The Golden Age was the peak of the Women’s Music Movement. This period from 1970 to the mid-1980s established women’s music as a genre and aligned with what is typically referred to as “the second wave” of feminism (or women’s liberation) in the United States. The playlist below includes some of the artists featured in the Golden Age of women’s music.
Beginning a Movement
The Early 1970s
In 1971, the Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Band and New Haven Women’s Rock Band released the song “Mountain Moving Day” and kicked off an era of feminist music.1 Such music took a stand against sexist themes in rock and roll and aimed to create music where women were the protagonists.2
Just a year later, Maxine Feldman recorded the single “Angry Atthis” with the help of Robin Tyler. Feldman was a comedian and folk musician, opening for the lesbian feminist comedy duo Patty Harrison and Robin Tyler. The title of Feldman’s song is likely derived from a woman mentioned in a love poem by Sappho as well as a play on the phrase “angry at this.”2 The lyrics express the frustration that Feldman feels in not being able to express their love in public the way that straight couples could. The song is considered one of the first in the genre of women’s music.
1973
As the Women’s Liberation Movement began to pick up steam so too did women’s music. Through cultural feminism, women began to create cultural networks by women, for women, which became one of the guiding principles of the Women’s Music Movement. In 1973, Judy Dlugacz, Ginny Berson, Meg Christian, Kate Winter, and Jennifer Woodul founded Olivia Records, an all-woman recording label that became the center of the Women’s Music Movement.2
The first full-length album recorded by the company was Meg Christian’s I Know You Know, released in 1974. It sold 5,000 copies in the first two months after the album’s release.2 This initial success from Christian’s album would help to fund the label’s later projects.
1974-1975
Soon, grassroots-organized women’s music festivals began appearing across the United States. These festivals were places where women could share their music and ideas with each other and cultivate an environment where women’s value was central. One of the first festivals was the National Women’s Music Festival in 1974 followed by the Michigan Womyn’s Music festival in 1976.1
The Late 1970s
Women’s music became and space for diversity, to an extent, and an early place for conversations about intersectional identities to occur. Music festivals incorporated racial diversity in performances, with black and white artists performing together. Audiences challenged the all-white “Women on Wheels” tour. Responding to the criticism, Olivia produced the “Varied Voices of Black Women” tour in 1975.1 While the term “intersectional” had not yet been coined, women’s music became an early space for women to interrogate the effects that race had on their lived experiences.
Olivia played an important role in women’s music, producing Cris Williamson’s The Changer and the Changed, the most successful album recorded and released by Olivia Records. The 1975 album sold around 250,000 copies despite the company’s expectation that they would only sell 10,000.3 The album became the best-selling album from an independent label during this time.4
Further Reading
- Radical Harmonies – A documentary about Women’s Music
- How Should We Archive the Soundtrack to 1970s Feminism? – Smithsonian Magazine
Bibliography
1Morris, Bonnie J. The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2016.
2Morris, Bonnie. “Olivia Records: The Production of a Movement.” Journal of Lesbian Studies 19, no. 3 (July 2015): 290–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2015.1026699.
3Dlugacz, Judy. “If It Weren’t For the Music: 15 Years of Olivia Records.” Hot Wire: The Journal of Women’s Music and Culture, July 1988. http://www.hotwirejournal.com/pdf/hw_v4_n3.pdf.
4Lont, Cynthia M. “Women’s Music: No Longer a Small Private Party.” In Rockin’ the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements, edited by Reebee Garofalo. South End Press, 1992.