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Budweiser Killed the Radio Star: Vance Puchalski on women’s increased visibility in mainstream rock in the 1990s, and the corporate retaliation that pushed them back.

Ever the astute prognosticators, Time magazine has a history marked by brazen promises. The magazine’s November 8th, 2010 issue featured a cover story titled “Party Crashers”, which accurately predicted Congressional gains by the Republican Party in last year’s midterm elections (Von Drehle). While this promise of G.O.P. victory had but one week to come to fruition once the issue hit newsstands, other predictions made by the magazine have faced longer shelf-lives. A look back in Time, 44 years to be precise, reveals a 1966 essay which conceptualized the ways in which everyday life would evolve near the turn of the twenty-first century. “THE FUTURISTS: Looking Toward A.D. 2000” accurately described a future of decentralized cities, instant communication, and a population of more than six-billion people roaming the earth. As is the case with “Party Crashers,” though, these predictions are conservative. “Hovercraft that ride on air”, “ballistic rocket” travel and a retirement age of fifty are more radical examples of conjecture that did not quite pan out. Thankfully, neither did the essay’s underlying misogyny.  

Time later proved itself wrong when an article published in 1994 demonstrated that on the heels of the new millennium, women actually spent time outside of the kitchen. Moreover, this freedom from household chores did not come as a result of the subservient, household robots that they were promised in 1966.  In “Rock Goes Coed”, the magazine called attention to the increasing number of women in the 1990s, who had suddenly entered the male-dominated world of rock and roll.  Legendary rock critic and frequent VH-1 countdown panelist Ann Powers later remarked on the importance of this revolution by asserting that, “The story of ’90s women in rock was as compelling as globalization is nowadays” (Schroeder). 

With Generation-X coming of age, gender ideology shifted like a prevailing wind within the social climate of the early 1990s as women battled for equal opportunities in many facets of society. 1992 became the “Year of the Woman” in politics, as a record-breaking four women were elected to the United States Senate (Wasinewski 556). Hollywood showed signs progress as “Thelma & Louise made film history with a female screenwriter, two female leads, and a controversial, female-empowered storyline” (Fournier). Conversely, John Gray’s bestselling book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus: a Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships, published in 1992, aimed to illustrate the fundamental differences that exist between the sexes. Despite the fact that Gray’s book attempted to distance men and women by entire light years, the nineties proved that musicians of both sexes were willing to eschew their traditional gender roles, in order to find commonality within a single celestial body.

“Women serve on aircraft carriers and on the Supreme Court, so it’s striking, given rock’s putative social progressiveness, that it is only now [in 1994] becoming routine for women and men to play together in rock groups as partners” (McLaughlin & Farley).

Aspiring journalist Amy Schroeder took note of this social progressiveness from her dorm room at Michigan State University. There, Schroeder gave birth to Venus Zine, a now nationally circulated periodical devoted to women in music, film, literature, and fashion. “The ’90s were great for women in alternative rock,” she later exclaimed. Venus Zine worked in tandem with the burgeoning alternative music movement to level the playing field with respect to gender. As Schroeder explained, “We provide a space that focuses on women in the arts, and we give cred to the dudes too”.  Three of these “dudes”, who called themselves Nirvana, became the “biggest band in the word” by 1992 (Cross 223), as front-man and father of alternative music, Kurt Cobain, proclaimed that “The future of rock belongs to women” (Raphael xvi). Time noted that “The rise of alternative rock also fueled the boom in coed bands”. Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love, served as lead singer and guitarist for Hole, a pioneering coed band in the alterna-rock scene who successfully combined “primal guitar riffs” with “high IQ lyrics” (McLaughlin & Farley). Other nineties groups consisting of both sexes, including Smashing Pumpkins, The Cranberries (McLaughlin & Farley), Veruca Salt, Garbage, L7 and The Breeders soon found their way onto the charts (Billboard.com). In 1994, Time welcomed this sudden paradigm shift by noting that, “Coed bands are creating some of the most interesting music around”. In response to the perceived beginnings of gender equality within rock and roll, the magazine made yet another prediction that, unfortunately, would go the way of subterranean superhighways and independent wealth for everyone in the United States. In 1994, they promised that, “Someday coed bands could become the rule” (McLaughlin & Farley). Time, the publication, may have held optimism with respect to gender equality in music, but sixteen-years of actual-time proves that women’s involvement in mainstream rock and roll had greatly diminished by the start of the new millennium. In 2010 “the rule” of bands existing in coed form was but a rare exception as men once again dominated the arena of rock and roll music. In hindsight, the alternative music movement of the 1990s serves as an example of how women and men successfully fought from the underground-up to achieve gender equality in rock music, only to find their social progress destroyed by the revenue-hungry alcohol distributors of North America.

To understand why the presence of women in rock and roll music during the nineties was so monumental, one must take a look back at the preceding decades in which music was scarred by arrant misogyny and featured a disproportionate number of male performers. In an article published by scholarly journal, Gender & Society, sociologist Mary Ann Clawson examines the ways in which women’s roles in music had shifted dramatically from rock music’s inception in the 1950s. Before the nineties, “Few rock bands included women”. Clawson uses the technique of secondary data analysis to quantify just how scarce women were in mainstream rock before the 1990s.  Women constituted less than one-fourth of musicians who were popular during the period of 1967-1987, with fewer than six percent of these women serving as instrumentalists (Clawson 195).  This lack of female instrumentalists, she argues, disenfranchised women as these duties within a band are “strongly linked to notions of rock creativity”. She attributes the eventual presence of women in alternative rock to the punk movement of the late 1970s. Seminal punk rock bands including The Germs, and Joan Jett’s group, The Runaways were among the first to feature women players as the ideological views within this genre “beckoned anyone and everyone to pick up a guitar” (Clawson 195). The trend of women in punk rock echoed into the following decade as eighties punk rock stalwarts Black Flag also featured a woman on instrumental duties. Bassist Kira Roessler proved that women could handle the arduous lifestyle ascribed to rock and roll, both on and off the stage, as the intensity of Black Flag’s sound appeared to be matched only by Roessler’s devotion to her craft. In 1994, Black Flag’s singer, Henry Rollins, published Get in the Van, a nitty-gritty memoir which detailed the nightmarish conditions that he and his band members were often subject to on tour. Detriments such as hunger, extreme temperatures, and exhaustion were commonplace, and many of the band’s shows were plagued by violence from unruly crowds (Rollins). Rollins recounts one such example of egregious brutality lodged at Roessler in 1985.

“Kira went into the bathroom and this big old woman beat her up and smashed her hand into one of the stalls. Kira’s hand was all fucked up, but she played the show anyway. She’s tough” (Rollins).

Roessler, along with eighties post-punk compatriots Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Kim Deal of The Pixies, inspired a new generation of women to pick up instruments. By 1990, a feminist punk movement had taken shape in the Pacific Northwest. “The riot grrrl movement was based on a feminist and [Do-It–Yourself] philosophy that women can empower themselves by taking action politically and artistically” (Schroeder). In the wake of eighties hair metal, in which women served as subjects “about whom misogynistic lyrics could be written” (McLaughlin & Farley), the nineties were ripe for change. Bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney lead the charge and by 1991, prominent male musicians such as those in Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine embraced the riot grrrl movement and got on board with pro-feminist politics (Schroeder).

“Judging by radio and MTV airplay, when women were at the forefront of the rock industry in the 1990s, the mainstream welcomed and applauded artists with pro-feminist politics” (Schroeder).

In 1994, Time made the declaration that women had officially become “full, chord-crunching, songwriting partners with men in real rock groups”.

As feminist ideology virtually co-opted the music industry of the nineties, the alcohol distributors of North America, were quick to follow suit. In 1995, Seagram, the world’s largest producer and distributor of distilled spirits took stake in the music business when they purchased MCA Records (Seagram, Ltd.). Within three years the company swallowed both PolyGram and Universal Recordings (Universal Music Group).  Seagram then formed the Universal Music Group in 1998 where they officially controlled one-fifth of the entire recording industry (Universal Music Group). Molson, another prominent distributor of alcoholic beverages opted for a stake in the industry of live music. By the late 1990’s Molson Breweries owned “50 percent of Canada’s only national concert promoter, Universal Concerts” (Klein 48). A report sponsored by Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America warned parents that these acquisitions could lead to unintentional marketing, with regard to young, impressionable minds (Alcohol Advertising). Naomi Klein, author and corporate watchdog, examined this phenomenon of corporate sponsored events in her guide to anti-globalization, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies.

“The brand is the event’s infrastructure; the artists are its filler, a reversal in the power dynamic that makes any discussion of the need to protect unmarketed artistic space appear hopelessly naïve” (Klein 48).

By the late 1990’s, corporations such as Seagram and Molson held significant control over the music industry, and obtained the power to spread virtually any message that they wished.

With the record companies and touring musicians at the mercy of alcohol distributors by the late nineties, radio was the final frontier in a complete takeover of the music industry. As Clear Channel Communications held a virtual “monopoly” over radio, stations could not be purchased directly (Boehlert). Companies such as Seagram, Molson, and Anheuser-Busch, distributor of Budweiser, could however, control how they spent their massive advertising dollars at these stations (Shafer). Broadcasters relied on this revenue as “alcohol advertising on television and radio totaled more than $787 million in 1998 alone” (Alcohol Advertising). Patterns demonstrate that rock radio is a tried-and-true forum for marketing to young adults. “On radio, alcohol advertising often airs on youth-oriented rock and roll or album-oriented rock formats that target 18-to 24-year-olds” (Alcohol Advertising). Furthermore, studies in alcohol consumption demonstrate that “heavy use is more common…among males” (Bonnie & O’Connell). A problem then manifested as the alcohol distributors had consistently relied on advertising which promoted sexism and misogyny in order to sell their products (Elliott; Nasaw). This message of objectifying women did not gibe with the third-wave feminist ideology which dominated the airwaves in the 1990’s when “Coed bands usually avoid[ed] cartoonish, bombastic sexuality except to ridicule it” (McLaughlin & Farley). In an attempt to secure future advertising revenue from alcohol distributors, radio programmers scrambled to appeal to the coveted 18-24 male demographic (Brass). As a result, a return to a heavier, more metal-infused sound was implemented (D’Angelo & Perry). “A key element of metal,” author Keith Kahn-Harris explains in his book, Extreme Metal: music and culture on the edge, “is the misogynist fantasy.” As such, Extreme Metal… explains that coed bands have no place within the genre. “The practices of making music within the [metal] scene also reinforce the exclusion of women”. By signing misogynist metal bands to their labels, placing them on tour and strong-arming radio programmers to play their songs, the alcohol distributors ensured that in the days of the waning twentieth century, rock radio was once again a segregated medium. Bud Light further drove this point home as they unveiled the long-running “Real Men of Genius” series of radio ads.  

The messages delivered via rock radio had shifted dramatically by the start of the new decade. The days where Garbage’s Shirley Manson compared herself to a modern day Joan of Arc (Garbage) and Courtney Love sympathized with “The girl you know / [who] can’t look you in the eye”, (Love & Erlandson) had all but disappeared so that Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit could declare that he “Did it all for the nookie” (Durst). Limp Bizkit built on their success by releasing ‘Break Stuff’, an abrasive song which featured the refrain, “It’s all about the he says she says bullshit”, and threatened that the “First one to complain / Leaves with a blood stain” (Durst). In her 2007 essay, aptly titled ‘What happened to revolution girl style now?’ Schroder commented on the state of male-dominated music by bands like Limp Bizkit. “The popular trend is derivative male bands” (Schroeder). On modern day feminism, she asserted, “A decade ago, it was safe for me to assume that the majority of our [Venus Zine] readers considered themselves feminist. These days, however, I don’t always make that assumption…And I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with mainstream culture’s exclusion of feminist attitudes” (Schroeder). The title ‘Break Stuff’ was, perhaps, symbolic as companies such as Budweiser enabled Limp Bizkit and a new crop of misogynist metal bands to seemingly obliterate the social progress that pioneers like Schroeder had worked so hard to achieve.  

Another decade has passed and social change is once again possible as the music industry struggles to adopt a new business model. “Changes in technology have hung a giant question mark over the entire industry”, as the manner in which consumers acquire music has shifted quite drastically (McCall). In April of 2008, Apple’s digital download store, iTunes, made history as it surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one retailer of music in the world (Hempel). CNet, an online source dedicated to the world of technology, reflected on how this change would affect the industry.

“The old system (the labels, record stores, and radio stations) were a set of filtersthat limited the number of bands that, at any given moment, were heard on the radio.  The filters preselected what they thought was the most likely to break through.” (Guttenberg).

Alcohol distributors like Seagram, Molson and Anheuser-Busch not only relied on, but in many cases, manipulated these filters in order to market their products to key demographics and increase their overall profit margins. The music consumer has gained significant control as the elimination of “preselected filters” better facilitates proactive decisions when searching for new music. Another “reversal in the power dynamic” is taking place.

As the ways in which people obtain music are changing, music artists are starting to bypass the traditional methods of distribution and are searching for new ways to reach fans. Metric, a modern day co-ed band within the alternative rock scene is a prime example of one such band. Formed in Toronto in 1998, the group endured “struggles” as they released three albums on indie labels and built a modest following by touring. When it came time to record their 2009 album, ‘Fantasies’, the band received “several offers from the big record companies”, which they adamantly declined (Stone). As the role of a record label is essentially to provide the artist with a high-interest loan by fronting recording costs and assuming control over the finished product (Howard & Feist), Metric was able circumvent this process of loansharking by procuring a grant from the Canadian Government (Stone). With no filters to sift through, the band then began selling ‘Fantasies’ “directly to fans on services like iTunes” (Stone). As a result, ‘Fantasies’ became the first album to reach the Billboard Top-20, without a label (McCall). Front woman Emily Haines commented on the band’s motivation to forgo the conventional means to success in music.

“It was more a question of how we were going to self-actualize, instead of waiting around for somebody else to give us permission to be who we are” (McCall).

With corporations like Seagram, Molson and Anheuser-Busch having less pull over the strings of the music industry, artists and fans are afforded the opportunity to “be who they are”, regardless of gender.       

Time once predicted that by the year 2000, “men will have flown past Venus and landed on Mars” (THE FUTURISTS).  In the case of the music industry, and pro-feminist ideology, this prediction, unfortunately, has come true.  Despite the eventual victory of alcohol distributors over third-wave feminism, the nineties alternative rock movement, albeit brief, exists as a concrete example of how with dedication, social change can become a reality.

(Photo by Cherly Sugar)

Vance hammers six-strings, and provides the sonorous screak of swollen stylopharyngus in the co-ed, punk-rock, packofbadgers that is Utility Monster.  Utility Monster can be found here:

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