The Guardian discovers Lady Metal
Not content with having redisovered Rush, the Guardian has now discovered the European phenomenum of “Lady Metal”
On the continent, particularly in Scandinavia and Germany, they have great female rock stars who are largely unknown outside the specialist rock press here.
Bands such as Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil and the Gathering have turned the formula of three or four hairy blokes at the back and an imperious operatic diva at the front into a hugely successful phenomenon. Nightwish in particular are absolutely massive and Within Temptation have also gone platinum in Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
I think the success of Nightwish, Within Temptation etc in the continent demonstrate the vast gulf between what’s going on over the channel and the drab indie-centric mainstream scene in Britain. It goes far deeper than the gender of the lead singer; all these bands have a rich symphonic sound that you’ll find in plenty of Euro all-male bands as well.
I can speculate on a few reasons why there’s such a difference in music scenes
- On the continent, metal and even prog are considered valid genres of mainstream rock, rather than being marginalised as they are over here. Even British metal and prog bands find much larger and more enthusiastic audiences in Scandinavia, the Low Countries or Poland than they do in their home country.
- Classical music, including opera, is a bigger part of popular culture, and the influence spills over into rock.
- Most bands sing in English, even when it’s not their first language. This tends to de-emphasise the importance of lyrics, and means musical adventurism matters more than urban social commentary.
- They don’t have a critical environment that’s hostile to anything that’s not directly derivative of The Clash or The Smiths.
- It’s worth noting that Nightwish and Within Temptation have both been going several years, and took several albums to develop their sound. The ‘build-em-up-and-knock-em-down’ attitude of the fashion-driven British scene makes it hard for bands like that to thrive.
As any reader of this blog will know by now, female-fronted rock isn’t just something those weird foreigners do. But the likes of Mostly Autumn, The Reasoning and Breathing Space don’t seem to appear on the mainstream media’s radar screen.
If anyone’s going to see Within Temptation in Manchester next Thursday, I’ll be there. I’ll be wearing a Mostly Autumn T shirt, of course!
