{"id":11711,"date":"2013-08-28T01:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T05:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=11711"},"modified":"2013-08-27T10:11:33","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T14:11:33","slug":"female-fronted-metal-a-term-of-empowerment-or-a-term-for-selling-your-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=11711","title":{"rendered":"Female Fronted Metal: A Term of Empowerment or A Term for Selling Your Band?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Equality<\/a>
Equality Kicks Ass!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Female Fronted Metal.\u00a0 What is the first thing you think of when you hear this term?\u00a0 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?\u00a0 Maybe you think of a picture of just the hot female singer with no guys at all.\u00a0 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?\u00a0 You may even think of all of the above because I sure as hell do and I do so only because I\u2019m human.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what her post stated:<\/p>\n

Interesting conversation on Reddit.<\/b><\/p>\n

‘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.’<\/b><\/p>\n

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”….<\/b><\/p>\n

Reading this comment truly made me think about this as I have heard both sides of this<\/p>\n

\"Don't<\/a>
Don’t mind us. We’re just the out of focus dudes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

argument.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard some women say that they feel that the term \u201cfemale fronted metal\u201d puts more emphasis on the fact that there\u2019s a woman in the band as opposed to letting the band\u2019s talent and music do the talking.\u00a0 In other cases, some feel that it is an empowering term.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure many women would say that it\u2019s easier said for me because I\u2019m a guy but in my honest opinion, I feel that the term \u201cfemale fronted metal\u201d just kind of cheapens the quality of your art.\u00a0 I mean, when I buy a book, whether it\u2019s written by a woman or a man doesn\u2019t\u2019 matter one bit to me.\u00a0 If I was to see and book advertised as \u201cwritten by female author\u201d it wouldn\u2019t make a difference to me.\u00a0 Why should it make a difference to me or sell me on your music more if you bill it as \u201cfemale fronted metal\u201d or are you really using the term and your sex as a tool to sell your music?<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
At least they’re in focus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now settle down before you get upset with me.\u00a0 I\u2019m not calling you ladies hos or anything.\u00a0 This is just an honest question.\u00a0 When I first heard and fell in love with Warlock back in the day, they weren\u2019t called female fronted metal.\u00a0 They were just a metal band.\u00a0 Even more current bands like Lacuna Coil, Brave, Blues Pill, Blood Ceremony, The Devils Blood, etc don\u2019t bill themselves as \u201cfemale fronted metal.\u201d\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The bands that I just listed are all amazingly talented bands that even in their promo photos don\u2019t try to rely on sex appeal to sell their bands.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a talented band with great songs, you don\u2019t need to cheapen yourself by depending<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/a>
Cover up guys. I’m the star here!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

on sex to sell your product.\u00a0 In my opinion, it\u2019s the shittiest of all the bands that fall back on the sexiness of their female front person to sell your band.\u00a0 Take the band In This Moment for instance.\u00a0 Here you have a band that is subpar at best.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So here you have a band who puts out crappy records and a singer who can\u2019t carry a tune in a bucket live because she can\u2019t live up to auto tuned magic of their recordings.\u00a0 She goes out on<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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<\/strong><\/a> where you get special photos of her and other content.\u00a0 So what am I getting at?\u00a0 Well, In This Moment bills themselves as \u201cfemale fronted metal\u201d so unfortunately, this is what I think of when I hear that term a lot of the times.\u00a0 Sad, I know.<\/p>\n

\"Lacuna<\/a>At the end of it all, I guess you can just call me a bit confused.\u00a0 Ever since I was a kid I was taught my father then women are an equal and most times a superior sex.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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?\u00a0 If you truly believe in your art and your abilities, shouldn\u2019t you not have to state your sex as a way to stick out from the pack?\u00a0 It\u2019s just an honest question that I would love an answer to and to be honest, at the end of the day, it just doesn\u2019t matter to me.\u00a0 If you call yourself \u201cfemale fronted metal\u201d and you kick ass, you are just a kick ass metal band.\u00a0 If you call yourself \u201cfemale fronted metal\u201d and you suck, you\u2019re just a lame ass band nonetheless.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s fronted by a female or not is completely irrelevant to me.<\/p>\n

Ok, the floor is now open\u2026 DISCUSS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Female Fronted Metal.\u00a0 What is the first thing you think of when you hear this term?\u00a0 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?\u00a0 Maybe you think of a picture of just the hot female singer with no guys at all.\u00a0 Or do you think of a woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-editorial"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t