. Simon Prich and Angela McRobbie *| ROCK AND SEXUALITY 1978 oncacac F all the mass media cock is the most explicitly concerned wich sexual expression. This reflects its function as a youth cultural form: rock treats the problems of puberty, it draws on and articulates the psychological and physical tensions of adolesceace, it accompanies the mo- ment when boys and girls leara their repectoire of public sexual behavior, IF rock's lytics mostly follow the rules of romance, its musical elements, is sounds and chythms, draw on other conventions of sexual representation, and rock is highly charged emotionally even when its direct concern is, rnonsexual. Rock is the ever-present background of dancing, dating, court ing. “Rock ’a’ roll” was originally « syaonym for sex, and the music has been a cause of moral panic since Elvis Prosley first swiveled his hips in public. Ic has equally been a cause for the advocates of sexual permissive iness—the sixties counterculcuraliscs claimed rock as “liberating,” the means by which the young would free themselves from adult hangups and repres- sioa. Fora large section of postwar youth, rock music has been the aesthetic form most closely bousd up with their frse sexual experiences and dif culties, and to understand rock's relationship co sexuality isn't just aa aca- demic exercise is a necessary part of understanding how sexual feclings and acciudes are learned. ‘Unfortunately, knowing that rock is important is not the same ching as knowing, how itis importanc. The best writers on the subject stace the contradictions without resolving chem. On the one hand, there is something372 4 ON RECORD bout rock that is experienced as liberating—in Sheila Rowbotham’s words, sities youth music was “like a great release after all thoze supec-consolation ballads.” On the other haad, rock has become synonymous with a male- defined sexuality: “Under my chumb,” sang the Stones, the archerypical rock group, “stupid gic.” Some ferinists have argued tha rock is now essentially a male form of expression, that for women to make nonsexist music it ie necessary 10 use sounds, structures, and styles chat cannot be heard as rock. This raises important questions about form and content, about the effect of male dom- ination on rock's formal qualities 2s a mode of sexual expression. These ate ‘more difficult questions than is sometimes implied, Lyrics are nota suficient clue 10 rock's meanings, nor can we deduce rock's sexual message directly from the male control of its conditions of production. Popular music is a complex mode of expression. It involves ¢ combination of sound, rhythm, Iyrics, performance, and image, and the apparently straightforward contrast that can be draw, for example, beeween Tammay Wynctte's “Stand By Your Man’ (reactionary) and Helen Reddy's “I Am Womaa" (progressive) works only at che level of lyrics. Ir doesn't do justice to the overall meanings of these records: Tammy Wynecte’s councty strength and confidence seem, ‘musically, more valuable qualities than Helen Reddy's cute, show-biz self consciousness, We will return to this comparisoe lace. There are few clues, then, in the existing literarure as to haw rock warks sexually. Leftaccounts of popular music focus either on its political economy (on its use in youth subcultures. Inthe former approach, rock's ideological contentis derived from its commodity form; cocks explained as just another product of the mass entertainment industey. Bue if we confine ourselves to this approach alone, we cannor distinguish becween the sexual messages of, say, the Stranglers and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The contrast between the former's offensive atcemprs ro reassert stereotypes of male domination and the lateer’s challenge to chose stereotypes is lot if we treat them simply as equivalent bestselling products of multinational record companies. The problem of analyzing the parcicular ideological work of a particular picce of music is avoided with che assamption chat all counties rave Ure sane effect In the subcultural approach rock's ideological meaning is derived, by contrast, feom the culture of its consumers. The immediate difficulty here is that existing accounts of youth subcultures describe them as, on the one hhand, exclusively male and, on the other hand, apparently asexual. Bue even 4 good culturalist account of rock would be inadequate for our purposes. Rock is nor simply & cultural space that ies young users can win for their ‘own purposes. Rock, as an ideological and culeural form, has a crucial role to play in the process by which its users coasticuce their sexuality. Ie is that process we need tn understand MUSIC AND SEXUALITY 4 373 Our dificuley lies ia che case with which the analysis of rock as an aesthetic form can slip past the comparstively straightforward sociologies of record production and consumption. An obvious indication ofthis peob- Jem is the complex reference (o the term “rock” itself. As rock Fans we Know what we mean by rock empirically, but the descriptive criteria we use are, in face, diverse and inconsistent. “Rock” is not just a matter of musical definition. Ie refers also to an audience (young, white), 0 a form. ‘of production (commercial), to an artistic ideology (rock has’ a creative integrity that “pop” lacks). The result of this confusion is constant argument as to whether an act or record is really rock—and this is not just a matter of subjective disagreement. Records and artists have contradictory implications in themselves, The meaning of rock is not simply given by its musical form, but is struggled for. As a cultural product, a rock record has multiple layers of represen- tation. The message of its lyrics may be undereurby its shyehmie or melodic conventions and, anyway, music's meanings don't reach their consumers diectly. Rock is mediated by che way its performers are packaged, by the way it is situated as radio and dance music, Rock reaches its public via the “gatekeepers” of the encercaicment industcy, who ery to determine how people listen co it. The ideology of rock is nor just a matter of notes and words, ‘One of the themes of chis paper is thar rock operates both as a form of sexual expression and as a form of sexual control. Expression and contcol ate simulraneous aspects of the way cock works; the problem is to explain bow cock gives ideological shape ro its sexual representations. We reject the notion, central co the ideology of rock as counterculture, that there is some sort of “natural” sexuality which rock expresses and the blue meaaies repress. Our starcng point is that the most imporeane ideological work done by rock is the construction of sexuality. We will describe rock’s represen- tations of masculinity and femicity and consider the contradictions involved in these representations. Our concern is to relate the eifects of rock 10 its formas music, as commodity, as culture, a5 entertainment, MASCULINITY AND ROCK Any analysis of the sexuality of rock must begin with the brute social fact that in teems of control and production, cock is a male form, The music business is male-nun; popular musicians, writers, creacors, technicians, en- -gineers, and producers are mostly men, Female ereative roles ate limited and mediated theough male notions of female ability, Women musicians who make it are almost always singers; the women in the business who rake ic are usually in publicity; in both roles success goes with 2 male-ude female image. In general, popular music's images, values, and senti- meats are male products, Not only do we find men occupying every important role in the rock industty and in effect being responsible for the crestion and construction of suitable fernale images, we also witness in rock the presentation and marketing of masculine styles. And we are offered not one definitive image of masculine sexuality, but a variety of male sexual poses which are most ‘often expressed in terms of stereotypes. One useful way of exploring these is to consider “cock rock,” oa the one hand, and “teenybop,” oa the other. By “cock rock” we mean music making in which performance is an explicit, ude, and often agaressive expression of male sexuality—it’s the style of rock presentation that links a rock and roller like Elvis Presley t0 rock stars like Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey, and Robert Plant, Cock rock performers are aggressive, dominacing, and boastful, and they constantly seek co remind the audience of theis prowess, cheir control. Theit stance is obvious in live shows; male bodies on display, plunging shicts and tight trousers, s visual emphasis on chest hair and genitals—their record sales depend on years of such appearances, In America, the Midwest concert ble has become the necessary starting point for cock rock success in Britain the national popularity of acts like Thin Lizzy isthe result of couatless tours of provincial dance halls. Cock rock shows are explicitly about male sexual performance (which may explain why so few girls po co them—the musicians face acting out a sexual iconography which in many ways is unfamiliar, fright- ening, and distasteful ro girls who are educated into uaderstanding sex as something nice, soft, loving, and private). In these performances mikes and uiters are phallic symbols; che music is loud, chychencally insisten, built ‘around techniques of arousal and climax; the lyrics are assertive and arro- ant, chough che exact words are less significant than che vocal styles io- volved, the shouting and screaming. ‘The cock rock image is the rampant deseructive male traveler, smashing hotels and groupies alike. Musically, such rock takes off from the sexual frankness of rhythm aad blues buc adds a eruder male physicality (hardacss, sonal, suai). Crk vuchers! musical skills become synonymous with their sexual skills (heace Jimi Hendrix’s simultaneous stanas as stud and guitar hero). Cock rockers are noc bound by che conventions of the song. focm, but use their instruments ro show “what they've got,” to give vent (o theit macho imagination. These are the men who take to the streets, take risks, live dangerously and, most of all, swagger untrammeled by re- sponsibility, sexual and otherwise. And, whar’s more, they want to make this clear. Women, in theic eyes, are either sexually aggressive and therefore doomed and uahappy, or else sexually repressed and therefore in need of imale servicing, Its dhe woman, whether romanticized or not, who is seen as possessive, afier a husband, antifreedom, the ultimate restriction, Teenybop, in conteast, is consumed almost exclusively by girls. Whae they're buying is also a representation of male sexuality usually ia the Foca of teen idols), bur the nature of the image and the version of sexuality on isplay is quite distinct from that of the cock gocker. The teenybop idol's image is based on self-pity, vulnerability, and need. The image is of the young boy oext door: sad, thoughtful, presty, and puppylike. Lyrically his songs are about being lee down and stood up, about loneliness and frustra ‘ion; musically his form is a blead of pop ballad and soft cock; itis less physical music chan cock rock, drawing on older romantic conventions. In eesybop, male sexuality is wansformed into a spiritual yearning cacrying ‘aly hints of sexual interaction. What is needed is not so much someone to screw as a sensitive and sympathetic soulmate, someone to suppoct and nourish the incompetent male adolescent as he grows up. If cock rock plays fon conventional concepts of ale sexuality as rampant, animalistic, super. ficial, nd just for the moment, eeaybop plays on notions of female sexuality a8 serious, diffuse, and implying coral emotional commitment. In tecaybop cults live performance is less significant than pinups, posters, and TV ap- pearances; in ceenybop music, women emerge as unreliable, fickle, more selfish than men. It is men who are soft, romantic, easily bust, loval, aod anxious co find a tue love who fulills their definitions of what female sexuality should be abou. The resulting contrast berwcea, say, Thin Lizty fans and David Soul fans js obvious enough, but our rgument is not intended to give « precise account of the cock market. There aze overlaps and contradictions. Girls uc cock tock pinups on their bedroom walls, and hoys buy teenybop. records. Likewise there are a mbole range of stars who seek to occupy both «categories at once—Rod Srewatt can come across just as pathetic, puppylike, and maudlin as Donny Osmond, and Joba Travolta can be meun and nasty, ‘one of the gang. Buc our comparison of cock rock and reeny bop does make clear the general poinc we want to make: masculinity in rock is ot determined by one all-embracing definition, Rather, rock offers a framework wichin which male sexuality can find a range of acceptable, heterosexual expressions. hese images of masculicity ace predicated on sexual divisions in the appropriation of rock, Thus we have che ‘male consumer's identification with the rock performer; his collective experience of rock shows which, in this respect, are reminiscent of Football matches and other occasions of male camaraderie—the general atmosphere is sexually exclusive, its euphoria depends on che absence of women. The teeaybop performer, by contrast, addresses his female consumer as his object, potentially satisfying his sexusl needs and his ro ‘mantic aad emotional demands. The teenybop fan. should feel thar her ‘dot is addressing himself solely eo hee; her experience should be as his parcacr.378 4 ON RECORD Elvin Bishop's “Fooled Around,” a hit single from 1975 capcures iyrieally the poine we're making: {must have been theough about & milion gils 1 love ‘em and leave ‘em alone, | dida’e care how much they ctied, ao sc, ‘Their ears Jef me as cold as sme, Buc then I fooled aroun! snd fel in love In rock conventions, the collective notion of fooling around refers explicitly to male experience; falling in love refers to the expectations of girls From this perspective, dhe contrast herween cack rock and ceeaybop is clearly something general in rock, applicable to other genres. Male identiy with the performer is expressed not only in sexual terms but also as a looser ‘ppropriation of rock musicians’ dominance and power, confidence and control. It is boys who become interested in rock as music, who become hifi experts, who hope to become musicians, technicians, or music busi- essmen, Ie is boys who form the core of the rock audience, who are intelleceually interested in rock, who become rock critics and collectors (che readership of Sounds, New Musical Expres, and Melody Muber and the au dence for the Old Grey White Test are two-thitds male; John Peel's radio show listeners are 90 percent male). It is boys who experience rock as 2 collective culture, a shared male worid of fellow fans and fellow musicians ‘The problems facing a woman seeking co enter the cock world as 4 participant are clear. A giel is supposed to be an individual listener, she is not encouraged to develop the skills and knowledge to become a performer. Jn sixth form and student culture, just as much as in ceeaybop music, gels tare expected ro be passive, as they liscen quietly to rock poets, and brood t0 Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens, or Jackson Browne: Women, whatever their musical castes, have litele opportunity and get litle encouragement t© be performers themselves. This is anocher aspect of rock's sexual ideology of collective male activity and individual female passivity MUSIC, FEMININITY, AND DOMESTIC IDEOLOGY Male dominance in the rocke business is evident in both the packaging and the musical careers of female rock stars. Even powerful and individual singers like Elkic Brooks can find success only by using the craditional show-biz vocabulary. Indeed, one of the most starting features ofthe history Of British popular music has been the speed with which talented women singers, of all types, from Lula through Dusty Springfield ro Kate Bush, hhave been tuened into family entercainers, become regulars on TV variety MUSIC AND SEXUALITY & 397 shows, fallen into slapstick routines, and taken their show-biz places as smiling, charming hostesses. Female musicians have carely been able to ‘make theie own musical versions of the oppositional rebellious bard edges that male rock can embody. ‘Our argument is not chat male stars don’t experience the same pressures to be bland entereainers, but that female scars have lise possibility of resisting such pressure, Ie may have been necestary for Cliff Richard and Tommy Steele to become all-round entertainers in the 1950s, but one of the consequences of the tise of rock in the 1960s was that mass success was no longer necessarily based on the respectable conventions of show biz; sexual outrage became an aspect af rock’s mass appeal. But for men only. The rise of rock did noc extend the opportunities for women; notions of = woman's inusical place have hardly changed, ‘The one new success route ‘opened to women was the singee'songwriter/folkicladp—long-haired, pure voiced, self-accompanied on acoustic guiear—but whatever the ability, in tegrity, and roughness of Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Sandy Denay, and the cthers, their musical appeal, the way they were sold, reinforced in rock the ualities traditionally linked with female singers—seasicvity, passivity, and sweeiess. For women rockers 10 become hard aggressive performers it was necessary for them, as Jerty Garcia commented on Janis Joplin, to become “one of the boys.” Some women did make ic this way—Grace Slick, Maggie Bell, Christine McVie—but none of them did it without consid ‘erable pain, frustration, and, in the case of Janis Joplin, tragedy Pethaps the only way of resisting the pressures pushing women musicians into conventional stereotypes (and stereotyping is an inevitable result of commercialization) was co do as Joni Mitchell did and avoid prolonged Contact with the mass media. Since her success in the sisties, Joni Michell has consistently refused to do TV appearances, rarely does concerts, eurns down interviews with the music press, and exerts personal control over the making and production of her records. She, like Joan Armatrading, is re ‘warded with an “awkward” reputation; despite theie artistic achievements, ‘heirs is nor the popular image of the woman musician. For that we have to look at a group like ABBA. The boyigiel group is a common entertaiae ‘ment device in both pop and disco music (Caco, the Dooleys, on the one hand, Boney M and Rose Royceon the other). ABBA provides the clearest example of the sexual divisions of labor such groups involves the men make the music (they write and arrange, play dhe guitars and keyboards), and the Women are glamorous (ticy diess up and sing wher they'te told—cheir insteuments are their “oatural” voices and bodies), ABBA. The Movie had a double plot; while a journalist pursued che men in the group, che camera liogered on Anaa’s bum—it was the movie's key visual image. In rock, ‘women have little control of their music, their images, their performances; (o succeed they have co ft into male grooves. The subordination of women378 4 ON RECORD in roc is lete different from theie subordination in other occupations; as unskilled rock workers women are a source of cheap labor, a pool of talent from which the successes are chosen more for theit appropriate appearance than for choie musical talents. Bur che problems of women ia rock reach much further than those of surviving the business; oppressive images of women are buile into the very foundations of the popirock edifice: into its production, its consumption, ‘and even into its musical structures. Pop music reaches its public via a ‘atiety of gatckeepers—cadio producers, TV producers, and film producers. Disc jockeys at discos and dances, end writers in music papers and girls ‘magazines compete 0 interpret musical meanings. The Bay City Rollers, for example, were taken by girls’ magazines to represent vocally and visually their own persuasive sexual ideology, were heard co articulate the comic sep vocabulary of erue love. Teenage magazines have used pop star images, male and female, co ik lustrate their romantic fantasies and practical hines since theit origin in the fifties. Jackie, for example, the higheseselling gies! weekly magazine in Great Britain, interprets music for its readers exclusively ia teems of t0- mance.* The magazine depends for its appeal on pop, cartying two or three large pop pinups each week; buc itnever actually deals with music. Ie doesn’t review reconis and never hints thar girls could learn an instrument or form band, that they shoul take music seriously as either a hobby or a career. Music is reduced co its stars, co idols’ Jooks and likes. Head-and-shoulder shots loom out of the center and back pages, symbols of dreamily smiling male mastery. Nothing else in Jackie is allowed such uncluttered «pace— even the cover girl has to compere for readers’ attention with the week's lise of features and offers. Pop stars, in Jacki’s account of them, are not just precy faces. Romance rests on more than good looks; the stars also have “personality.” Each pinup uses facial expression and background lo- cation ro tell readers something about the star's character—David Essex’'s pert cheekiness, David Cassidy's crumpled sweetness, Les McKeowan’s re- assusiog homeliness. There is an obvious continuity in the visual appeal of| reeayhop idols, fram Rivis Presley to Joba Travolts in unformed sen sualicy, someching sulky and unfinished in the mouth and jaw, eyes that are intense but detached; sexiness—bur sexiness that isn't physically rooted, ‘har suggests a dreamy fantasy fulillment. These images tell us more about the ideology of female than male sexuality; ehe ploc is revealed in the home sextings of Jackie's photographs. Teenage music is not, afer all, a matter of sex and drugs and carelessness; these stars are just like us—they're rich and successful and love their families, chey come from ordinary pasts and have condinaey ambitions: marriage, secding down, Girls are encouraged from all directions to interpret their sexuality in terms of romance, ro give priority «9 notions of love, feeling, commitment, MUSIC AND SEXUALITY 4 a79 the moment of bliss In endorsing these values aiels prepare themselves for their lives as wives and mothers, where the seme notions take on diflercne Tabels—sucifice, service, and fidelity. In Sue Sharpe's words: Wormen mean love and the home while men sand for work and the external world . . women provide tht intimate personal relationships which sre not sanctioned in the work organisation .. women are synonymous vith softaess and tenderness, love and care, something you ate glad to come home froin work Music isan important medium for the communication ofthis ideological ‘message, and its influence extends much further than our analysis of teeny bop has so far made clear. The BBC's daytime music shows on Radio 1 sed 2, for example, are aimed primarily at housewives; cheir emphasis is consequently on mainstream pop, romantic ballads, and 2 lightweight bouncy beat. On these shows there is litle new wave music, few of the progressive, heavy, punk, or reggae sounds which creep into the playlists ‘once the kids, che srudents, che male workers, ae thought to be back from School and class and job. The BBC's musically interesting progeans are broadcast ae aight and the weekend, when mea caa listen, and this pro- ‘gramming policy is shared by commercial stations, The recurtene phrase in radio producers’ meetings cemains: “We can’t really play that to house. Music has a function for women at work t00, a8 Lindsay Cooper has poinced out.‘ Many employers provide piped music or Radio 1 for theit female employees—indeed, piped music in a faccory is a good indicator of 1 female workforce—and the service industries in which women work (of fices, shops) also tend to have pop as « permanent backdrop. Music, like clean and pretey industrial design, is thought to gofteo the workplace, mak: ing it homey and personal, increasing female productivity and lessening female job dissatisfaction. Pop’s romantic connotations are not oaly im Porcant for socializing teenagers, chey also function to bring the sphete of the personal, the home, into the sphere of the impersonal, the factory Music feuuiaices the workplace: ir provides women workers with aesthetic: symbols of their domestic identity: ic helps chem discount the significance Of the boring and futile casks on which they're actually engaged. If talk, gossip, passing round photos, and displaying engagement rings indirectly help women overcome the ‘ediumn of eheit work, then the pop music sup- plied by management is a direct arcempt to foster a feminine culeure, in order to deflect women from mote threatening collective activites as work cers, Women’s music at work, as much as gies’ music at home, symabolizes the world chat is “oarurally” thexs—the world of che emotions, of caring, feeling, loving, and sactificing. ‘There's a fearure on Simon Bates's morning Radio 1 show in which360 4 ON RECORD listeners send in the stories they attach to pacticular records. Records are used as aural fashbacks, and they almost always remind Bates’s listening ‘women of one of the following moments: > when we frst met » a holiday romance I'l never forget » when we broke up » shea I told him I was pregnant > when we goc together again > when he firs kissed me / proposed / asked me out ‘This request spor illustrates with cemarkable clarity how closely music is inked wieh women’s emotional lives and how important music isin giving sexual emotions theit romantic gloss. The ceenybop mode of musical sp- propriation has a general resonance for the ideology of femininity and domesticity ‘A similac argumene could be made with reference to cock rock and male sexuality, showing how the values ead emotions that are taken to be “nat- turally” male are articulated in all male-aimed pop music. But music is, in imporeant respects, less important for male than for female sexual ideology. “"Maleness” gecs much of its essential expression in work, both manual and ‘incelleceual; it isn't, as “femaleness" is for women, confined to the aesthetic «emotional sphere. Boys can express their sexuality more directly than girls; they are alowed to display physical as well as spiritual desire, to get carried nay. The excitement of cock rock is suggestive not of the home and privacy bar rather of the boozy togetherness of the boys who ate, in Thin Lizey's classic song, “back in town.” OF course male sex is no more “naturally” wild and unconerollable than feminine sexuality is passive, meek, and sensitive. Both are ideological constructs, but there is a crucial difference in the way the ideologies and the musics work. Cock rock allows for direct physical and psychological expressions of sexuality: pop in contact ie ahout romance, abot female crushes and emotional affairs. Pop songs aimed at che female audience deny or repress sexuality. Their accounts of relationships echo the comic strips in girls’ comics, the short stories in women’s magazines. The standaed plots in all chese forms are the same: the “ordinacy" boy who turns out to be the special man, the wolf who must be physically resisted to be spiritually tamed, and s0 on. Tcologies of love are multimedia products, and teenage gicls have little choice but co interpret theie sexual feelings in terms of romance— few alternative readings ace available ‘This remains true even though we recognize that pop music is not ex- petienced as an ideological imposition. Music is used by young people for MUSIC AND SEXUALITY & 301 «heir own expressive purposes, and girls, for example, use pop as a weapon against parents, schools, and other authorities, At school they cover their books with pop pinups, carve cheir idols’ names on their desks, sis out to listen to cassetees or radios ia the coilets. In the youth club, music is ‘means of distancing girls from official club activites. They use it to detach themselves from their club iesders’ attempts to make them pasticipate in “constructive” pursuics. The gels sit round their record playees and radios, at home and school and youtk club, and-become unapproachable in their involvement with theie music Music also gives girls the chance co express a collective ideatiey, to £0 ‘out en mars (0 take pact in activities unacceptable in other spheres. Unlike their brothers, gris have little chance to travel about together; as groups of girs they don’t go to football matches, celax in pubs, get publicly drunk. Teenage gils' lives are usually confined to the locality of theic homes; they have less money than boys, fess free time, less independence of parental ontrol. A live pop concert is, then, a landmark among their leisure activities ‘The Bay City Rollers’ shows, far instance, used to give giels a race oppor. tunicy to dress up in a noisy uniform, ro enjoy their own version of foothull hooligan aggression ‘These moments of ceenybop solidarie are a sharp and! necessary contrast to the usual use of pop records in bedeoom culrute: as the music to which siels wash theic hai, practice mskeup, and daydream; and asthe background music of domestic tasis (babysitting, housework) which girls unlike boys are already expected co do, Bur che ritual "zesistance” involved in ehese uses of music is nor ideological. Rather, girs’ use of teenybop music for ‘heir own purposes conlitms the musical ideology of femininity. The vision 0f freedom on which these girls are drawing is a vision of the freedom t0 be individual wives, mothers, lovers, of the freedom to be glamorous, de sicable male sex objects. For the conteadictions involved in popular musics sexuality we have to looks elsewhere, to the cock rock side of our ideal type Jistinction, 0 rock's ideological break with pop, to its qualities as beat Imusic, its functions for dance. ROCK CONTRADICTIONS ‘The audience for rock isn’ only boys. Ifthe music tends to treat women as objects, ie does, unlike teenybop comance, also acknowledge in its diece hysicality thar women have sexual urges of their own, In ateacking or ignoring conventious of sexual decency, obligation, and security, cock rock- crs do, in some respects, challenge the ways in which those conventions are limitiog—10 women as well armen, Wemen can concrast rock expression. 0 the respectable images they are offered elsewhere—hence the feminist382 4 ON RECORD importance of the few female rock stacs, such as Janis Joplin, hence the ‘moeal panies about rock's corrupting effects. The rock ideology of freedom from domesticity has an obvious imporcance for girls, even if ie embodies an alternative mode of sexusl expression. There are ambiguities in rock's insistene presentation of men as sex objects. These presentations are unusually direct—ae other entertainers flaune thoir sexuality at an audience as obviously as rock performers. “Is ‘here anybody here with any Irish in them?” Phil Lyoott of Thia Lizzy asks in passing o the Live and Dangerous LP, “Is there any of the gitls who ‘would like a lide more Irish in them: Sexual groupies are a more common feature of stars lives in cock than in other forms of entertainment, and cock rock often implies female sexual ‘gression, intimates that women can be ruthless in the pursuit of their sex ‘objects. Numerous cock rock songs—the Stones’ for example—express a deep fear of women, and in some cases, like chat of the Stranglers, this fear seems pathological, which cellects the fact thet the macho stance of cock rockers is as much a fineasy for men as teeaybop romance is for women. Rock may be source and setting for collective forms of male toughness, roughness and noisiness, but when it comes ro the individual problems of handling a sexual relationship, the Robert Plant figure is a mythical and unsettling model (in the old dance hall days, jealous provincial boys used to wait ourside the dressing room co beat up the visiting stars who had auracred theit women). Cock rock presents an ideal world of sex without physical oF emotional dificuties, in which all mea are attractive and potent and have endless opportunities to prove it. However powerfully expressed this remains an ideal, ideological world, and the alternative teenybop mode ‘of masculine vulnerability is, consequently, a complementary source of clues as to how sexuality should be articulated, The imagery of the cheated, ‘unhappy man is central to sophisticated adult-oriented rock, and if the immediace object of such performers is female sympathy, girls aren't their only listeners. Even the most macho cockers have in their repertoices some suitably soppy songs with which co celebrate true (lustless) lovelisten t© the Stones’ “Angie” for an example. Rock, in other wordo, carries messages of male selfdoube and self-pity o accompany its hints of female confidence and aggression, Some of the most interesting rock performers have deliberately used the ‘resulting sexual ambiguities and ironies, We can find in rock the image of the pathetic stud or the salacious boy next door, of, as in Lesley Gore's “You Don’t Own Me,” the feminist teenybopper. We can point too at the ambivalent sexuality of David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Bryan Feeey, at the ‘camp teenybop styles of Gary Glitter and Suzi Quatro, at the disconcertingly “macho” performances of « female group like the Runaways, These refet~ ences to the uses made of rock conveations by individual performers lead MUSIC AND SEXUALITY 4 3e3 1s 10 the question of form: How are the conventions of sexuality we've been discussing embodied in rock? ‘This is @ complex question, and all we can do here is poinc to some of the work thae needs ro be done before we can answer it adequately. Fist, then, we need to look at the distor) of rock. We need to investigate how rock ‘a roll originally affected youthful presentations of sexuality and how these prescncacions have changed in rock's subsequent development Most rock analysts look ac the emergence of rock 'n’ coll as the only event needing explanation; rock '’ rolls subsequent corruption and “emas- culation” (note the word) are understood as a steaigheforward effect of che rock business's attempt (0 conerol its market or as an aspect of American ‘nscicucional racism—and so Pat Boone got co make money out oF his insipid versions of black tracks. Bur, from our perspective, the process of “de. cline"—the successful creation of teeaybop idols like Fabian, the sales shife from crude dance music ro well-crafied romantic ballads, the late fifties popularity of sweet black music and gie! groups like the Shicelles—must be analyzed in equal detail. The decline of rock a" coll rested on a process of "feminization, ‘The most interesting sexual aspece of the emergence of British beat in the mid-sixties was its blurcine of che by then conventional teenage dis- sinction becween girs’ music—soft ballads—and boys’ music—haed line rock ‘a roll. There was still acontras: between, say, che Beatles and the Stones— the one a girls’ band, che other a boys’ band—buc it was a contrast not easily maintained. The British sound in general, che Beatles in particulat, fused a rough R&B beat with yearnieg vocal harmonies detived from black and hive romantic pop; the resulting music aciculated simuleaneously the con ventions of feminine and masculine sexuality, and the Beatles’ own image wwas ambiguous, neither boys-together agaression noc boy-next-door pathos. This ambiguity was symbolized in Leanon and McCartney's unusual use of the third person: "I saw ber standing there,” “She loves yew,” In performance, the Beatles did not make an issue of their own sexual stars; they did not, despite the screaming uirl, crea the audience as theit sexual object. ‘The mods from this period tumed out to be the most intecesting of Britain's poscwar youth groups, offering girls a more visible, active, and collective role (particularly on the dance floor) chan had previous or sub- sequent groups and allowing boys the vanicy, the peculance, ehe soft sharp- ness that arc usually regarded assissy. Given ths, the most important thing about late sixties rock was not its well-discussed, counterculeural origi but the way in which it was consolidated as ehe central form of mass youth ‘music in its cock rock form, as a male form of expression. The "progressive" snusie of which everyone expected so much in 1967-58 became, in irs popular form, the heavy metal macho style of Led Zeppelin, on the one hand, and the cechnically facile hi-A formula of Yes, on the other. If the354 4 ON RECORD commescialization of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s was # process of “femini- zation,” the commercialization of rock in che 1960s was process of “amasculinization.” In che seventies, rock's sexual momencs have been more particular in their effects but no less dificule to account for. Where did glam and glitter rock come from? Why did youth music suddenly become a means for the expression of sexual ambiguity? Rock was used this way not only by ob- viously arty performers like Lou Reed and David Bowie, but also by mai stceam teenybop packages like the Sweet and by mainstream rockers like Rod Scewart, The most recent issue for debate has bees punk’s sexual meaning, Punk involved an attack on both romantic and permissive conventions, In theie refusal ro let their sexuality be constracted as a commodity some punks weat as far as co deny cheit sexuality any significance at all. "My love lies limp,” boasted Mark Perry of Alternative TV. “What is sex anyway?” asked Jokany Rosten, “Just thirty seconds of squelching noises.” Punk was the firs form of rock not to rest om love songs, and one of its effects has been to allow female voices to be heard that are not often allowed expression fon record, stage, or radio—shril, assertive, impure individual voices, the sounds of singers like Poly Styrene, Siouxsie, Fay Fife of the Rezillos, Pauline of Penetration; punk’s female musicians have a strident insistency that is far removed from the appeal of most postwar glamour gicls. The historical problem is to explain their commercial success, to account for the punks’ interruption of the longstanding rock equation of sex and pleasure ‘These questions can only be answered by placing rock in its cultural and ideological concexc as a form of entertainment, but a second major task for rock analysts is to study the sexual language of ies musical roots—rhytha and biues, soul, country, folk, and so on. The difficulty is to work out the relationship of form and content. Compare, for example, Bob Dylan's and Bob Marley's use of supporting women singers. Dylan is a sophisticated rock star, the most significant voice of the musi¢’s cultural claims, including its claims co be sexually Uberacing. His most recent Iytcs, atleast, reflect a critical self-understanding that isn’t obviously sexist. Bue musically and visually his backup trio are used only as a source of glamour, their traditional pop use. Marley is an orthodox Rastafarian, subscribes to a belief, aa in- stitution, a way of life in which women have as subordinate a place as in any other sexually repressive religion. And yet Marley's I-Threes sing and present themselves with grace and dignity, with independence and power. In general, it seems that soul and country musics, blatanty sexist in their organization and presentation, in the themes and concerns of theit lyrics, allow their female performers an autonomous musical power tha is rarely achieved by women in rock, ‘We have already mentioned the paradoxes in a comparison of Tammy Wynetie’s “Stand By Your Man” and Helen Reddy's “T Am Women." The lyrics of "Stand By Your Man" celebrate women’s duty to men, implore ‘women (0 enjoy subordinaring themselves to men's needs—Iyrically the songiis aballad of sexual submissiveness. But the female authority of Tammy Wynette's voice involves a knowledge of che world that is in clear contrast to the gooey idealism of Helen Reddy's sound, “Someries i’ hard to be 4 woman,” Tammy Wyaccee begins, and you can hear that it's hard and you can bear that Tammy Wynette knows why-—her voice is a collective one. “I am woman,” sings Helen Reddy, and what you heat isthe voice of an idealized consumer, even if the commodity for consumption in this instance is a package version of womes's liberation. This comparison raises the difficult issue of musical realism. Ie has long been commonplace to contrast folk and pop music by reference to helt treatments of “realiey.” Pop music is, in Hayakawa's famous formula, a imazter of “idealization/trustration/demoralization”, a folk form like the blues, in contrast, deals with “the facts of life."* Hayakawa’s argument rested ‘on analysis of lyrics, but the same point is often made in wnsical ectas— it is a rock-cririeal cliché, for example, co compare the “earthy” instrumen- ‘ation of rhythm and blues with the “bland” seeing arrangements of Tin Pac, Alley pop. A. 1. Lloyd rests his assessment of the importance of folk music (contrasted with the “insubstantial world of the moceen commercial hie”) con its truth t0 the experience of its creators. If folk. songs contain “the longing for a better lite,” their essence is still consolation, not escapism: Generally the folk youg makers chose ro express thee longing by esasposing se world on to an imaginative plane, noe tying o excape from it, but colouring with faneasy,surning bier, even bevtal facts of life ino somethicg bestia tragic, honourable, so that when singer and Tistenerstecutn to realty atthe end cof the song, che environment is noe changed but chey ae beter fted to prapple wish fue Consolation derived noe just rom folk songs’ lytical and aesthetic effects, butalso from the collective basis of theie creation and performance: women's songs, for example, became a means of sharing the common experience of sexual dependence and becrayal. This argument can be applied co the re- alistic elements of a commercial counery performance like Tammy Wy- nette's, But the problem remains: 1s musical realism simply a macter of ‘accurate description and consequent acceptance of “the way things are,” oe «an i involve the analysis of appegrances, a challenge to “kiven” social forms? In analyzing the sexual effects of rock, a further distinction aeeds to be made between rock realism—the use of music to express the experience of “real” sexual sicustions—and rock navaralisin—the use of music: express “natural” sexuality. An importane aspect of rock ideology is the argument386 4 ON RECORD that sexuality is asocial, thar music is « means of spontaneous physical expression which is beset on all sides by the social forces of sexual repres- sion, Rhythm, for example, the defining element of rock asa musical genre, is taken ro be nacurally semual. Whar chis means is unclear. What would be che sexual message of a cock tock dancing classic like "Honky Tonk Women” if ts lyrics were temoved? Rock's bard beat may not, in itseli, speak in cerms of male domination, power, or aggression, but the question is whether ic says anyching, ia itself, Rock critics describe beat as “earthy” ar “bouncy” or “sensual” oF “crude,” and 30 reach for the sozts of distinctions we need to make, bu such de- scriptive terms reflect the face thae rhychaaic meaning comes from a rausieal and ideological context. ‘We can best illustrate the complexities of musical sexuality with another ‘comparison—between Kate Bush's “Feel Ie" and Mille Jackson’s""He Wants to Hear the Words.” Kate Bush is the English singer/soagwriter who became famous with “Wuthering Heights.” “Feel Ie" a teack on her debut albu, ‘The Kick Tside, and is, lyically, a celebration of sexual pleasure: After the party, you rook me back co your pariour A lite nervous laughter, locking the door [My stockings fl on the Boor, slesperate for more Nobody else cin share ths Here comes oe and one makes one “The glorious uoion, wel, i could be love, Orie could be juse lust but i wil be fen Ik willbe wonderful, But, musically, the track draws on conventions that are associated noe with physical enjoyment bur with romantic self-pity. Kate Bush performs the song alone st her piano. She uses the voice of a lice gic] and sounds «00 young to have had any sexual experience—the effect is intially titllating; her experience is being described for our sexual interest. But both her vocal and her piano lines ace disrupted, swooping, unsteady; the song does aoe hhave a regular metodic or ehythenic sreactuse, even i the chorus, wih ies lyrical invocation of sexual urgency. Kate Bush sings the Iytics with an unsettling stress—the words that are emphasized are “nervous,” “desper- ate,” “nobody else." The effect of the performance is to make listeners voyeurs, but what we are led 10 coasider is not a pair of lovers but en adolescent sexual fantasy. The music conteadiets the enjoyment that the lyrics assert. Kate Bush's aesthetic intentions are denied by the musical conventions she uses Millie Jackson is a black American musician who hes made a career out of the celebration of adule sexual pleasuce. Her petformances are put to- ether around long tisqué caps and her stance, in che words of Spare Ri, MUSIC AND SEXUALITY & 367 is somewhere between Wages or Housework and Cormopolitan. “He Wants to Hear che Words” is a routine soag on Millie Jackson's LP Get It Ouscho Syitem, She sings the song to 1 new lover; “he” is the man she lives with ‘He wants co hear the words, needs ta know tha ie’ for ral He wants to hear me sy the {love hist in every wey, ‘Though he knows he's gota hold oo me and wil say How can I cell his whit I tolé you lst night? ‘The song has a pretty tune, a gentle beat, and a delicate string arrange- ‘ment. It has the conventional sound of aa unhappy romantic ballad. But the passivity of this form is contradicted by the self-conscious irony of Millie Jackson's own performance. She gives the corny situation an interest that js noc inherent in the song itself. She uses gospel conventions to express direct emotion, she uses het own customary mocking tone of voice to impl sexual need, and che effect is nor to make the song's situation seem “tes (che uscal way in which great soul singers are said to transcend banal musica! snaterial) ut to reverse its meaning, Millie Jackson is <0 obviously in control Of her torn-berween-two-lovers life that it is the man she lives with who becomes the figure of pachos—so desperate for deception, so easy to de. ceive. Millie Jackson's conrerpe for her man’s dependence on comance becomes, implicitly, a contempt for che song itself, and its own expression of romantic ideology. I is impossible o listen to her performance without bearing it as a “performance.” Millie Jackson contradicts the sexual meaning of the song’s musical form in her very use of it SEXUAL EXPRESSION / SEXUAL CONTROL ‘The recurrent theme of this essay has been that music is a means of sexual expression and as such is important as a mode of sexual control. ‘Both in its presentation and in its use, rock has conficmed traditional def. initions of what constitutes masculinity and femininity, and reinforces their eapression in leisure pursuits. the dominant mode of conttol in popular music (the mode which is cleerly embodied in teenybop culture) is the ideology of romance, which is itself the icing on the harsh ideology of domesticity. Romance is the central value of show biz and light entertain ‘ment, and in as far as pop musicians reach theie public through radio, television, and the press, they express taditional show-biz notions of glam. our, femininity, and so forth. These media are crucial for establishing the appeal of certain types of pop star (Tom Jones, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Elon Joba, etc.), and they ace particularly significant in determining the career Possibilities of female musicians, as discusted enelier in this essay Je wns against ehis bland show business backyround chat rock was, anc388 4 ON RECORD is, experienced as sexually startling. Rack, tince its origins in rock ‘a’ roll has given youth « more blarant means of sexual expression chan is available elsewhere in the mass media and has therefore posed much more diffcule problems of sexual control. Rock's rhythmic insistence can be heard as a sexual insistence, and girls have always been thought by mass moralists 0 be especially ar risk; the music so obviously denies the concept of feminine fespectability, In short, the ideology of youth developed ia the 1960s by rock (among other media) hat! as its sexual component the assumption that a satisfying sexual relationship meant “spontaneity,” “free expression,” aad the “equality of pleasure”; sex in many ways came to be thought of as se ‘experienced outside the restrictive sphere of maztiage, with all its notions of tru love and eternal monogamy. The poine is, however, thar this was a ‘mate-defined principle and at worst simply meane a greater emphasis on ‘male sexual freedom, Rock never was about unrestricted, unconfined sex: ualiey. Ies expression may not have been controlled theough che domestic ideology basic to pop as entertainment, but it has had its own mode of ‘control, « mode which is clearly embodied in cock rock and which can be «elated to the general ideology of permissiveness that emerged inthe sixties: ‘he “liberated” eiphasis on everyone's right £0 sexual choice, opportunity, and gratification One of the most imporwaat activities to analy2e if we're going to under- stand how sexual ideology works is dancing, The dance floor is the most public setting for music as sexual expression, and it isthe place where pop ‘and rock conventions overlap; for teenybop girls music is for dancing, and rock, £09, forall its delusions of male grandeur, is still essentially a dance form. Gitls have always locked to dance halls, and their reasons haven't just been to find « husband; dance is the one leituce activity in which girls and young women play a dominant role, Dancing for them is creative and physically satisfying. But more than this, dancing i also a socially sanctioned sexual ativiey—at least it becomes so when che boys, confident with booze, leave the bar aad the corners to look for a partaer from the mass of dancing Bile ‘One function of dance as eatestsinment, fram Salome to Pan's People, has been to arouse men with female display, but this is aot a function of ‘most contemporary youth dancing—it remains an aspect of gils' own plea- sure, even in the cattle-market context of a provincial dance hall. The gicls are still concerned with atiracting the lurking boys, bur through their clothes, makeup, and appearance—nor through their dancing, Thisis equally true of boys’ dances—their energy and agility are oot being displayed £0 raw gies! aeeeotion; the most dedicated young dancers in Britain, the Northern soul fans, ate completely self absarbed. ‘The concept of narcissism, like that of realism, eaises more dificult ques: tions than we can answer here, but we do need to make one concluding MUSIC AND SEXUALITY & 383 point: cock’s sexual effect is nor just on the construction of femininity aad ‘masculinity. Rock also contributes to the more diffuse process of the sex- ualization of leisure ‘The capitalist mode of production rests on a double distinction: between work and pleasure, between work aad home. The alienation of the worker from the means of production means thatthe satisfaction of her or bis nceds becomes focused on leisure, on the one hand, and family on che other. Under capitalism, sexual expression is consticuted a8 an individual leisure ‘need—compare precapitalise nodes of production, in which sexual expres sion is an aspect of a collective relationship with nature. This has numerous consequences—the exchange of sex as a commodity, the exchange of com- moditics as sex—snd means that we have co refer mass eacercainmeat (Alms 1s well as music) 10 a theory of leisure as weil as to a theory of ideology. In writing this paper we have been conscious of our lack of an adequate theory of leisure. Underiying our analysis of rock and sexuality have been some nagging questions, Whar would nonsexist music sound like? Can rock be nonsexist? How can we counter rock's dominant sexusl messages? These issues aren't purely ideological, matters of cock criticism. The sexual mean- ing of rock can’t be read off iadependendly of the sexual meaning of rock consumption, and the sexual meaning of cock consumption derives from the capitalist organization of production. In this essay we have described the ways in which rock consciures sexuality for its listeners. Our lase poine is that sexuality is constituted in the very act of consumption, NOTES "Shela Rowbothan, Von's Conuciaoner, Mans World (Laedon: Penis, 1973) gp. Wi * +1967 issue of Pasinst magazine vents fr 48 sre Bt 9 stop buying records and Send the rooney sey saved on closes, bolts a! mukeup, “Borrow tcot rom yeu Bovine iment” the masaine suggested, » Soe Shaepe, uc ity 4 Gil howto Penguin, 1976) ‘Lnige Cooner, Women, Masts Pain Al {crn 1927) > SIN Tlayakema:“Popelar Song vx: she Fess of Lif" tn B, Rosenberg sad D. M. White (eles, Maar Calpe (New York: Fee Press 1987) SAL ove, Fal Sing iv Basland (Leon Psi, 1973), p¥