The very first record I ever bought was ‘Denis’ by Blondie and I bought it in the Oxfam bookshop on Nicholson Street in Edinburgh on one of my first visits to see my brother in his first year at university here, long before I moved up. It was a bit of an impulse buy – I didn’t even own a record player at that point. My then-boyfriend had just gotten one and I was looking for records for him.
It’s probably my favourite song by Blondie. I grew up listening to Blondie as my dad loves them/Debbie Harry especially. I get that, she is fucking sexy, but (luckily for me really) it was more than that. It seems silly that a celebrity crush my dad has (he still has it, he was basically drooling the time we saw them live!) could affect me as a woman, but when you’re a young girl being told that someone is attractive because they’re talented and powerful and don’t take any shit is a pretty powerful message.
Obviously, today is International Women’s Day and that’s why I’ve mentioned this. My mum is a strong, independent woman *clicks fingers* and my parents (for their generation and cultural backgrounds) brought my brother and I up pretty equally. We all know the importance of the obvious female figures and role models for young girls, but all the minor subliminal ones can get forgotten.
My dad initially got me into punk, although I then went a lot deeper than he ever did. As a teenager the women I idolised were people like Debbie Harry and Vivienne Westwood and Poly Styrene. The punk scene is not always great for women, let’s be honest, but that DIY, fuck-you-if-you-say-I-can’t-do-it ethos is. I will never be one of those perfectly groomed women and it was a relief early into my teens to learn I didn’t have to be. I could be shouty and scruffy and a little bit belligerent and I think if you asked most of my friends now they’d say that description more or less still applies. I’m watching Blondie videos on YouTube as I write this and my favourite thing about Debbie’s performances is she’s not smiling. And yes, she is always my inspiration when I bleach my hair.
I mainly love this particular song because it’s a straight-up good pop song. It’s catchy and fun. Lyrically it’s not changing the world, but although it’s a love song, it’s not particularly submissive as songs from a woman to a man can be. Having just googled the song, this is probably because it’s a gender-swapped cover of a song called ‘Denise’ by a band called Randy & The Rainbows, although the not-quite-proper-French verse was added by Debbie.
Anyways, it’s a great song and she’s not a bad role model for a young girl. Enjoy them performing it on TOTPs and then go and do one thing that benefits women and, once you see how easy that it, start doing one thing every day.
from diy « WordPress.com Tag Feed http://ift.tt/18sRMs3
from jammco.us and http://ift.tt/1COg4GQ
No comments:
Post a Comment