MP3 REVIEW: Potty Mouth “Hell Bent”

                While 2013 has officially been dubbed “The Year of Music” by me, it is also a year, looking back at it now, where several other questions and notions sort of lingered throughout.    One such idea was that of “female music”, which I saw someone shoot down as being sexist yet I see it as more descriptive than anything else.

                Here is the funny part though: While you can pick apart each band and wonder how to describe them in their “female music” is up to you, I guess.   To say that they have a female singer is not sexist to me, but perhaps saying they have a female drummer could be perceived as such.  (Cadillac Blindside, for example, was an all male band except for the female drummer)

                Aside from all of that and the yet unanswered question of what happens when a band has a male and female singer (Funny, the person who started this whole debate with me no longer replies to my emails), I find a band like Potty Mouth to  be most refreshing as they are made up entirely of females. 

                Though I know it is simply not the case, the first band that comes to my mind always when thinking of all women rock groups is always going to be The Runaways.   I know that there are some more recent, and probably even more recent than Wild Flag for instance, but I just don’t think about them.

                You know, when I was growing up, I don’t remember having a lot of positive female role models, not just in music but in general.  The only female musician I can really name who has become somewhat of a household name from my adolescence is Courtney Love and forgive me if I want better for my son than that.

                Along with that raw talent that comes with The Runaways, Potty Mouth shows some signs of bands like Muffs and The Mr. T Experience.   They have a melodic sort of punk feel that doesn’t necessarily make you want to smash stuff, but it doesn’t make you want to remain still either.

                I am also contractually obligated by Warner Bros. Records, Inc. to point out that Potty Mouth does in fact sound like a better version of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s.

                As I try to dig deeper into the idea of “female music” and why people think it’s a bad term, I can definitely say that, no, it should not matter if the drummer, bassist or guitarist for this band is male or female.  Really, the vocals shouldn’t matter either, as you should be able to tell when listening and if you can’t then all the more better.

                (Side Note: I’ve always wanted to review music based upon the music itself more than the vocals.  I’d compare bands with male vocals to Blondie and female vocals to The Doors, so that when you put it on yourself you wouldn’t know if a guy or girl was about to sing.  But alas, I feel as if I have not reached that point of, shall we say, ambiguity yet)

                Overall, I do feel like this needs to be celebrated as “female music” in some ways just because it’s not your typical woman singing with men backing her up (think No Doubt), but rather a group of women who are beating the men (in a male dominated world, mind you) at their own game.