What we need is a new canon of pop music

This time in our new MUSIKEXPRESS we provide a list of the 100 most important women in pop. A finely sorted flash mob of inspirational women, a journey through female pop yesterday and today. But before we gradually share our ranking with you online, let’s take a look at the topic of women in pop.

It will soon be March. And March is Women’s Month. But it shouldn’t stay that way. We want to do our part to ensure that all months are women’s months. So that there is no longer a need for such makeshift occasions and there can actually be equality. One way to do this is to make it visible. Our list aims to shine a spotlight on 100 women who have had a huge impact on pop, who pushed it forward and, most importantly, brought it into the world. And by that we don’t just mean classic pop, but also hip hop and rock. Just compare the central dance sequence in the 1957 Elvis film “Jailhouse Rock” with that of the “Rock, Baby, Rock It” released six months earlier – starring Kay Wheeler, later the founder of the world’s first fan club , Elvis. We wish you many eye- and ear-opening moments below!

Pop: a half-told story

We are aware of the danger: the knee-jerk reaction to lists like the following is to accuse them of ghettoization. But nothing could be further from our concern. Because anyone who strives for inclusion must first ensure visibility – or rather: audibility. So spotlight on the musicians, singers, producers and rappers who shaped our pop culture. Present female achievements, celebrate successes and point out historical directions. Ladies first!

There’s a story from Joni Mitchell’s days in Laurel Canyon. In 1968, the still unknown folk musician worked with David Crosby on her first, self-titled album. The two often attended parties together at the houses of friends such as Cass Elliot and screenwriter Carl Gottlieb. Gottlieb later talked about how Crosby always made Mitchell wait in another room until he brought her in later. Mitchell came out, played a few songs and retired. While there were other women at these parties, most of the rising stars who gathered there were men. Some soon became Mitchell’s creative partners, others lovers – Graham Nash, James Taylor, Jackson Browne. They heard something entirely new in Mitchell’s songs: her unique guitar tunings that bent folk music toward jazz; her emotionally astute lyrics.

“After those performances, we looked at each other and said, ‘What was that? Did we imagine it?’” Gottlieb said. Mitchell was an exception. A genius. Three years later, inspired by that time in Laurel Canyon, she would create the masterpiece BLUE. And yet there is something strange about this scene. A bitter aftertaste that is typical of the history of pop music. The musician appears here like a dream image, a surprise, a disruptive factor within the norm. She appears and for a moment she is the center of attention. The room is hers. But the place to which she then returns is the next room. In pop history that means: the edge of events. As a woman, she falls behind her male contemporaries. Is suppressed and covered up by their narratives. Especially looking back. The canon of 1960s folk music is grouped around other figures such as Bob Dylan. Joni Mitchell’s poetry moved the audience just as much as Dylan’s.

Stories like this can be found everywhere in pop music. Despite the crucial role women have played in creating the most innovative and forward-thinking music of the last hundred years, their influence and achievements are undervalued, downplayed or ignored. There are many examples of this: To this day, we tell ourselves stories about the origins of hip hop, especially through key male figures (Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa). However, very few people know the name Sylvia Robinson. Robinson was not only the founder and managing director of the first hip-hop record label Sugar Hill Records, but also produced the first rap record “Rapper’s Delight”. Robinson was instrumental in introducing rap into the global mainstream. A third example is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose influence on the development of rock’n’roll and the young Elvis Presley cannot be overemphasized. In the stories she only ever appears in passing. As a black musician, skin color is a second, overlapping form of discrimination for her – as is often the case in pop history.

Women as a supporting role in pop history?

It’s no secret that the music industry and music historiography is dominated by (white) men. As in other areas of life, female artists have always encountered obstacles on the path to success, recognition and self-realization. Female musicians are held to different standards than their male colleagues. In the history of pop music, they are meant to play supporting roles.

This continues to have an impact today. Even though women have long been the driving force behind the most forward-looking music of the last 20 years: every significant trend, every innovation, new form of self-expression and political discussion is now driven by women. Nevertheless, of all Grammy Awards nominees between 2013 and 2023, just under 14 percent were female. Despite this, women are still significantly underrepresented in the charts (female artists made up just over 22 percent of the US end-year charts from 2012 to 2022). Despite this, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame still hasn’t addressed the problem of significant underrepresentation of women. And yet male artists predominate on best lists – even on those that only focus on the 21st century. No matter which list you look at, there are rarely any female musicians in the top ranks. Of course, the ME also has to take a look at this. So why this big special on the influence of women in pop? That’s why!

We would like to use Women’s Month March to focus on female musicians, songwriters, singers, rappers, producers and their influence on pop music. When we say women, we explicitly mean: all artists who identify as women or non-binary*.

A counterweight

The list we have put together is intended as a counterweight. To all the other lists, articles, books and conversations that focus on the influence of male artists. We know that we cannot easily or quickly correct this age-old sexism, prejudice and inequality. But we want to start with it. Step by step, as Whitney Houston once sang. Above all, we want to provide an impetus for thinking anew about the history of pop music. What if we’ve forgotten half of it so far? The other half needs to be told just like the one we have heard so many times.

The following distinction is particularly important to us as an editorial team and to me personally as a music journalist: Since I started working as a music critic ten years ago, I have often written about women in music. I was often asked to discuss being a woman: as something unusual, as something special, or even as a trend. And I often wished that this wasn’t necessary. That it can just be about the music. I still think it’s important to talk and write about gender – simply because inequality is still so great. But at some point we have to stop writing about women and start writing about what they have achieved – regardless of gender – in pop music.

What I want to say is that our special is not about looking at women in their own category. Gender is not the category, but pop music as a whole. So not a classic “women’s list”. No “alternative” history of pop music. So Aretha Franklin is not the best female voice of the 20th century. She is the best voice. Of course, the content can be argued about. But that’s the height of the fall. Our special is about the enormous influence women have and have had on music and pop culture. About how Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill defined the classic hip-hop sound just as much as Biggie and Tupac. That Patti Smith embodied the attitude of rock perhaps more than any male rocker of the 70s. That Nina Simone perhaps represented the emergence of pop music into the modern era better in the 1960s than the Beatles ever did. That’s why when you talk about the rock renaissance of the 90s, you shouldn’t always just think of Nirvana or Pearl, but also names like Alanis Morissette or PJ Harvey. That the biggest influence on contemporary country isn’t Willie Nelson, but Shania Twain. Because Jay-Z wouldn’t have had such a great career without Beyoncé. And so much more.

What we need is a new canon of pop music. One that tells the history of pop music through the many influential female musicians. Our leaderboard should be an inspiration for this new story. A bridge into the future in which male, female and non-binary artists naturally stand side by side. A future without discrimination, in which we no longer have to have strenuous and frustrating debates like today and something like gender as a category is no longer important. And great music, just great music. Maybe we’ll start with that future here.

+++ Our current issue will be in stores from February 9th. There is the complete list of the 100 most important women in pop. +++