Inside the Book She’s A Badass: Women In Rock Shaping Feminism

The year’s first knockout work of music journalism goes to She’s A Badass: Women In Rock Shaping Feminism, written by Katherine Yeske Taylor, who is herself a badass.

Ms. Taylor’s book consists of a series of interviews and profiles on 20 notable women in rock ‘n’ roll ranging from Paula Cole to Amanda Palmer to Ann Wilson to Suzi Quatro. Taylor’s razor sharp writing combined with the ethics of a professional journalist make her book a pure delight to read. It’s one of those books that makes you remember why you fell in love with music, or writing about music, or playing music. 

She’s A Badass is a book you give to your daughter or your niece and expect a book report on the experience the following week. It’s that good, and perhaps, that important.

Taylor has been writing for a long time, honing her craft at various alt-weeklies, magazines and websites, including the one you are reading here. She is a person who was born to write, pure and simple. And She’s A Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism is one of those rock books that will be remembered and quoted and read and examined and quoted some more.

Rock & Roll Globe contributor Jason Webber interviewed Taylor about her book, which hits the streets on Jan. 16th. 

 

 

When did you first develop an interest in music?

Katherine Yeske Taylor: Well, I’ve always been obsessed with music my entire life. Music was one of my first words according to my mother. It’s always been a passion of mine. I discovered early on that while I enjoy singing and playing guitar and being musical, I just didn’t have that talent. But then I discovered I could write, my English teachers kept telling me I was a good writer and this seemed like a good way to combine those two things: Be a music journalist.

 

Where’d you grow up?

I grew up all over the place. My family got transferred all over the place because of my dad’s job and we eventually moved to Atlanta, which is what I claim as my hometown. That’s where I started my career. I’ve lived in New York City now though for the past dozen years.

 

What was the first band you were into?

When I was a kid, I remember dancing around the house to Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees. As I got older, of course I was a Duran Duran fan like every other little girl. Then I got really into metal and then into alternative rock, which is my all time favorite.

 

VIDEO: Duran Duran “The Reflex”

As a Duranie, who was your favorite member of Duran Duran?

Simon!

 

What are some of the publications you’ve written for over the course of your career?

Billboard, SPIN, American Songwriter, lots of regional things. And, for the record, I do contribute to Rock & Roll Globe.

 

Where did the idea for the book come from?

I was approached by a literary agent and he told me, “You’re a really good writer. Have you ever considered writing a book?” So he worked with me on brainstorming possible book ideas and we came up with this feminism idea. Over the years when I’ve interviewed female musicians, people have told me stories about their experiences coming up in the music business as women and I just knew I had enough for a book. None of the interviews in the book were done prior to me getting the book deal. I started out with women I’d interviewed before like Ann Wilson and Suzi Quatro or Joan Osbourne. From there, it kind of snowballed. A lot of people who I interviewed were like “Oh, if Suzi Quatro is in it, I’ll be in it.”

Who is someone you wanted to get for the book but were unable to get?

I really wanted to make the book more diverse, so I approached Tracy Chapman’s people, I approached Grace Jones’ people, I approached Me’shell Ndegéocello’s team. And then at a certain point— and this says something about rock music — I ran out of people I could ask. And that kind of speaks to how the rock business is still really lagging behind hip-hop, pop and other genres that have been better about letting people of color into the conversation. So it was frustrating to only have two people in my book who are minority musicians. I did my best though.

 

What’s been the hardest thing you’ve encountered about being a female music journalist?

Well, in the introduction to my book I wrote about how when I was first starting out there were some older male music writers who just weren’t going to let me in the club out of spite. They were extraordinarily rude. I can’t imagine someone going up to a young male journalist and saying some of the things that were said to me. I’d like to think that it’s better now. I think that’s one of the reasons why I could interview these women and have it go well because even though I’m not a musician I’m still in the music business and we all kind of went through some of the same things. One thing I wasn’t expecting when I started these interviews was the variety of opinions expressed about everything but specifically about feminism itself. I kind of thought that if people agreed to talk to me about a book titled Women In Rock Shaping Feminism that they would all identify as feminists, but that wasn’t the case. There’s a handful of women in the book who made a point to say “Don’t call me that. Don’t label me that. I have a real problem with that label.” That threw me at first, because I had to ask myself “How am I gonna fit this into the book?” But then I realized it wasn’t that they were against women’s rights, they just really disagreed with the approach. They had a problem with the way certain feminist movements have progressed or what the connotation of the word ‘feminist’ means now. So I wasn’t expecting that, but I think it’s good in the end because it shows just how diverse women in rock can be on this topic.