Proposal for Rock Town Hall Labs: Songs in the Key of Man

Despite quadrennial proclamations in the media of the Year of Women in Rock, rock ‘n roll has remained a male-driven art form. However, the commercial end of the genre requires a broader scope. As any local rock band can tell you, to build an audience, you’ve got to get the ladies in the door and near the stage. For every woman a rock band (male or female led) attracts near the front of the stage at its shows, three dudes in the club pull themselves away from the bar or back of the room and get closer to what’s actually the Main Attraction that night, any night.

For years – and for obvious “chick appeal” – rock bands put good-looking singers up front and set their songs in keys high enough not only to allow the singer to cut through the musicians’ volume and typically poor PA systems in clubs but to make the songs more presentable, slightly less “male” for those first few women willing to stand in a dank club with a bunch of guys fresh from a healthy sprinkling of Mandom. The appeal of the tenor voice predates rock ‘n roll, and pop cultural traditions have even featured men singing in falsettos. The women felt very safe in the presence of Smokey Robinson, for instance. Later in his career, Marvin Gaye would feature his falsetto, luring female listeners into a false sense of security before he’d swoop down into his natural register.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because I heard The Pretenders’ “Talk of the Town” in the car today, and I enjoyed singing along with the song. I don’t have fantastic range let alone great pitch, so I can’t sing along to the rock songs by any old women-led rock band. (Think I don’t wish I could sing along to Heart’s “Magic Man” now and then?) As I fairly easily sang along with Chrissie Hynde, no matter how bad it may have actually sounded coming out of my sunroof to people I was passing on the street, I got to thinking about Sun Records’ Sam Phillips‘ supposed search for a white singer who could sing like a black man. If you believe the legend, Elvis Presley answered Phillips’ prayer.

Then I got to thinking about the value of a woman rock singer who could sing songs in keys men could sing along to. What a perfect combination for manager and/or producer to develop! Women are attracted to one of their own, filling the front of the stage and creating a buzz for the guys at the back bar to gather ’round. Then the guys find themselves getting into a woman who “rocks!” Certainly we’ve evolved to the point that women can occasionally be considered to “rock” in a high-pitched voice that would even challenge Smokey Robinson, but still, there’s got to be some range of notes, maybe unconsciously, that is the preferred range for the artistic and commercial dynamic that makes for successful rock ‘n roll music.

Surely, a consideration of this unstated building block of rock will bring up issues of Rockism, the difference between Blondie songs using Debbie Harry‘s high, dreamy voice (eg, “Dreaming”) and her tough-chick voice (eg, “The Hardest Part”), and more. It is with these hopes and thoughts that I propose Rock Town Hall Labs identify – one and for all – the Key of Man. I thank you in advance for your consideration of this research proposal.