Between the Covers-Angry Chick Rock

Jenn Cohen | March 1, 2013 | 0 Comments

by Torch

I am sitting at the Grammys and when they went to commercial the audience watched highlights of past shows. I was watching Melissa Etheridge just nail a tribute to Janis Joplin, and I hear a guy behind me say how he likes when she sings stuff like that but hates it when she sings that “Angry Chick Rock.” Wow, smack!

There it was, so suddenly clear to me, why I like what was deemed “Angry Chick Rock”. I am too damn polite! I grew up not expressing anger; in my family if something was wrong, we talked about it. I was raised in a family and society where we were really focused on not hurting other people’s feelings. It was a time of embracing diversity, like Kermit said, “It’s not easy being green.” What I didn’t learn was, when it was okay to get mad and how to do it. I’ve tried yelling twice in my life and both times it felt stupid.

I love music, and sometimes someone’s lyrics say exactly what I would like to say, for instance during my divorce, writers Glen Ballard and Alanis Morissette penned,

“Does she know how you told me you’d hold me

Until you died, till you died

But you’re still alive

And I’m here to remind you

Of the mess you left when you went away

It’s not fair to deny me

Of the cross I bear that you gave to me

You, you, you oughta know”

Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough” I have sung with great cathartic enthusiasm in my car, while crying in traffic.

“God, I feel like hell tonight

Tears of rage I cannot fight

I’d be the last to help you understand

Are you strong enough to be my man?

Nothing’s true and nothing’s right

So let me be alone tonight

‘Cause you can’t change the way I am

Are you strong enough to be my man?

Lie to me

I promise I’ll believe

Lie to me

But please don’t leave

Don’t leave

Don’t leave”

I give thanks to these women who have the courage to say what falls so silently for so many of us. The issue, however, isn’t gender, as we have all been lied to, had our hearts broken, and we struggle for the simplest ways to express it. Why isn’t it conversely called or thought of as “Angry Dude Rock”? Beck did a brilliant bit with “Loser”

“Baby’s in reno with the vitamin d

Got a couple of couches, sleep on the love-seat

Someone came sayin’ I’m insane to complain

About a shotgun wedding and a stain on my shirt

Don’t believe everything that you breathe

You get a parking violation and a maggot on your sleeve

So shave your face with some mace in the dark

Savin’ all your food stamps and burnin’ down the trailer park

Yo. cut it.

Soy un perdedor

I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?”

I raise a flag to the writers who stand strong, to the songs that empower us when we need it most. When asked what songs really

struck a chord with you in times of joy or sorrow, most everyone has a list, and usually a specific line that tells a part of their life

story. It doesn’t matter the gender of the singer songwriter but truth in what was said.

The irony here was that Etheridge was singing “Piece of My Heart,” hmm, wouldn’t that qualify as “Angry Chick Rock”? (Thank you Jerry and Burt for writing it!)

Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on!

Didn’t I make you feel like you were the only man -yeah!

Didn’t I give you nearly everything that a woman possibly can ?

Honey, you know I did!

And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I’ve had enough,

But I’m gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough.

I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it,

Take it!

Take another little piece of my heart now, baby!

Oh, oh, break it!

Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, oh, have a!

Have another little piece of my heart now, baby,

You know you got it if it makes you feel good,

Oh, yes indeed.

“Piece of My Heart” is a romantic love song written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns, and originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. The song came to greater mainstream attention when Big Brother and the Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin on lead vocals) covered the song in 1968 and had a hit with it. The song has since been remade by several singers, including hit versions by Faith Hill in 1994 and Melissa Etheridge in 2005.” Wikipedia