Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary

July 10, 2020

In their debut title, arts and culture journalist Geffen offers a sprawling, star-studded tour of gender expression beyond the binary in Western pop music from the 1950s to the early 2000s. "Music," Geffen argues, "shelters gender rebellion," the context of performance producing a space in which musicians are able to create and re-create gendered identities more varied than have been typically accepted or celebrated in everyday American life. Gesturing back to earlier queer themes found in the output of blues musicians such as Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and midcentury rock artists including Little Richard, Geffen opens the study in earnest with the Beatles and their fans. From there, the book weaves a sinuous path through glam rock, disco, punk, postpunk, synthpop, hip-hop, women's music, riot grrrl, grunge, and more. The author explores how musicians used lyrics, composition, voice quality, clothing, hair and makeup, stage presence, and public persona to express gender in ways that defy easy binary categorization. VERDICT Geffen's clear love and deep knowledge of the subject, along with insightful historical and critical arguments about the intertwining of gender and music, make this a deliciously necessary read for anyone interested in either pop culture or gender studies.--Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook, Massachusetts Historical Soc., Boston

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

An exploration of how "music shelters gender rebellion from those who seek to abolish it." Popular music has always been fertile ground for expressions of sexual nonconformity, and queer and trans musicians have often ventured well beyond the gender binary--a construct, notes Geffen, that "has always limped along in pieces, easily cracked by a brief foray into the historical record." In her debut book, the author traces gender transgression in pop music back to its roots in the blues. In the early 20th century, blues singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith challenged heterosexual norms in their lyrics, which feature "coded" references to gay love. From its very beginnings, Black American music included queer sexuality, and there would have been no Elvis or the Beatles without Little Richard first. Geffen capably describes musicians' strategies for breaking free of gender expectations up through the present day, with chapters on punk; glam rock; "post-punk, goth, and industrial"; Prince (yes, his own chapter); synthpop; disco and house music; hip-hop; "women's music and riot grrrl"; grunge; and "the formless internet." Androgyny and the challenging of gender norms are constant themes. Some readers may quibble with the author's selections--seven pages on arty provocateur Genesis P-Orridge but only two for Morrissey--and there are glaring omissions: The London Suede and Owen Pallett leap to mind. Nonetheless, Geffen's genuine enthusiasm for transgressive pop music is clear and infectious, and the chapters on punk and glam rock (Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie "carried androgyny into the mainstream on the strength of his weird charisma") are true standouts. The book is full of insightful observations, such as the pivotal role that Wendy Carlos and Pauline Oliveros played in the development of electronic music. Likely because they are not considered pop music, genres such as gospel, classical, and jazz go largely unaddressed. A helpful guided tour that shows how music is the perfect art form in which to "dance between genders."

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