First things first, I suppose is always the appropriate way to start these things off. Being female in any walk of life is a distinct disadvantage excluding one but I'm not gonna get into that here as it has nothing to do with music. When it comes to rock 'n' roll, in the words of Brando's Terry Malloy it's "A one way ticket to Palookaville".  

Let's face it man Johnny Borell will always get far more column inches than Kate Bush. This is a world gone topsy turvy. Obviously it's not cool to single out and yes I have done just that but sometimes in the sheer face of absolute injustice you blindside principles that just gotta be blindsdided. The views that follow are a mixture of my own personal feelings(formed over a lifetime of seeking out the best music I can find via print, albums and radio) and what I have personally experienced from my relatively short time being in a "Band".

It appears to me that men(Let's stick to those involved directly with the world of rock 'n' roll) have a very definite problem with women who are in control and know exactly what it is they are looking for. Women who are not afraid to do what it takes to try and find it. In simple direct terms: They don't like taking orders from women.  They can't even stand hearing ideas from a woman.  Especially when those idea's are raw fresh and brilliant.  Strange.  Recently I watched a Neil Young documentary where in candid interviews he spoke of how only the music was important and that whatever he has done to people has never been personal it has only been for the sake of the music being as pure as it can possibly be.  I feel this level of honesty and the pursuit of musical purity is to be commended but is certainly a luxury afforded only to men. 

The reasons for all of this in my mind are manyfold. Any strong minded woman is automatically put in whatever negative category is felt to be satisfactory within the context of whatever male small minded trip is being laid down.  The manics via Valerie Solanos had their own view of why women are demonised for being the misunderstood visionary creative mavericks they so often are.  There are all sorts of psychoanalytical avenues we could go down here but I think that's for another day. 

Men have always and will always have to learn from women how to be complete emotional beings if that's a destination they wish to arrive at.  Simply because, and let's be absolutely frank here...  An emotionally healthy open minded woman is a far more rounded creature than an emotionally healthy open minded man.  We have both male and female tendencies in all of us irrespective of our gender and who knows what our final destination will be on this journey of consciousness. 

Perhaps being human is a grain of sand in the total number of physical forms the soul will pass through on our way to wherever it is we're headed but I'm a gonna lay my cards on the table right now.  Let's all move forward, men and women alike lay down our gender prejudices and make the best records we can possibly make, play the best shows we can with the best people in charge.  The world of superficially beautiful beings has always and will always be a reality in the entertainment world no matter what music you make but the level of hysteria currently enveloping all sections of media when it comes to beauty over talent has got to be addressed.  Beauty has no relation whatsoever to how talented an individual actually is.  Don't fight the feeling. Say what you gotta say.  Finally is it just me or are the girls who do "Make it" in the world of honest pure music just so FUCKING quirky, exciting and inspiring?  (examples to follow) Kate Bush, Bjork, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Mama Cass, Janis Joplin, Francois Hardy, Edith Piaf, Nico, Yoko Ono, Syd Lane, Karen O.  Power to the peaceful.