McCarthy, Amy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2183-3816 (2018) ‘I’m Not with the Band’: Revising the Rock ‘n’ Roll Groupie Narrative through the #MeToo Campaign. In: Memory Colloquium, 20 May 2018, University of Sheffield. (Unpublished)

Slideshow ‘I’m Not with the Band’ Revising the Rock ‘n’ Roll Groupie Narrative through the #MeToo Campaign..pptx - Submitted Version Download (2MB)

Abstract

This oral paper will explore the romanticised image of the rock ‘n’ roll groupie in relation to the #MeToo movement. I will analyse the portrayal of groupies in Pamela Des Barres’ memoir I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie (1987) and how Barres’ account becomes a fictionalised manifestation in Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous (2000). In both accounts of the groupie she is a muse to the artist and an almost mythical creature sculpted for the male gaze. By revisiting these texts after the monumental success of the recent #MeToo campaign, I will raise the question of whether the groupie has become an image that has been warped and distorted to fit the mould of the romanticised narrative cemented in popular culture. In recent years, the groupie only appears in the media as a spectre from a “golden age” of music. Campaign groups, such as GirlsAgainst and SafeGigs4Women, fight to uncover the exploitation and sexual harassment of girls and women by musicians - therefore dismantle the gendered hierarchy of adoring female fan and the male rock musician. Inspired by campaigns against sexual harassment in the music industry, women who identified as groupies during the 1970s and 1980s are now revisiting their accounts. This presentation will suggest the mainstream attention of gender studies in the twenty-first century has shaped the recollection of the groupie myth and reveals the abuse and inequality women have and continue to face in the music industry.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Unpublished
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Films P Language and Literature > PS American literature
School/Department:	School of Humanities
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/6440

University Staff: Request a correction | RaY Editors: Update this record