DJ Jim Q's Playlist: Matriarchy
Selected by our fine friends from the Rotterdam chapter, the theme this month is Matriarchy. I’m quite obviously not the ideal messenger for this theme and had I planned a little better, maybe I would have had a guest DJ fill my spot, but I didn’t and here we are. I’ll do my best to honor the theme.
The playlist is filled with anthems of empowerment and celebratory songs of women. I tried to avoid songs that oriented heavily around narratives with male involvement. It’s a little harder than one might think, many songs that traditionally purport to be songs of independence and empowerment, end up with central messages like “I’ll show you, you’ll come crawling back” or “I’ll take your man” that kind of stuff. While these can often be great songs, I tried to avoid these tropes.
Instead I attempted to include songs of more visceral female empowerment, rebellion and independence like Joan Jett’s title track from the 1980’s “Bad Reputation”. After the break up of her pioneering group The Runaways, she couldn’t get signed. Can you imagine that? After numerous rejections, in true D.I.Y. fashion she self-released the album to positive critical reception. The opening track “Bad Reputation” was her sonic middle finger to record executives that wouldn’t sign her. You can draw a direct line from Joan Jett to the matriarchs of Riot Grrrl Bikini Kill. Kathleen Hanna and her crew open their debut E.P. with “Double Dare Ya” a sneering call to arms for their sisters to step up and step out of line. Just 4 years earlier, on the mainstream side of the pop radio dail, Janet Jackson’s 1986 title track for her sophomore record “Control” was no less revolutionary both from the rebellious agency asserted, but also because it contained some of the earliest sounds of the emerging new jack swing production style. This declaration of control coming from the youngest of the Jackson dynasty was multidimensional in meaning. Decades before, in 1964, Lesly Gore’s pop-feminist ballad “You Don’t Own Me” was in rotation right along side songs like Mary Well’s “My Guy” and the Shangri-Las “Leader of the Pack”. It was a unique and unfamiliar challenge to the passivity omnipresent in traditional pop female vocal performances of that era. The song may seem tame by today’s standards, but it was quite rebellious at the time and no doubt awoke many young creative minds to the ideas of autonomy, independence and expression. I could continue to go on and on about the virtues and significance of each of the songs included, about the achievements and influences of these exceptional artists, but it’s probably better to just listen to their songs then to read more of my thoughts. They say it best.
Long live the Queen. This month girls rule the playlist. The theme is Matriarchy and the courts are filled with songs from female royalty like Salt-n-Pepa, Nina Simone, PJ Harvey, Lizzo, The Slits, Björk, King Princess, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and over 30 more crown-worthy crooners. Bow down and bask in the sonic reign.
That’s it from me. I hope you enjoy this one. It was fun pulling it together. If you do enjoy these playlists, let me know on Twitter and follow me on Spotify. See you next month.