ROCKRGRL
Encyclopedia
Carla DeSantis Black
Carla DeSantis Black is a world-renowned activist, lecturer, life coach, musician, and journalist. A prominent advocate for women in music in the United States, she founded the first national publication for female musicians in the United States, ROCKRGRL Magazine , and served as its publisher and...
, the magazine purely focused on women in music and highlighted the artistic diversity of women musicians, often overlooked in mainstream culture. The magazine ran for eleven years, and the strength of its message inspired two pioneering ROCKRGRL conferences that showcased, celebrated, and addressed the state of the music industry for female artists.
In December 2008, the ROCKRGRL Magazine and conference archives were acquired by Schlesinger Library
Schlesinger Library
The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. According to Nancy F...
at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, to be included in their collection of American Women’s History artifacts.
History
ROCKRGRL was started by Carla DeSantis (aka Carla DeSantis Black) in 1994 in San MateoSan Mateo
San Mateo, Spanish for Saint Matthew, is the name of several places:*San Mateo , Spain- Canary Islands :* Vega de San Mateo, Las Palmas, a municipality on the island of Gran Canaria in the province of Las Palmas- Costa Rica :...
, California as part of the zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
movement to provide a third-wave feminist perspective on women in music.
Commenting on the magazine’s founding, DeSantis recalled, “One issue of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
was about Women Who Rock, and the writer asked everyone what their favorite perfume was, not music. Women were really shut out of music magazines like they didn’t exist.”
ROCKRGRL started out as a 14-page, black-and-white photocopied zine. Its first issue, which hit stands in 1995, featured Gretchen Seager on the cover along with articles about that dog.
That dog.
That Dog is a Los Angeles-based rock band that formed in 1991 and dissolved in 1997, reuniting in 2011. The band consists of Anna Waronker on lead vocals and guitar, Rachel Haden on bass guitar and vocals, her sister Petra Haden on violin and vocals, and Tony Maxwell on drums...
, the Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
, Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
, and Au Pairs
Au Pairs (band)
The Au Pairs were a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1979. Music historian Gillian G. Gaar noted in her history of women in rock that the band mingled male and female musicians in a revolutionary collaborative way, as part of its outspoken explorations of sexual...
. In 1999, ROCKRGRL became a full-color glossy bi-monthly magazine.
Throughout its lifespan, many famous and influential women appeared on the cover, including Justine Frischmann
Justine Frischmann
Justine Elinor Frischmann is an English singer and guitarist, best known for being the lead singer of the now defunct band Elastica...
, Shirley Manson
Shirley Manson
Shirley Anne Manson is a Scottish recording artist and actress, best known internationally as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Garbage. For much of her international career Manson commuted between her home city of Edinburgh to the United States to record with Garbage but now lives and...
, Veruca Salt
Veruca Salt (band)
Veruca Salt is an alternative rock band founded in 1993 in Chicago, Illinois. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included vocalist-guitarist Louise Post. Guitarist Stephen Fitzpatrick has been with the band since 1999 and drummer Kellii Scott has worked with the group on and off since 1999...
, Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
, Johnette Napolitano
Johnette Napolitano
Johnette Napolitano is an American singer, songwriter and bassist best known as the lead vocalist/songwriter and bassist for the alternative rock group Concrete Blonde.- Solo career :...
, Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
, Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna is an American musician, feminist activist, and punk zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer and songwriter of Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s...
, Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
, Kat Bjelland
Kat Bjelland
Katherine "Kat" Bjelland is an American musician who is currently the lead singer-guitarist of the band Katastrophy Wife, and is the former lead singer and guitarist of the punk rock band Babes in Toyland....
, Samantha Maloney
Samantha Maloney
Samantha Maloney is an American musician best known for playing in the bands Hole, Mötley Crüe, Eagles of Death Metal and in Peaches' live band "The Herms".-Early career:...
, Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie band composed of identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin . Both Tegan and Sara play guitar and keyboard and write songs.-History:...
, Jessicka
Jessicka
Jessicka Addams is an American singer and artist. Best known by her stage name Jessicka, she was the front woman of Florida based band Jack Off Jill and current front for the Los Angeles based band Scarling.-Early life:Jessicka grew up in the town of Sunrise, Florida...
, Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
, Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney was an alternative rock band from Portland, Oregon that formed in 1994. Originally formed in Olympia, Washington, the group's name is derived from Sleater-Kinney Road, Interstate 5 off ramp #108 in Lacey, Washington, the location of one of their early practice spaces. They were a...
and Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
.
In the fall of 2005, DeSantis announced that issue number 57 would be the final issue of ROCKRGRL. Although single issues, merchandise and Discoveries CDs could be purchased through the site, they were no longer accepting subscriptions. However, full sets, all 57 issues of ROCKRGRL are now part of the collection at The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and other prestigious colleges and institutions including Harvard, Duke, Cornell, UCLA, University of Washington, Radcliffe Institute, Smith, Oberlin, Rutgers, University of Texas Austin, the New York Public Library.
Mission
ROCKRGRL billed itself as, "a real departure from the condescending and patronizing tone found in other "women in music" magazines and web sites. No beauty tips or guilt trips here — just shop talk with fascinating artists."From its inception, ROCKRGRL created an atmosphere for women to address music industry sexism head-on. Here is an example from Gretchen Seager of Mary's Danish who appeared on the magazine's first cover:
DeSantis recalled:
So many of the stories that women were able to tell in ROCKRGRL were stories they weren’t able to tell in any place else. What was different about ROCKRGRL was that a lot of the artists we talked to had cautionary tales. My favorite artists to talk to are the ones who can talk honestly about what happened. They were dropped by their label – why did that happen? Bands broke up, why did that happen? In ROCKRGRL, what I was looking for were career arcs and career stories – how people got started, what their career was like, how it went for them, and what unusual things they did to be successful.
Circulation
ROCKRGRL peaked at roughly 20,000 in circulation, domestic and international, during the years of 2002 and 2003. The magazine was carried by most major retail chains, including Virgin RecordsVirgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
, Tower Records
Tower Records
Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....
, Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Hastings Entertainment
Hastings Entertainment
Hastings Entertainment is a regional retail chain that sells books, music, movies, and video games. It also rents movies and video games and buys used books, music, movies and video games for resale....
. ROCKRGRL could also be found in most feminist bookstores. During 2005, the cost for a yearly subscription was $14.95.
DeSantis explained:
I wanted ROCKERGIRL to be in the hands of musicians. It was important to me that it found women who were playing music.
Music Conferences
DeSantis, one of the nation's leading advocates for women in rock, has also produced two highly successful and critically acclaimed ROCKRGRL Music Conferences which took place in Seattle in 2000 and 2005 respectively.Based on the business model of SXSW, the goal of the ROCKRGRL Music Conferences was to give women working in the music industry an opportunity to network and allow those who were just starting out an opportunity to meet those who influenced them. With three nights of music showcases featuring female artists in all styles, a special Woman of Valor award dinner, two full days of panels, workshops and an artist-friendly trade show, the ROCKRGRL Music Conferences was an opportunity for women working in music to meet, mix and mingle in the city of Seattle.
“We had 250 female bands perform in clubs and coffeeshops and all kinds of places in downtown Seattle. We had really A-list artists come and speak and perform. And all levels performed, actually. It was eclectic and interesting. It was a really big deal because for me all the people I admired were in the same room,” said DeSantis.
The diverse line-up of speakers and performers at the ROCKRGRL Music Conference included such musical luminaries as Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Courtney Love, Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...
(The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
), Amy Ray
Amy Ray
Amy Elizabeth Ray is an American singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls. She also pursues a solo career and has released four albums under her own name, and founded a record company, Daemon Records....
(Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
), Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, flute player, songwriter, and occasional guitar player of the rock band Heart.-Personal life:...
, Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde is an alternative rock band based in the United States. They were initially active from 1982 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2004, and once again in 2010.-Biography:...
), Kathy Valentine
Kathy Valentine
Kathy Valentine is the American bass guitarist for the all-girl rock band, The Go-Go's....
(The Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
), Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...
, The Gossip
The Gossip
Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
, Jessicka (Scarling.
Scarling.
Scarling. is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, whose core members are Jessicka and Christian Hejnal-Addams. The band formed in 2002. They have released two albums, Sweet Heart Dealer and So Long, Scarecrow.-Name:...
/ Jack Off Jill
Jack Off Jill
Jack Off Jill was an American alternative rock band from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, founded in 1992 by Jessica Fodera, Tenni Arslanyan, Robin Moulder, and Michelle Oliver. Though these four young women were the initial founders, twelve members rotated through the group in its lifespan, including...
), Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka is an American writer, musician and artist, most famous as the co-lead vocalist of the Los Angeles punk rock band X.-Career:...
, Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson is an Austin, Texas-based folk musician. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and Jane Gilkyson. She is the sister of guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who played with the Los Angeles-based bands Lone Justice and X...
, Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores is a rockabilly and country music artist of Mexican American heritage. Her music blends rockabilly, honky tonk, jazz, and Western swing along with traditional influences from her Tex-Mex heritage...
, Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....
, Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...
and hundreds more. During the 2005 conference, keynote speaker Patti Smith received the Woman of Valor award on the 30th anniversary of the release of her debut album, Horses
Horses (album)
"Horses" is often cited as one of the greatest albums in music history. In 2003, the album was ranked number 44 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. NME named the album number 1 in its list "20 Near-as-Damn-It Perfect Initial Efforts"...
. The previous recipient of this award was Heart
Heart (band)
Heart is an American rock band who first found success in Canada. Throughout several lineup changes, the only two members remaining constant are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music...
.
By 2005, sponsorship for the second ROCKRGRL Music Conference had diminished due emerging economic downturn. Despite this, conference attendance remained high.
Daisy Rock Guitars
Daisy Rock GuitarsDaisy Rock Guitars
Daisy Rock Girl Guitars is a girl-guitar company founded in 2000 by Tish Ciravolo. Daisy Rock Girl Guitars has instruments available in over 26 countries worldwide, and the company is co-owned and distributed by Alfred Music Publishing.-Company history:...
, a subsidiary of Schecter Guitars, is company that makes guitars for girls exclusively. Its first three prototype models debuted in November 2000 at Seattle’s first ROCKRGRL Conference.
Cultural Impact
ROCKRGRL Magazine has been lauded in feature articles in The LA Times, New York Times, Seventeen (magazine)Seventeen (magazine)
Seventeen is an American magazine for teenagers. It was first published in September 1944 by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications. News Corporation bought Triangle in 1988, and sold Seventeen to K-III Communications in 1991. Primedia sold the magazine to Hearst in 2003. It is still in the...
, JANE
Jane
-Music:* Jane * Jane *Jane , an album by Jane McDonald* "Jane" * "Jane", a song by Ben Folds Five from their 1999 album The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner...
, Seattle Times, Mercer Island Reporter, Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, Boston Rock, Asbury Park Press
Asbury Park Press
The Asbury Park Press is a daily newspaper in Monmouth and Ocean counties of New Jersey and has the third largest circulation in the state...
, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, The Stranger
The Stranger (newspaper)
The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
, Bitch (magazine)
Bitch (magazine)
bitch, whose tagline is feminist response to pop culture, is an independent, quarterly magazine published in Portland, Oregon with more than 50,000 readers. bitch magazine is one branch of the reader-supported non-profit organization bitch media...
, and Bust (magazine)
Bust (magazine)
Bust is a bi-monthly United States-based women's lifestyle magazine. It was founded in 1993 by Debbie Stoller, Laurie Henzel, and Marcelle Karp.-Content:...
.
DeSantis furthers:
Women’s voices have been repressed for many years in music. Most of the pop stars we see are singing songs written by men, or written for them. My day, in the 80’s, there were lots of women in music who were writing their own material...What the magazine provided was an opportunity for women who weren’t only singers to find their voices through the magazine. When there aren’t many women doing something, it’s hard to have them as role models. Different ages, different styles of music – they demonstrate that women have a lot to say, and because mainstream music magazines weren’t exploring that, it needed to be explored in some way. The more we see woman musicians, the less of a novelty they will be.
A ‘’ROCKRGRL Day’’ was held at Musicians’ Institute in Los Angeles in 2003.