JESSICA HOPPER in conversation with Anupa Mistry at Type Books (883 Queen West), November 18, 7 pm. Free (tickets available at the store from October 15). 416-366-8973.
Often someone launches a hashtag or Twitter thread because she wants to share insights with those who have walked the same path. Music writer and Pitchfork editor Jessica Hopper did just the opposite.
She knew her own personal narrative was not typical. When she activated the #womeninmusic Twitter hashtag, it was to let other women share what she knew were very different journeys from her own.
“My experience of being a woman in the industry is exceptional,” says the über-articulate writer from Pitchfork’s HQ in Chicago.
“I was very dogged and a total self-starter. I got internships, I got jobs, and because I had encouragement, support, respect and no lack of opportunity, when people in the industry were shitting on me or being sleazy or being creepy old men, I didn’t have to buy into that. I could stick to my guns and have the career I want and do good work.”
Excellent work, actually. Her dynamite anthology, The First Collection Of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic (Featherproof), has just gone into its fourth printing, and she discusses it at Type Books on November 18.
“I’m well aware that other women haven’t had that experience. So I wanted to crowd-source information: what’s the typical way women in the industry are discouraged?”
As with the #beenrapedneverreported hashtag that went viral after the Jian Ghomeshi revelations, #womeninmusic tweeters came from all over the place, reporting everything from verbal put-downs to sexual assault, including an alleged attack by a former NXNE honcho.
“I was struck by the number of responses. What was interesting was the similarity between so many of them and how widespread they were. The problem is obviously systemic.”
It’s precisely her own uniqueness – and raw talent – that makes her strong feminism so refreshing. Some of the industry’s most successful women bask in their exceptionalism rather than empathize with those who’ve had to struggle.
Chrissie Hynde famously became hostile if you asked her about being a woman in the rock world, and recently, while promoting her new autobiography, engaged in some women-blaming. Hopper calls Hynde a classic misogynist, but she’s still sympathetic to female artists who don’t always want to carry the flag.
“When you’re the only woman in the room for decades, you can buy into the hierarchies that exist in those spaces. There’s power in being the exceptional woman.
“I do understand women’s reluctance to constantly harken to the struggle or to be viewed only in gendered terms or to have that always being the locus of discussion. And yet at some point you just want to just say to those women, ‘Come on, just show the fuck up for us.’”
Hopper may use words like “patriarchy,” “hierarchy” and “the male gaze,” but she’s entirely self-taught – no fancy college degree here. It was her passion for music that made her want to write. And writing from the heart distinguished her early on from cold, cerebral critics who pretend to be neutral.
“The thought that I’m supposed to be dispassionate and clinical so that I can be pure or unfiltered is ridiculous. So is the thought that there’s one perfect critical default: what is good is technically accomplished, virtuosity. I grew up with punk rock, and virtuosity was the enemy.
“That cold clinical thing, just the facts, the old-school canon, what does that have to do with fandom or loving music or what drives us to buy records and stay up all night listening to them?”
susanc@nowtoronto.com | @susangcole
The Weeknd
Hometown R&B hero Abel Tesfaye has performed at most major venues in the city and makes his ACC debut with two shows in support of his commercial breakthrough, Beauty Behind The Madness. Even if you aren’t a fan of his misanthropic pop fantasies, his live sound is usually spectacular: full of -explosive drums, muscular riffs and smooth singing. The only thing past shows lacked was a bona fide pop hit or two – until now. KR
At the Air Canada Centre (40 Bay), November 3 and 5.
The Weeknd
music@nowtoronto.com
