Literary academics aren't the only ones always writing about sexuality.
I was reminded today, when surfing the myriad of Led Zeppelin sites on the net, of
an article I found way back, but only browsed through, at the time:
"Rethinking Issues of Gender and Sexuality in Led Zeppelin: A Woman's View of Pleasure and Power in Hard Rock" by Susan Fast (1999).
Interestingly, the article is not 'just' a feminist take on a male hard rock band, but its study of the group and their music, is very close to a queer reading. This, of course, got me going. Susan Fast does, in fact, use Judith Butler's ideas on the performativity of gender and sexuality quite extensively in her article, which counts for a lot of what appeals to me personally in the piece. The article has its shortcomings, but considering there isn't that much academic writing on rock music by people, who are actually fans themselves, and know what they're talking about, I'd say the article is well worth the read. It even includes one of my favourite Tori Amos quotes on p.12. Apparently, the writer also has a book out called In the Houses of the Holy: Led Zeppelin and the Power of Rock Music (2001), which I'd like to get my hands on. Gee, that's one long title; I can almost imagine her trying to come up with a name, with at least some academic credibility in the structuring, yet catchy enough to make it sell a lot of copies. Well, it's suitably ostentatious, I give her that.
Interestingly, the article is not 'just' a feminist take on a male hard rock band, but its study of the group and their music, is very close to a queer reading. This, of course, got me going. Susan Fast does, in fact, use Judith Butler's ideas on the performativity of gender and sexuality quite extensively in her article, which counts for a lot of what appeals to me personally in the piece. The article has its shortcomings, but considering there isn't that much academic writing on rock music by people, who are actually fans themselves, and know what they're talking about, I'd say the article is well worth the read. It even includes one of my favourite Tori Amos quotes on p.12. Apparently, the writer also has a book out called In the Houses of the Holy: Led Zeppelin and the Power of Rock Music (2001), which I'd like to get my hands on. Gee, that's one long title; I can almost imagine her trying to come up with a name, with at least some academic credibility in the structuring, yet catchy enough to make it sell a lot of copies. Well, it's suitably ostentatious, I give her that.