrl bands played music less "moshable" than punk? does the riot grrrl genre have any specific musical characteristics other than being "punk"? Or is it just punk with a feminist political message? I'm more interested in "the music itself" in other words, not just its lyrics.

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