Female Fronted Metal: A Term of Empowerment or A Term for Selling Your Band?

Female Fronted Metal.  What is the first thing you think of when you hear this term?  You probably think right off of the bat of a picture of a hot chick wearing next to nothing with a bunch of frumpy looking dudes standing far to the back, faces covered up or maybe even out of focus?  Maybe you think of a picture of just the hot female singer with no guys at all.  Or do you think of a woman as an equal member of the band not using her sexuality or body to sell an image to cover up for an extreme lack of talent?  You may even think of all of the above because I sure as hell do and I do so only because I’m human.  I also do so because as a fan of metal music, these are the images that I have been shown when it comes to Female Fronted Metal bands.

The reason this editorial even comes up is because of a recent Facebook post by one of my friends and lead singer for DC based metal titans A Sound of Thunder Nina Osegueda.  Here’s what her post stated:

Interesting conversation on Reddit.

‘Don’t advertise yourself as female-fronted. When I hear “female fronted” I think of a band that has a woman as a star member, with the rest of the band merely being a conduit for her art.’

This seems like a popular opinion. Dudes don’t want us to stand out as females. It’s almost they want to “keep us in our place”….

Reading this comment truly made me think about this as I have heard both sides of this

argument.  I’ve heard some women say that they feel that the term “female fronted metal” puts more emphasis on the fact that there’s a woman in the band as opposed to letting the band’s talent and music do the talking.  In other cases, some feel that it is an empowering term.  I’m sure many women would say that it’s easier said for me because I’m a guy but in my honest opinion, I feel that the term “female fronted metal” just kind of cheapens the quality of your art.  I mean, when I buy a book, whether it’s written by a woman or a man doesn’t’ matter one bit to me.  If I was to see and book advertised as “written by female author” it wouldn’t make a difference to me.  Why should it make a difference to me or sell me on your music more if you bill it as “female fronted metal” or are you really using the term and your sex as a tool to sell your music?

Now settle down before you get upset with me.  I’m not calling you ladies hos or anything.  This is just an honest question.  When I first heard and fell in love with Warlock back in the day, they weren’t called female fronted metal.  They were just a metal band.  Even more current bands like Lacuna Coil, Brave, Blues Pill, Blood Ceremony, The Devils Blood, etc don’t bill themselves as “female fronted metal.”  They seem to be more content with being considered a band just like any other band that may be fronted by a man and choosing to not depend upon their sex to try and sell or attract a fan base.  The bands that I just listed are all amazingly talented bands that even in their promo photos don’t try to rely on sex appeal to sell their bands.

If you’re a talented band with great songs, you don’t need to cheapen yourself by depending

on sex to sell your product.  In my opinion, it’s the shittiest of all the bands that fall back on the sexiness of their female front person to sell your band.  Take the band In This Moment for instance.  Here you have a band that is subpar at best.  At one time this band had some promise but they just took a huge nose dive into mediocrity and suckiness by trying too damn hard.  So here you have a band who puts out crappy records and a singer who can’t carry a tune in a bucket live because she can’t live up to auto tuned magic of their recordings.  She goes out on

stage singing to backing tapes wearing next to nothing while standing on a huge platform above all her band mates who have their faces covered up.  At the merch booth you can buy autographed 8x10s of her in lingerie and for $15.00 for 6 months you can even join a website called Maria Brink’s Wonderland where you get special photos of her and other content.  So what am I getting at?  Well, In This Moment bills themselves as “female fronted metal” so unfortunately, this is what I think of when I hear that term a lot of the times.  Sad, I know.

At the end of it all, I guess you can just call me a bit confused.  Ever since I was a kid I was taught my father then women are an equal and most times a superior sex.  I never think that women can do anything less than a man can do but I also know that in the metal world, women have had an uphill battle to try and be considered an equal.  I look at some of my favorite women in metal and they rock every bit as hard and often times more so than the guys do.  My question I guess would be this: In a world and culture of music where women strive to be strong, independent, equal if not greater than men, why do they feel the need to justify their sex as a role in a band?  If you truly believe in your art and your abilities, shouldn’t you not have to state your sex as a way to stick out from the pack?  It’s just an honest question that I would love an answer to and to be honest, at the end of the day, it just doesn’t matter to me.  If you call yourself “female fronted metal” and you kick ass, you are just a kick ass metal band.  If you call yourself “female fronted metal” and you suck, you’re just a lame ass band nonetheless.  Whether it’s fronted by a female or not is completely irrelevant to me.

Ok, the floor is now open… DISCUSS.

About The Author

Don

I have been running this blog since 2009. AKA as the Great Southern Brainfart, Southeast of Heaven is my baby now and forever. I’ve had my ups and downs with bands over the years but they are all great experiences and memories. My Swedish friend Charlie said once, “Don is known for being one of the meanest bastards in American rock journalism.” It’s nice to be loved.

I also once took a shit in Anthrax’s dressing room toilet and didn’t flush.

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