THE PROBLEM WITH 'FEMALE FRONTED BANDS'

I get a lot of requests for a video about "female fronted" metal bands. In this video I explain why "female fronted" is a dumb term that isn't helpful, and why I will never make a video about female fronted bands.
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[lordtrigon]

The "female fronted" tag is there for the consumer, there is an audience who favour the sound of a woman's vocals over a man's and like all labels/genres it's there to help the consumer find what they want. It won't disappear until women fronting bands becomes more of a norm and less of an exception to the point where the listener won't need to hunt for them and the tag becomes redundant - like nobody says "female fronted *Gothic Metal* band" because that's relatively expected. I sincerely hope this happens but at the moment the tag disappearing would just hurt the bands.

[DenyThisFlesh]

I agree with you, Finn. I love Spiritbox, Jinjer, and Arch Enemy. I was initially drawn to them by them having female vocalists, but I stuck with them because the music is good. If the music wasn't good I wouldn't just like them because they had a woman singing/screaming.

[camels]

I would like to see a Riot Girl video. As a woman who has always loved heavy metal and punk I think it is important to share the experiences of women in the scene. I also think a lot of people want to see or know there is a way to be successful despite there being sexism, or what not to do to not succeed. I understand the hesitancy to do a video on female fronted bands, but so often people do just overlook those bands. I would rather see a video with a comprehensive list that highlights what makes these bands unique, besides being female fronted. I did go out of my way this past year to make and listen to a playlist of black rock artists. I'm glad I did because I found so much cool new music to like, and learned more about the scene I grew up with from a different perspective.

[ChadBillAnderson]

I've been in a 'female fronted' band for about the past 7 years and let me tell you, it starts to feel kinda shitty when it seems a ton of people are only into your band because of your singer's gender. Not to take away from how grateful I am for people listening to our music, but it would feel a hell of a lot better to know that folks like us for our music first and foremost. When we briefly had a lineup change and got a male vocalist, the fallout was a lot worse than I had expected.

[BloodwolfMusic]

Long comment, sorry!

Hey Finn! I appreciate this take..When I tell people I make music they automatically assume it is hip-hop and such. Not many expect that it is the 90s-00s sound that it seems to be.

As far as women in music, there is something different they can bring. Not solely because they are female, but their life experiences as a female and individual characteristics show up in their expression of what they do. It is true for guys too. Our biologies, and life experiences, and hormones, and all sorts of little genetics we've recieved and decisions we make play a role of how we express who we are. I just went over genetics stuff in a class and it got me thinking about some stuff.

I have watched there be a distinction in other genres too... I have watched as my mom and my sister would see a female drummer or guitar player or what have you, and would perk up and say get it girl! She is good!" and just encourage her even though she couldn't hear them. There was something about the representation of someone who made it so far and did well in my mom and sister's eyes. (Forced representation is another matter, but we all want heros to look up to. I think it helps keep our dreams alive or reawakens them) It helps when I am teaching someone and can show them someone who they can identify with to show them they can live their dream. From finding someone they can see themselves in, I can show them that they don't need to be a carbon copy of that person, but that they can express their own thoughts and feelings too. They just needed to know they could. It doesn't mean they are always right or will be good at first, but it is baby steps.

When I talk to my cousins about music or to my kids one day, I want to be able to show them SRV AND Yvette Young. Thebandred AND Fireflight. August Burns Red AND Ilya. I want them to know they can enjoy the artist, enjoy the music, and enjoy the journey. That what matters isn't just who sings the words or plays the notes, but what is being said and how it is said.

All that to say, I appreciate your take even though I agree and disagree in parts. You make me think 😄

[mariokarter]

Men in Bands: Drummer, Guitarist, Bassist, Vocalist, you do you fam.
Women in Bands: Get on that f**king mic.

[jbanne]

Othering is something that happens all the time unfortunately. I know you did it for the sake of the subject of the video but you lumped women, trans, and black folks all in the same category. That shows how anyone not usually white and male is othered. Same with gaming and media...white dudes are considered normal and anything deviating from that model is othered and often scoffed at as being some imaginary checkbox marked. I hope one day people will just exist and be allowed to just be. Not everything has to be some agenda. Great video!

[sabraex]

Thank you for talking about this. Very well said and great video. I've always had an issue with this and I'm glad someone's bringing it to light.

[WritheandShineFan]

I agree with you to an extent. If metal was like the pop genre where you had a lot of notable female artist and a lot of male artists, that would be one thing, and I think we all would like to get to the point where we can just say "top 10 best bands" and you'll see a lot of different types of people.
I've been working on a few playlists where the theme highlights a group of people, like "hardcore female singers" and "poc vocalists/musicians in metal" so that I as a black woman have heroes and goals, and every time I see another woman or a POC person in a band, it's a reminder to me that this genre isn't "for guys" or "genre full of white people". Or that "girls can't scream/can't scream low". I think it's fine to highlight women/poc/lgbtq people in bands, but they shouldn't be fetishized, if that makes sense. I love Cerebral Bore because the band slaps (slams), AND the vocalist is a woman and made me go "holy shit I can do that?"

I think the approach could be different, and I wish those "female-fronted" articles took some extra effort to look for other bands with women vocalists in them instead of the constant combo I normally see.

[sluggowonder]

Last couple yrs the bands that have been catching my ear have been all women or women fronted mostly from outside the US. The musicianship has amazed me.

[nolanwilliford]

When I was a teenager, I loved female fronted punk and metal bands because I was a teenager who wanted that kind of girl. These days I don’t think about it at all. I like some bands that have women in them but I often don’t even know if women are in a band because I don’t find out anything about the bands. I just listen.

[RdKronicles]

@finnMckenty I agree with you on 90%+ of this, but what skip over is the foundational reason for why this happens. Some of my view point is admittedly base on an assumption that the majority of men that listen to metal are heterosexual. That said, guys like attractive women. Guys are very visual. When a guy sees an attractive woman, it's the first thing they notice. That is why they comment on females appearances and not guys appearance. If a band has an attractive female frontman and their music is good, they will subconsciously be put into a separate category, because they are attracted to more then the music. It's natural This is no different than why girls like listened to Justin Bieber or any other boy band. I think acknowledging that is key to moving past it. Jinjer, spirit box, and arch enemy. Are awesome band and should be spoken of as such because they are awesome and not because someone think the lead singer is hot.

[dantekazuma]

I agree completely. People should ultimately support a band because they enjoy the music and the musicians themselves, not because of their skin color, gender, etc. We get enough of this division in the world these days, we should try and be different and just judge every band on the same standards regardless of who they are or identify as

[ErikJason_]

It's in the mindset of pretty much anyone to always bring up "female fronted band". Having a female in the band always brings attention and it's a plus if they are easy in the eyes.

Bands that I listen like Paramore or PVRIS, the women are always the ones who get the most attention no matter what. So, technically speaking, it helps for the band to be successful in a way but the "female fronted" thingy will live on for the time being.

[cardellino]

07:09 I disagree. There are a plenty of examples where males are "reduced" to looks. Not in the metal realm of course, metal guys don't care for male's looks except it's Metallica when they cut the hair short. Male "sex symbols" are more likely to find in all other genres... except Metal.
To cut it short, if Metal would be populated by gay/bi guys and women a hell lot more, the male look in metal would be more important and therefore there would be more comments about it.

[martinw]

Totally agree. Metal could use more women in the scene. I also agree with your point about how it segregates them; Spiritbox and Jinjer hold up to any other metal band at the moment and they aren't just good in the subcategory of female fronted bands.

To all the people in the stream chat who were like "what about BET lol", it is very different when a marginalized group sets up their own forum for recognition when they aren't being recognized by the mainstream vs. asking the mainstream not to subcategorize people as essentially outside of the mainstream.

[MofosOfMetal]

I agree ONE HUNDRED PERCENT with the idealism behind this - but from a capitalist perspective, it flies in the face of the fact that there is a marketing utility to the female-fronted tag. People are drawn to their appearance, people are drawn to bands by their association and comparison with other female-fronted bands. Whilst I agree with the message and idealism in this video, it doesn't account for the capitalistic human nature behind the reasons people use the term and apply the category. Also bear in mind the simple fact that the reason more women aren't in bands isn't sexism - it's the fact they aren't into the genres of music in the first place, females are a minority in metal. It's like the race thing - white and male are perceived as the default because they're the majority - this is what we need to turn the tide on. Kudos for the message of the video though - and I hope the music world progresses more in this idealistic utopian direction!

[henning]

So true💯. I also don’t think in these categories. It annoys me when someone says it so weird when women rap for example🤦🏼‍♂️.

[randomalbum]

Even if some men can hit notes as high as females, females still have a different tone to their voice, so yes, it does change the sound, and I think it's fair to make it a genre, or sub category, like "3 piece bands" of "bands with 2 guitarists" "bands with singing drummers" "bands with female singers"

[laurisaarinen]

Great take on this topic.

I used to only listen to male singers. It felt weird to listen to female singers, like i wasn’t supposed to… i’m glad that changed. Now just like race, it doesn’t even occur to my mind often.