Hi, My Name's Tom And I'm A Musical Sexist

     This morning my wife asked me to play some upbeat music while we cleaned the house. And by "we" I mean "she" since I'm sitting here writing a post. So, I went to the CD shelf looking for a fun listen. As I scanned the shelves, one of my wife's CD's caught my eye. I'm not sure why I noticed it today, because it's always been there and I've never thought of listening to it before. The CD in question is the Go-Go's Greatest. I loved the Go-Go's when I was in high school. Our pep band played "We Got The Beat" at the basketball games. I even had the hots for the blonde guitarist (everyone else I knew was into Jane Wiedlin). That got me thinking about my wife's CD collection. Other than Crowded House, Counting Crows and Better Than Ezra, it's mostly comprised of female artists. Madonna. Go-Go's. Sarah McLachlan. Dido. Annie Lennox. Nelly Furtado.
     In contrast, my collection is entirely dudes, except an old Bangles album, Kate and Cindy of the B-52's and a bunch of indie bands with female bassists. Speaking of which, this would be a good time for my list of favorite female bassists from indie bands.

1) Kim Deal- Pixies
2) Nikki Monniger- Silversun Pickups
3) Laura Ballance- Superchunk
4) Mariko Doi- Yuck
5) Kim Gordon- Sonic Youth

Then I remembered a conversation with a friend of mine back in Detroit. I was talking to her about some bands and suddenly she asked, "Don't you ever listen to any bands with girls?" Then she pointed out that one of the bands I was on about sounded just like Sleater-Kinney and asked me why I don't listen to them. I was a little taken aback and didn't have a good answer. The only female indie band that I liked was Veruca Salt, but I didn't actually own anything by them. In an attempt to expose me to girl bands, she loaned me a CD by Dressy Bessy. Probably not the best choice, plus only the singer was a girl.
     I'm not sure why I'm so averse to female artists, but it's quite clear that I am. I can't stand Courtney Love or Joanna Newsom or Neko Case or Feist or pretty much anyone. I guess that makes me a musical sexist. Part of me feels bad about it, but I like what I like. It's not like I haven't heard plenty of female artists. Between in-store plays at work and WRUW I'm actually overwhelmed. At least I still love the Go-Go's. Peace.