The song David Bowie used to fight sexism: “I wanted to break down a type of sexist attitude”
When people think about David Bowie, they often think about his eccentricity. Bowie was never afraid to adopt characters within his work and write almost from a fictional point of view. Much of his work was heavily conceptual, and it meant that while people enjoyed it, they couldn’t relate to it; instead, they viewed it as a narrative they could view rather than connect with.
Bowie didn’t only write from a fictional point of view, though. While he enjoyed concept work and getting into character, he also knew the power that music could have and was aware of his platform. As such, in Bowie’s music, he was often happy to sing about social causes that he cared about.
This can clearly be heard in his 1980 track ‘It’s No Game’, which both opens and closes the album Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. The way that the song changes from the opener to the closer is interesting, as it becomes softer at the end of the album and much more accessible; however, the sentiment remains the same, as it is one where Bowie is voicing disdain about the way women are treated and expected to behave.
In the opening version of the song, Bowie is accompanied by Michi Hirota, a female Japanese singer. She approaches the song with real tenacity, screaming the words and being emotive throughout. This was all very intentional by Bowie, as he wanted a woman to be an accurate reflection of a woman instead of a subdued and receptive version.
“I wanted to break down a particular type of sexist attitude about women,” he said, “I thought the [idea of] the ‘Japanese girl’ typifies it, where everyone pictures them as a geisha girl, very sweet, demure and non-thinking, when in fact that’s the absolute opposite of what women are like.”
Bowie continued: “They think an awful lot, with quite as much strength as any man. I wanted to caricature that attitude by having a very forceful Japanese voice on it. So I had [Hirota] come out with a very samurai kind of thing.”
Bowie had a point. It is clear in everyday life, but especially in music from the ‘80s and before, that while men were encouraged to emote and push beyond the barriers of just something sounding nice, the same didn’t seem to apply to women. If a female singer displays anger or any kind of extreme emotion in her music, people struggle to connect because it’s something they’re not used to. They are quick to label a woman as “unhinged” as opposed to someone simply trying to express themselves.
By using female vocals with a deeper layer, Bowie showed what music could sound like when women were permitted to engage with their full vocal range. Though attitudes towards female singers and emotion are still prevalent, they aren’t as heavy these days, and it will be thanks to tracks like ‘It’s No Game’.
