The Lilith Fair legacy

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that's why the indie world beats on and on to a different drummer. the established music industry is null and void and victim to their own sterile tactics of artist repertory. this chick is indie and can write and sing a crick in your neck from knodding to her music and listening to her palpable lyrics. you better recognize!

http://www.myspace.com/middlechild

So what's your point? Young females aren't as talented as they used to be? Only hot looking video-friendly babes need apply? Maybe there're as many "young singer-songwriters on the charts" as there ever were, has anyone checked?

I had the pleasure of going to Lilith Fair and have to say it was one of the best concert experiences ever. It came at a time when women like Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLachlan were putting out some really great music. I don't know if this is more of a 'chicken and egg' conversation. Which came first? The great music or the forum to showcase it? Lilith Fair was a great mix of flavors. Where else could you see Queen Latifah jamming onstage with Bonnie Raitt? The music industry should stand behind these types of tours. And why should it just be 'serious female artists' involved? Who is to say what is 'serious?' Maybe by creating a bill that includes acts like Liz Phair, Allison Krauss, Erykah Badu and Hillary Duff the industry could create the kind of demand that would grow this side of the business beyond the current 'bubblegum' vibe. Its all about exposure - both from an artist and a listener perspective.

The current state of music is pretty wretched. The new songs by Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson are perfect examples of what's wrong. These songs are basically just pieced together from past hits and given a new vocal line. They lack any originality whatsoever. There's nothing innovative happening with women in music. I miss Sarah, Melissa, the Indigo Girls and Ani...among others. I wish Patty Griffin, Dar Williams, Shawn Colvin and others would get onto mainstream radio. Some of the music out there today is unlistenable--and that's coming from a successful DJ. It's so easy to see when they remix a song just to try and make it good. I hope the Lilith Girls are able to either come back, or inspire other young women so do more than prance around in tight little outfits. I miss the day when the singers could actually sing.

Maybe all the situation needs is for spectacular female artists to get better coverage from publications like USA Today. I'm a 25 year old male and I'm absolutely smitten with Regina Skeptor's "Begin to Hope" album. But none of my friends have ever heard of her, word of mouth travels slow I guess.

Thank God the Lilith Fair Era is over with. Fortunately we don't have to suffer through another round of "I Will Remember You" or anything by the Indigo Girls.
Men can be men again and not have to look like Jared Leto

Lillith Fair was a great experience to hear music that wasn't manufactured. It was stripped down and real.
How else could I have seen Erykah Badu, Natalie Merchant or Dixie Chicks and Sheryl Crow on the same stage?

I wish there would be another Lillith Fair!

Nice to see Anna Nalick and KT Tunstall mentioned, but you have to add Rachael Yamagata. Gorgeous voice, wry sense of humor in her lyrics.

Leona Naess' first two albums are criminally overlooked as well. She then turned to meandering piano ballads, which my hunch tells me is some producer telling her she had to emulate Norah Jones, when she's actually at her best on more upbeat songs.

Lilith was my fave era of music - I went to Lilith all 3 years, loved the female-singer-songwriters, and even VH1 was on board, playing all their videos. Then it all hit a brick wall. You can still find good music, but you have to look harder to find it, and forget radio, you won't find anything good there.

Your article fails too mention too many of the original female artists who played a significant role in women songwriters and popular artists. How about Donna Summer? Did you know she had a hand in writing many of her hits and album tracks? She didn't just sing she wrote the songs and helped forge the sound with her producers! How about Carole King, Deborah Harry, and so on?

I saw the Lilith fair in '99 here in Dallas, Tx.
My girlfriend dragged me, kicking and screaming, to the venue.
Here in Texas, it was about 100 Degrees that day and let me tell you, I never in my life have seen so many topless women sunbathing. LOL
My neck was sore for about 3 weeks from twisting and turning all day.
Oh Yeah, the music was pretty good too.
To this day, I still buy CD's from the women that were there that day, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Merchant,Liz Phair,Erakah Badu, Lucinda Williams and Sarah Mc....see, I was paying attention..LOL.
I did not want to leave that night...my girlfriend dragged me, KICKING and SCREAMING,....OUT.... of the venue...
Leon

You consider Nelly Furtado a serious female singer, praising herself for being promiscuous? Isn't that something the Lillith Fair would be completely against? Here's the chorus:

Promiscuous girl
Wherever you are
I’m all alone
And it's you that I want

Nelly Furtado sings: Promiscuous boy
You already know
That I’m all yours
What you waiting for?

you call that serious? It's total crap that sits atop the Billboard charts. Though musically interesting, it's message is terrible, especially knowing that 13 year old girls are singing that song. India Arie is the antithesis to Nelly Furtado. Arie makes serious music with thought provoking lyrics that speak truth. It's a sad day in pop music when the #1 song in the country is by a female singing about whoring herself out and being proud for doing so.

Serious artists PERIOD are not the rule on the US charts right now. My theory is that folks have things so bad right now. And things are getting so scary, what with the state of the world, that folks want to escape.

"Don't show me the state of the world." Folks seem to say, at least when the top ten is one silly song after another (though one or two may strike a pose at being serious). But Protest Songs are not the rage right now because folks are getting scared. REALLY SCARED.

This article is very interesting. After watching the ladies of HEART with their classic concert it shows just what women can do & that it can be done. It's time to get back to the singer/songwriter whatever your age & however you look. It needs to be about the music again. I see alot of female artist here. Think it's time we started our own show & took it to the road. Whether you're indie, signed, whatever. Whatever the name Lilith Fair...whatever. It would be cool to get together in the name of music.

www.myspace.com/bradleymichaels

Even though I liked a lot of the music that was done by the Lilith Fair artists, I thought it was too overblown at the time. Like everything else in the music business, it's the rage for a couple of years and then everyone moves on to something else. One thing I will say about that group of artists, though, is that they had pretty much paid their dues before they got to that point. Now, it's like, who is this week's sweetheart or this week's gangsta.

Music in general is not as good as it used to be (yes, I guess I'm old). There isn't much true rock and roll anymore, which is a shame.

The state of serious music in general is dismal. I blame this on the record companies. They no longer develop artists or look for artists with any real substance. Instead they look for well-toned bodies and attractive faces to satisfy the video market. Then top music producers match these beautiful people with trendy beats and sexually-explicit lyrics. Record companies have come to believe that this is the only way to sell records. Consequently, they often overlook serious artists who don't fit the mold. India Arie is one of the few Pop artists who has broken through in spite of all this. One can only hope that her success will cause record companies to recognize that there is a demand for artists with something to say and that such artists can generate a profit as well.

Another alt-country female singer you left off the list is Neko Case. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the future.

Sonya Kitchell and Brandi Carlile may save us all. Each was on tour (separately) with the phenomenal Jamie Cullum for a while, and both were totally amazing. I think Carlile's version of Cohen's "Hallelujah" is better than Jeff Buckley's and Kitchell -- she's Joni Mitchell, Joan Osborne and Norah Jones all rolled in to one. These two are the ones to watch.

The problem with the music industry today is that producers and record companies are only in it to make a quick buck. There is little to no interest in developing talent over the long haul. That's why we're seeing so many one hit wonders and single, flash-in-the-pan CDs. This hurts artists, of course, because they don't make money being a one hit wonder (But let me tell you the record companies sure do!) And because the artists don't make money, they can't afford to stay in the business.

As for the plight of the female singer/songwriter, I'd have to say that what is noted above is true, but it's little or no better for the budding male songwriter because of the current profit emphasis by the producers and record companies. The above has also given rise to many independent record labels which may be the anwer in the long run. We can only hope that sooner or later the major labels will follow suit.

Incidentally, if budding female songwriters are interested in mentoring after someone, they may want to study how Deborah Harry did it in Blondie. Her cross of Punk, Rock, Funk, Disco and Dance all betray an amazing adaptability to the fickle music audience which I think today is more fickle than ever.

It seems like to be a successful female singer, you have to have be a size 0 & wear as little as possible. What the heck does that have to do with music? Video DID kill the radio star. I get so sick of the regurgitated pop crap that's out today. We need more Carole Kings and Sarah McLachlans out there. The music industry is completely devoid of serious music. We need more ground roots labels like Righteous Babe records out there promoting -gasp- original music and lyrics that actually have a profound message.

The death knell for the music industry began with Brittany Spears. Candidly, the early and mid 90's were not much better.

I was a teen in the 80's and, not that the 80's were a great decade of music, but they blew the 90's and today away.

Think about it, the best tours today are still U2, Bruce Sprinsteen and The Stones. These groups were in their hey day in the 70s and 80's. So you have groups in their 40s, 50s and 60s who keep the music industry afloat. Without them, we would be left with that pregnant white trash skank from Louisiana(sp).

The pop charts are lacking right now with truely talented musicians. It's rare to find someone these days who writes all their own material. When I turn on the radio I hear hip hop until it makes me want to drop dead or Brittany-esk singers who's voice you can't even make out after all the electronic touch ups.

I want to turn on the radio and hear musicians who have something to say. I want to hear MANDI PERKINS. If the charts are looking for new female singer songwriters then start with Mandi. She's got talent that is hard to find in this world.

www.myspace.com/mandiperkins

I blame the corporate behemoth record companies and radio stations for force-feeding us the mindless pop-junk that permeates the music industry today. However, a lot of my old faves - Stevie Nicks, Heart, Pat Benatar, Linda Ronstadt, etc. - haven't recorded albums of all new material in years. I think they need to do that, and aggressively promote their new music through websites - get it in the hands of the real fans and bypass the middle man.

It used to be that the voice mattered for popular music, now for the women its about how photogenic they are. When is the last time a woman of average appearance made much of a splash in any music genre. Lookers like Shania & Faith came out as country singers becasue it was easier for women to break out in that genre. Do many of their recent hits sound much like country anymore? The bottom line is some of us like quality music and others care about fashion & other crap. We have to look harder for artists like Michelle Branch, Lucinda Williams, Anna Nalick, Nellie McKay, Dana Glover & others but so what. American tastes may swing back to intelligent choices in music, movies, & TV but I wouldn't count on it anytime soon.

You want to encourage more "real" songwriters and singers? Stop making American Idol the most popular show on TV and showing how shallow the taste of the American public really is. If you watch and buy that pre-packaged crap, that's what the record companies are going to give you.

I remember seeing Lillith Fair in Orlando. It was wonderful. As others have said, where else could you see duets with such diverse artists. My absolute favorite is the incredibly brilliant Natalie Merchant. Queen Latifah joined her onstage to finish Ms. Merchant's "Kind and Generous." It was wonderful. I saw Bonnie Rait, Sarah and more.

The record companies complain about not selling enough records. Because they keep putting out the same disposable product. Christina has an incredible voice but she and/or the label thinks she has to tart it up to sell records. You would think they would care more about building artists who will be around awhile. That mean staying away from trendy plastic Britney dolls.

I've never liked Nelly Furtado's music. Why is that song #1 and why is she included in this article about great women singer/songwriters?

It's another chicken or the egg argument. Our lives are so busy now and we have so many options for entertainment it's no wonder the market has responded with style over substance. We can blame the entertainment media and yes, it's a profit-based business, but people are more materialistic than ever. The market is responding to our choices! Thus, we are to blame for more "Brittanys" than "Sarahs' in music today.

In regards to playing "deeper" music, I never really unsttod what the risk is. So you take 2 hours out of the day from a Classic Rock Station and you don't play all new music, you sprinkle in some of these new artists...like Brandi Carlile.

I would really like to hear from a radio person, because I don't see the ratings dropping at all if this is tried. If it doesn't work...so what you tried and go back to the same old stuff that makes the station money.

If the record companys want to start selling more records, they need to start trying to sell a better product! Dauh! Like artist that can actually sing and write,not like alot of these bozo you see on VH1 now a days,that think they actually got talent!

There hasn't been much out there in 10 years. I miss Sarah and others, and usually listen to their old CDs. When I travel overseas, I buy great music but can never find it stateside. Wish the record companies would get their acts together and bring some of the great music from South Korea, the UK, Canada, Italy and Spain to the US.

Well, I did get a big laugh of the irony of Nelly Furtado being included on this list, but she did start out as a very astute singer/songwriter with a great first album, then the second one tanked and then she took of her top and shook her money-maker and low and behold she is relevant again on the charts with a HUGE hit-- it's what the music industry is feeding us-- and a signifcant part of the (still) music-buying public is lapping it up--

And I found India's new CD bland, but that is only after one listen (but I felt the same after all her CDs, except for a rare track which connected with me).

Well, my point is NOT to bash India or Nelly, but to say if you want great music-- FORGET what is on the radio-- check out these songs and artists--Latoya London -State of my Heart, Frances Ashman -Pandora, Zero7- Waiting Line, Sleeptheif and Jody Quine- Eurydice, Maria McKe -Show Me Heaven, Howie Day -Collide, Melissa Etheridge -The Weakness in Me, Phyllis Hyman- I Don't want to Lose You and Desiree's Kissing You.

Heck maybe what we really need is a site/forum like this- to share great music... you know, what RADIO USED to be like.

Steve
SLT8Y@yahoo.com

Why is it that only the Female Artists (she calls herself an ARTIST) like Jennifer Lopez get so much attention when they can't even sing!?! She can't sing, play any musical instruments, write music lyrics, and probably can't even read notes on a music sheet! When she has an album coming out she gets more publicity than The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Paul McCartny, John Lennon, and ALL of the Beatles combined! This one in paticular really gets me - I realize she is Hispanic and considered a minority but that shouldn't matter -I for one have never felt sorry for Jennifer Lopez! I myself will continue to listen to and buy music from REAL ARTISTS such as the Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, Paul McCartny, etc.! We still need Lillith Fair because we still need REAL FEMALE ARTISTS and REAL MUSIC - Not sugar coated plastic machine money driven music!

What happened to Cher? Lose writers,lose confidence,if you still have the voice why stop now?

It is a state of the music business and acts with credentials, staying power, and talent don't get record company support for example do you think the next Heart CD would get serious marketing support or for that matter any of the ongoing releases from artists from the 70's, 80's and 90's who continue to produce quality music outside of the spotlight being focused on the next supposed star. We won't be talking about Spears 10 or 20 years from now.

You didn't mention the next superstar:
Stacie Orrico.

I've never been a big fan of the idea that a singer also needs to be songwriter. The greatest singers are singers period. The greatest music writers are music writers period. Gershwin, Bernstein, Williams, and Mozart are/were great music composers not singers. The same goes for singers. I say let there be great singers and team them up with great music writers and you will get the best outcome.

I'd have to say a lot of this has to do with the absolutely terrible state of commercial radio in the year 2006. 10 years ago, you heard alot of female singer-songwriters. There are just as many as 10 years ago, if not more: Neko Case, KT Tunstall, Jonatha Brooke, etc. BUT, you won't hear them on commercial radio, you have to go to satellite, public radio, or iPods.
It seems like all this pre-fab, pop garbage is taking over, and the radio execs wonder why satellite radio and iPods are so popular!

You imply that being part of the mega music industry is a desired state. Most of the inspired music of the past fifty years was created while these artists were still struggling to sell to larger audiences. As long as there are artists living to express themselves, there will be good music. Everybody prefers early Dylan, early Elvis, early James Taylor, early Carol King, early Judi Collins, early Linda Rondstat, early Jewel, early almost anybody. Of course there are talented women out there, and if they know what is good for them, they will stay away from big media.

The status of the female artist, I feel is still far from where it needs to be in the music industry(or ANY industry). They still have to work twice as hard and SADLY 'looks' are still a big factor in garnering attention, especially from major labels. That's why there's people like myself and hundreds of others who are here to 'open' the ears of the many to the thousands of talented female artists out there.

http://www.myspace.com/femininegroove

Before I forget,Corriane Bailey Rae should be added to the list of current amazing singer/songwqriters. If you haven't heard this album, you should.

I don't think we thanked the girls enough for what they did with Lilith. There will always be pop candy, it is what the masses want. Most people suffer from mental tooth decay these days. With Sarah, Paula (who I wish would make a real follow up to "This Fire"), Natalie, Sheryl, Fiona and others, you had women who were contemplating life and it's complexities in an organic way. I miss it greatly. I'm just glad we have a few left. If they did a Lilith II, count me in.

i think the biggest point here is that radio and those top 40 lists are bought and paid for by the music industry. they pay radio stations to play what they play, and why should they play unknown artists when they can con all the twits into buying vapid repackaged pop songs sung by pretty yet talentless girls? that is why the industry is not selling as many records as well, more and more people are avoiding radio and finding their music online, preferring not to be force fed the same old junk. the talent is still out there as it has always been, you just have to look beyond that dreadful american idol.

two words: tori amos. how on earth could you forget her??!