By Cat Woods.
Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll have sold a whole lot of music memoirs and backstage documentaries. Though, more poignantly, the big sellers are stories about men having sex, men doing drugs, and men rockin’ and rollin’.
US author, journalist and director Jessica Hopper’s four-part documentary Women Who Rock – currently available on SBS OnDemand – sets out to counter this biased history of rock music by giving voice to the many women who have conquered the charts and pioneered pathways for their own, and future generations of women.
One of the documentary’s stars is Nona Hendryx, who recalls stories from six decades in the music industry.
“A lot of people see the end-product of what an artist does and this documentary gives an insight into the artists and the music that they love. Viewers get to see behind the curtain into the life of that artist and person,” says Hendryx.
She felt it was fundamental that women of colour who were, and are, in the music industry felt represented.
“I’m glad, and I think it’s important, that they wanted to include a woman of colour in the rock canon, a female rock canon, of music makers. It was important for representation to be there for everything I’ve done and contributed to that,” she adds.
On her 1987 album Female Trouble, Hendryx sang:
“This dance that we’re dancing, now
Who’s in control?
I have had to bend…”
That bending and ceding of control was an expectation – both subtle and explicitly stated – for New York-based Hendryx, both as a member of various bands and as a solo artist. Mentored by Nina Simone, Hendryx built a solo career from 1977, though her first record deal was with trio LaBelle in the early 1960s (best known for their number one hit Lady Marmalade). After numerous world tours and eight albums, Labelle disbanded, allowing Hendryx to delve into a genre-blurring ten solo albums that traversed through throbbing rock’n’roll, synthy new wave, and forays into folk and gospel.
Her eclectic career was a blueprint and a permission for her cohorts and future generations to experiment with their identities and artistry. She reels off a stellar roll call of stars as examples, including Tamar-Kali, Martha Redbone, Esperanza Spalding, The Nova Twins and Toshi Reagon.
“My relationship with a lot of those currently making music – who are now the senior guard in punk, funk and rock – evolved out of the days when I was performing at every place in New York. The people coming to see me were the budding punk-rocker funksters, a Black rock coalition. They’re now full-throated female funk rock artists themselves. It’s great to see that these artists – some who have performed with me – look to me as somebody who opened doors for them or paved the path for them. Now they pave the path for others.”
In Women Who Rock, artists who established their careers in the 70s through to now – including Shania Twain, Mavis Staples, Sheryl Crow, St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, Susanna Hoffs and Chaka Khan – reveal the challenges they faced, whether it was rooms full of industry executives in suits telling them how to be sexy, the denial of creative freedom, or the financial reward from, and ownership of, their own work.
Hopper says, “Ms. Hendryx is featured in all four episodes because she has had such a storied and vital career that takes us from early girl groups and R&B through LaBelle’s commercial peak, then the 80s. She has always been at the vanguard. I firmly believe that if you tell the stories of women’s lives and art, you wind up telling the story of how culture is changing — and that is deeply true of Hendryx and her long career.”
Hendryx’s versatility and collaborative nature enabled her to work on film soundtracks, TV and theatre scores. She’s released eight studio albums, is a founding partner of record label Rhythmbank, and is presently an Ambassador of Art History and Music with Berkeley College of Music, where she’s exploring the use of AI in music.
She looks poised and flawless, sitting in her New York studio in mid-afternoon, surrounded by guitars and artwork. It’s a feat, considering she was up until 4am working on music.
“I probably have eight or ten albums of music that I haven’t released, and I keep making it and I hope it’s released. Each of the albums are different: some are ambient, funk, rock-informed, there’s spoken word, lots of different things I’ve worked on over the last decade.”
Hendryx reflects that, “Some artists do the same kind of work in the same vein but other artists like myself strike off into using music as a vehicle to move into other spaces: to innovate, to move performance and music forward. I watched the documentary and wanted to hear what each person’s journey and path was, even though our paths crossed, they might have experienced it differently to how I did.”
Ultimately, Women Who Rock centres the matrilineage within the music industry, and the intergenerational, international friendships that have formed despite the industry-enforced structure of competition.
Hopper explains, “The women featured in the show are all first and foremost music fans, and they have tremendous regard for the women who inspired them and mentored them; who gave them an example of possibility. Everyone we spoke to was just energized and rapturous about other women’s songs and work. It really went a long way towards illuminating the mythology that women in the music industry hate each other and are super competitive.”
Hendryx is unmoved by a media portrayal of women at war for their place in the musical canon.
“You see women coming together to support each other and the documentary is an example of that, women supporting each other. There’s a sisterhood. We go to each other’s shows, we’re on each other’s shows and records.
There’s a lot of work still to be done, carrying on from the work I’ve done and am doing.”
Women Who Rock screens at 8.30pm on SBS VICELAND, Saturdays and is available on SBS On Demand.