https://bleeders.bandcamp.com/album/we-hate-men
Right away, I feel like people would be offended by this cassette simply because it's called "WE HATE MEN". Yes, that is the point of the first song- "I Hate Men"- but there is also a song called "The End of Men". Now, as a man, I could sit here and explain to you how the majority of the problems with the world come from men because men hold the most power, but rather than try and debate something which might be political in a way as well, I will just simply say this: If you are offended by the fact that BLEEDERS either hate or want to do away with all men, just remember there was a time when men thought women were capable of carrying and raising their children but not voting. Just let that sink in.
To me, one of the biggest problems with not just our society on a whole but with music and the sexism which is obviously apparent in it (Ask any woman in a band if she's ever been mistaken for a "merch girl" or simply was asked to speak with the "man of the band" and I bet the answer is yes) is that there is no real forum to address these issues without it breaking down into a shit show. I tend to think I'm fairly open minded and I've tried to have reasonable discussions about women in music. For the most part, they've gone well but there has always been one which has bothered me.
Years and years ago, this somewhat well known artist said that people who write about music should stop using the term "female vocals". For me, it's not about gender. It's like the different between alto sax and tenor sax. It's just a description of the musical aspect of it, not the gender of the person involved. So, as someone writing about music at the time (and still), I reached out to said artist and explained my side of thinking. I responded to a tweet and even went so far as to email their publicist about it (Because they were promoting their new album to me) But it all fell on deaf ears. So, here I am, using the term "female vocals" because I think it's ok and no one is telling me otherwise why-- the person who told me not to won't refute my arguments.
Now think about this. How many times has a man done something (And I'm not saying my using the term "female vocals" is good or bad, it's just what I do-- others might use it in a less respectable way) and not been corrected by a woman? But the fact is, the women are not to blame. The men should know better! Everything cannot be as cut and dry as my question. Men thinking because you are female you are obviously "with" the band but not "in" the band even sometimes when you "are" the band is utterly ridiculous. I firmly believe that as much as women say "Stop mistreating us" it's time for men to get up and right these wrongs. If you're a man and you see something fucked up happening, don't wait for a woman to step in and say "That's not ok". Speak up for the women. What did 2Pac say about how we all came from a woman?
To step down from my soapbox now, I actually think the music of BLEEDERS is interesting in the sense that at times it could be radio friendly- musically- as the rock can become borderline pop. It can be somewhere between Runaways and Vandals but if you listen to the songs- and not just because of what the words mean- there are a lot of swears in here which are just not suited for the radio. I don't know why, but I've always thought it was funny when you would have these pop songs seemingly made for radio play and then they're just full of f-bombs. So you might think is all squeaky clean somehow for the radio, but yeah, it would take a decent amount of censoring to get songs on the radio because it feels like the closer the music is to the radio the further the words stray from being FCC approved.
This cassette is something which should be played loudly. The music is refreshing and I'm glad someone out there is talking about women and the general mistreatment of them by our society today. I hope that, despite all of my rambling early on, this cassette could be used as a focal point for people- especially men- to either think about ideas they might not have before but most importantly to speak up and take action. It's one thing for someone to say "I'm ___ and you're disrespecting me because I'm ____" but it's so much better when people who aren't that say "Hey, don't respect that person because they're that". Does any of this make sense? Oh well. This site is always open for women to discuss whatever they want. Email me.
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