Sighting the Sound

Characterized by ambiguous sexual energy and resistance to male domination and objectification, the visual idiom of punk rock communicated feminist prospects through the performance of fashion. This essay interprets the creative agency of Alice Bag, Marina “Del Rey” Muhlfriedel, Trudie “Plunger” Arguelles-Barret, and Helen “Hellin Killer” Roessler as Latina and Hispanic sono-spatial artists in the early days of L.A.’s punk subculture. Situating the performance practices of Hispana (Iberian) women alongside the Latina (hemispheric Latin American) artists, L.A. punk is situated within a Spanish-American borderlands matrix of meaning, where non–Western European roots of women in punk gain coherence as a specifically bordered set of historical circumstances. By embodying musical performativity as creators of a relational theatre of musical experience, the study asserts that women punk fans redefined how alternative music was generated, circulated, and consumed.

Breaking the Gender Gap in Rap/Hip-Hop Consumption

Some music genres have traditionally and mainly been consumed by men. This is the case of rap/hip-hop. However, data on the consumption of this genre in recent years shows a relevant increase in the number of women interested in this type of music. It would therefore seem to be pertinent to analyse this new trend, not only as a question linked to gender studies but also to marketing decision-making for the music industry, which is struggling to attract new audiences, a factor compounded in the pandemic. To frame this analysis, literature on music consumption, specifically in relation to gender and rap as an alternative music genre, has been reviewed from different approaches. An exploratory survey was conducted to obtain an insight into rap/hip-hop consumption and appreciation by gender. Results show that rap concert attendees’ satisfaction and interest in this kind of music are high, irrespective of gender. Only knowledge, which has not been as extensively studied, seems to be different between men and women, with this factor being slightly higher for the former. In addition, the identification of three clusters (involved, apathetic and hedonists), including both women and men, leads us to suggest that the gender gap in rap/hip-hop consumption is closing.

Alternatibong Pagkalalaki, Alternatibong Musika: Ang Eraserheads at Kulturang Popular ng Dekada ’90

The rock band Eraserheads exerts a huge influence on the Philippine music industry, but does not carry a reputation for advocating progressive politics. Nonetheless, by analyzing their songs, especially those that did not enjoy popularity, one sees a rich discourse of critique targeted at the dominant notion of manliness. Although the band is famous for lyrics that favored the heteronormative definition of romantic love, they also have songs that break free from the predominant understanding of gender. Without dismissing the issue of commercialized popular culture, this essay seeks to revisit the Eraserheads’ discography to foreground alternative music that showcases alternative perspectives about manliness against the context of present-day Philippine society constricted by macho populism.

Punk’s Popularity Anxieties and the Introspective Aggression of So-Cal Punk

With the rise of the alternative music industry and the mainstream success of a few punk bands in the 1990s, the underground punk scene engaged in a vituperative debate over staying DIY versus “selling out.” Amid this debate, those promoting a discourse of DIY purity insisted on excising commercially successful bands from the punk scene, while others embraced the diversity of punk music or questioned the importance of DIY purity. One style that found some commercial success, So-Cal punk, combined 1980s hardcore punk with melodic vocals, intricate palm-muted guitar rhythms, octave-chord lead guitar parts, and more polished recordings and spoke to the postmodern existential dilemmas of disaffected suburban youth. The music of NOFX’s The Decline exemplifies So-Cal punk style and offers a critique of the decline of American society.