“When we get here we’re like ‘there’s no community,’ but what we realized was that it’s upon us to make the community.” (Maylei Blackwell, WWR Oral History Archive) I chose this quote from Blackwell because I feel it encompasses a theme of feminine self-empowerment which connects back to our readings from Tuesday. This week we have been focused on highlighting the forgotten histories of women in rock. Thursday’s assigned material focused on the collaborative work that female scholars and musicians have put together to make a collective history of women in rock. Mahon’s essay on “Big Mama” Thornton provides us with one of the earliest examples of feminine self-empowerment when she talks about the relationship between Thornton and rock icon Janis Joplin. Unlike Elvis Presley, who made millions off of Thornton’s song “Hound Dog” but made no attempt to attribute or play alongside Thornton, Joplin paid tribute to Thornton by having them perform together in concerts. It is unclear whether Joplin was interested in female self-empowerment, but at the time there was not a space for such notions. “Joplin invited Thornton to open for her on a couple of dates, something Presley never did. Both Joplin and Presley recorded songs originated by Thornton, but only Joplin shared the success. Consequently, Thornton spoke highly of Joplin, who had asked if she could record Thornton’s song and who publicly acknowledged her.” (Mahon, pg. 14) Thornton and Joplin’s collective work helped pave the way for other female musicians and scholars to continue making music history.

DJ Selections:


Joe Cocker, With a little help from my friends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa-28dotvOg

The Rolling Stones, Gimme Shelter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINqh-LMQX0

-These songs were showcased on the movie, Twenty Feet from Stardom. In terms of the collective history of rock and roll, the backup singers who sang with the British Invasion were monumental in the Blues revival of the 60s. There would be no booming soul in rock and roll without these women. Yet they hardly received credit for their work.

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