August 12th, 2008

Cinderella’s Big Score – Women of the Punk and Indie Underground – Maria Raha

Posted in bücher by Dolf

Seal Press, 1700 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710 Usa, www.sealpress.com

CinderellasBigScore

This book was already published in 2004 and took some time to make it in here, nevertheless it is as good now as it was when it was first published. While the subtitel clearly indicates what the book is about, lets go a bit more in detail. There are 5 Parts: 1. America in the 1970s; 2. Britain in the 1970s; 3. The 1980s; 4.The 1990s and The late 1990-Early 2000s. Each part starts with a introduction by the author Maria Raha where she is summing up the ongoings in those different periods in the world of women in those times.

I liked the writing better of the times when she was part of the movement, rather than just „collecting history“ from the available sources – but that is almost natural. Anyway, followed are mostly rather short then long storys about the various female bands or female artists. Those text are a wild mixture of bio’s, excerpts from Interviews- of which some have been done by the author herself – storys, historical facts, quotes – it is all there. Mostly very interesting, almost all the time depending on the band/artist.

And she covers a lot, I list them here so you get an idea how comprehensive this tribute to the women of the underground music scene is. Patti Smith, The Runaways, Tina Weymouth, Lorna Doom and Nicole Panter, Debbie Harry, Exene Cervenka, Penelope Houston, Poison Ivy, Siouxie Sioux, The Slits, Lora Logig and Poly Styrene, Joy de Vivre and Eve Libertine, The Raincoats, Lydia Lunch, Wendy O. Williams, Kim Gordon, Kim Warnick and Lulu Gargiulo, Kim Deal, Mia Zapata, Jenny Toomey, Hole, L7 Tribe 8, Lunachicks, PJ Harvey, Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Team Dresch, Sleater Kinney, The Butchies, Le Tigre, Peaches, The Gossip, Erase Erata. See what I mean! So if you are interested in the subject, this is the right book.

I have to admit I personally had more reading pleasure once Raha arrived in the 90s, since those are bands I can relate to or saw live. But that impression might differ from reader to reader. It is well written, your english should be above basic school english. The book has almost 350 pages and sometimes it is not easy to get thru, because of the sheer volume. For the most part it is well researched, interesting writing from a person who knows what she is talking about.

Since this is a book from a women about women for (not only)women, I’m not surprised to hardly find any critical comments on the musicians or some of their doing, which is not a problem, since the book is about to celebrate women in underground music! The Appendix features some amazing laborious task with discographies of all the featured artists/bands, notes, bibliography and a detailed index. I should also mention there is a long indtroduction from her in the beginning as well as more than 40 b/w photos (those should have been placed with the storys, but come in bulk..) And yes, the titel of the book recalls a Sonic Youth song of the same name. Paperback. 17,95 $ (dolf)

Isbn 1-58005-116-2

[Trust # 134 Februar 2009]

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