All three of those influential publications were founded in California, so it’s fitting that San Francisco became a hub for women music journalists in the 1990s before their migration to the East Coast’s biggest publications. Evelyn McDonnell became SF Weekly’s music editor in 1992 and moved on to take the same job at the Village Voice in 1996, but not before overseeing an intern named Sia Michel. Before becoming today’s deputy culture editor at The New York Times, Michel was the first woman editor-in-chief of Spin, where Caryn Ganz climbed the music journalism ladder, eventually becoming deputy editor at Rolling Stone and then pop music critic at The New York Times. Ganz has joined other rock critics like the inimitable Jessica Hopper (who, true story, penned her first piece of music journalism because of lousy coverage of Babes in Toyland) in using her influence to sing the praises of acts ranging from Haim to Lizzo to Chastity Belt. And when Rolling Stone started 2020 out on the right note, it was women—Brittany Spanos followed by Emma Carmichael—whose writing dominated the centerfold features.
Our understanding of time may be linear, but cultural trajectories rarely are. The volume and tone of the mainstream media’s recognition of our communities has been a similarly fickle thing. To take their words and hold them up to the light isn’t an act of independence so much as accountability. We’ve always been here, taking music to new places, and we always will be. Or, as Mamie Smith sang in the song that started it all, “There’s a change in the ocean / Change in the deep blue sea… I’ll tell you folks, there ain’t no change in me.”
Comments
Thank you for the great article. It’s really important to share the history that was not made visible because of societal biases towards race and gender.
Comment by Timothy Gauthier on September 26, 2020 at 1:00 pmWhen I began exploring the roots to the all the music I love it became very clear that there were people who were relegated to the small print, the footnotes and the editing floor because they did not fit the mould stereotypical of those genres. Being of First Nations background finding untold contributions in Blues, Country and rock and roll was invigorating but at the same time there were all these phenomenally talented women whose contributions needed to be celebrated. I loved reading about Memphis Minnie cutting heads, Mildred Bailey bringing elements of traditional Native singing to Jazz, how Jimmie Reeds wife Mary Reed worked as his manager and often drummer and vocalist. Karen Dalton was a great musician on top of her unique vocal talents. I loved Maria Muldaur’s fiddle playing with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. So many celebrated Classic Rock heroes had BOTH parents for musicians. I have an early Aretha Franklin album where she accompanied her Father’s sermons on piano improvising with him with facility and grace.
Music and music history belongs to everyone and the sooner we begin exploring the more we can learn and share. Talk to all the old folks while you can, find the words and the questions to help them remember and to open up. If your heart is in the right place the truth will rise out of the ashes of a past burned by ignorance. We all have potential role models out there buried in the past. I wish I had come across your magazine sooner. Meegwich
[…] Although the only woman on this list who is not a guitarist, as the recording artist who made the Blues a national sensation in 1920, Mamie Smith deserves every inch of recognition when discussing music. Read more about her contributions here. […]
Pingback by She Shreds Media on September 28, 2020 at 3:25 pm[…] media, as we mentioned in “Changing Tides: The Evolution of Women in Music Media,” shapes our understanding of who truly embodies and belongs in guitar and music culture. […]
Pingback by She Shreds Media on September 29, 2020 at 12:19 pmLove the article. Do you know Tina Bell? She is a black woman and a grunge pioneer erased from the music history. They made grunge a white male genre.
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