From Gay Head to Goldenrod: the first decade of the Women’s Music Movement in song

Commercial rock and roll has always been a boys’ club. From the success of songs that glamorized abuse and the gross fetishization of women, such as the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” or the Beatles’ “Run For Your Life,” to the male-dominated headlining bands of the 1960s and 70s, little room was left within the music industry for women to make a name for themselves, and many female artists were frustrated with the sexism they experienced. Stemming from this critique of sexism in rock and roll, as well as carrying on the civil rights movement tradition of using music as a driving social force, the Women’s Music Movement began in the early 1970s with the goal to create music by women, about women, for women. With female-run independent labels such as Olivia and Redwood Records formed to put out women’s music, and mail-order catalogues such as Ladyslipper and Goldenrod created to reach a broader audience,  the movement only grew as the years progressed into the 1980s, making boundless steps into accessibility, diversity and cultural sensitivity. What follows is an introduction to the first decade of the Women’s Music Movement, defined through the musical output of powerhouse artists and activists and the significant events that took place around these releases.

1972 

Mountain Moving Day (LP) by the Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Band & the New Haven Women’s Liberation Rock Band (Rounder Records)

“Mountain Moving Day” (1972)

A hard-grooving record with even harder-hitting lyrical content that explores avenues of rock, funk and jazz through rollicking keyboard licks, wandering bass lines and melodic guitar solos. The songs themselves make no secret of their confrontational nature; songs such as “Secretary,” “Abortion Song,” and “Sister Witch” place women’s issues such as sexual harassment, reproductive rights, and forgotten sisterhood front and center, while the song “Papa” tells men not to “lay that shit on” outright. The goal with this album was to expand public consciousness regarding misogyny in rock, and as a result, can be considered one of the very first feminist rock albums, marking the beginning of the Women’s Music Movement. Beyond that, it’s a genuinely fantastic, funky rock-fusion album that more than holds its own unique voice and sound amongst the most popular rock albums of 1972. 

“Angry Atthis” (45) by Maxine Feldman (Harrison & Tyler Productions)

“Angry Atthis” (1972)

Originally written in 1969, but first recorded and released in 1972, “Angry Atthis,” a play on words that references one of Sappho’s girlfriends, is credited as the first performance of an openly lesbian song. Dueling acoustic guitars back Feldman’s warm, rich alto as she opens with the lines, “I hate not being able / To hold my lover’s hand / ‘Cept under some dimly lit table / Afraid of being who I am,” setting the solemn tone for the rest of the song. Feldman’s voice rapidly roughens as her lyrics grow increasingly furious at how the world forces lesbians to hide their relationships, branding them as dangers to society, and she closes by defiantly proclaiming that she is “No longer afraid of being / A lesbian.” “Angry Atthis” follows in the bare-bones folk tradition of 1960s protest songs, its release making way for lesbian music to be made synonymous with women’s music, and in the years following, a combination of lesbian-feminist folk-rock would come to emerge as the standout genre of the movement. 

The Formation of Redwood Records

Singer-songwriter and activist Holly Near founded the independent label Redwood Records with the goal of producing politically-conscious music from activist-artists like herself. Not only was she one of the first women to form an independent label, she would go on to produce a large majority of her solo albums on the label. Unlike Olivia, formed the year afterwards, Redwood was not formed with the sole purpose of producing women’s music, but in the years to follow, Near would contribute heavily to the output of women’s music, as well as headline shows and festivals, gaining acclaim for her protest music and peace ballads. She would also go on to have a varied career, collaborating on albums with artists such as Cris Williamson, and maintaining a steady stream of solo releases into the present day.

Redwood Records Brochure

1973

Lavender Jane Loves Women (LP) by Alix Dobkin (Women’s Wax Works)

“Lavender Jane Loves Women” (1973)

Lavender Jane Loves Women is a groundbreaking album for many reasons. In sound, it is wide-open, vulnerable folk, quavering flutes and percussive acoustic guitar backing Dobkin’s earnest mezzo-soprano. In lyricism, it is a homespun, heartfelt letter to lesbian love that emphasizes the importance of independence, female empowerment, and pride in one’s lesbian identity. Lavender Jane is considered to be the first album brought into fruition by a team of entirely female musicians, sound engineers, and vinyl manufacturers, as well as the first overtly lesbian album to be released. The record closes with the song “View from Gay Head” that proudly proclaims “It is a pleasure to be a lesbian” and “Any woman can be a lesbian,” two simple, yet affirming statements that make clear the music on the album has been made by gay women for gay women, a route many of its successors would soon follow. However, at the time it was released, it was the only album that provided a multi-faceted glance at what it was to be a lesbian; domesticity, hope, puppy love, partnership, sisterhood, the importance of finding and standing up for oneself, and of ultimate pride in one’s lesbian identity.

The Birth of Olivia Records

In the very same year, a group of young radical lesbians known as the Furies gathered in Washington, D.C. with the hopes of creating something by women, for women, and solely supported by women’s money. Two of these women, Meg Christian and Ginny Berson, interviewed singer-songwriter Cris Williamson on WGTB Georgetown Radio on the show Sophie’s Parlor (March 6, 1973), where Williamson first pitched the idea of starting a women’s record company. Just days later, five women, (Ginny Berson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, Kate Winter and Jennifer Woodul), formed the original Olivia collective, named after a 1940s pulp novelette centering on young lesbian love.

The Olivia Records Collective

Sweet Honey In The Rock

Founded by singer-songwriter and activist Bernice Johnson Reagon, the original composition of Sweet Honey In The Rock was as a four-part, all-female acapella group that utilized collective singing as a form of protest and expression of their history as Black women. They would go on to produce an album, B’lieve I’ll Run On…. See What The End’s Gonna Be, on Holly Near’s Redwood Records in 1978.

“Lady” (1974)

1974

“Lady” / “If It Weren’t for the Music” (45) by Meg Christian & Cris Williamson (Olivia Records)

The first experimental release from the newly-formed Olivia Records was a single, with Meg Christian’s cover of Carole King’s “Lady”on the a-side, paired with Cris Williamson’s original “If It Weren’t for the Music” on the B-side. The single initially flopped, but after Christian went on tour in order to publicize its release, almost $11,000 was raised to fund the production of her first album, which would soon become the first album released by Olivia.

I Know You Know (LP) by Meg Christian (Olivia Records)

“I Know You Know” (1974)

A charming blend of folk and soft rock, Christian’s debut album is defined by her delicately complex classical guitar riffs and measured style of singing, often harmonizing with her own lead vocals. Christian doesn’t shy away from poignant lyrics, the opening track “Hello, Hooray” as fitting for the opening number of a star-making musical as it is opening Olivia’s first full-length release on a note of long-awaited excitement. Christian may be best-remembered for the track “Ode to a Gym Teacher” that speaks good-humoredly on an adolescent lesbian’s painfully apparent crush on her gym teacher, but she excels equally at loving, rich ballads such as “Valentine’s Song.” True to Olivia’s mission, I Know You Know was entirely produced by women, with Cris Williamson contributing drums and songwriter Margie Adam contributing both synthesizer and piano. 

The National Women’s Music Festival

The first National Women’s Music Festival was held in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and co-headlined by Margie Adam, Cris Williamson and Meg Christian. This, along with festivals at SSU and SDSU the year prior, allowed for a more diverse range of acts due to the extended timeframe of a music festival, and gave many genres and performers a larger audience.

The National Women’s Music Festival Collective in 1979, via the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library

1975

The Changer and the Changed (LP) by Cris Williamson (Olivia Records)

“The Changer and the Changed” (1975)

Olivia’s second release, The Changer and the Changed has the distinction of being the best-selling women’s music album on an independent label of all time, selling over a quarter of a million copies, and contributed to by some of the heaviest hitters in the women’s music scene at the time, including Meg Christian, Margie Adam, Ginny Berson, Holly Near, and Woody Simmons. Changer is a significant departure in sound from Olivia’s first release, turning from Christian’s homespun folk to polished soft rock that utilizes a stacked cast of musical instruments and styles, ranging anywhere from country-western to warm piano ballads. The album’s lyrical content heavily emphasized community and sisterhood, songs such as “Sister” containing the lyrics, “Lean on me / I am your sister / Believe on me / I am your friend,” while the opening track, “Waterfall,” became a popular sing-along song forthe lyrics, “You’ve got to spill some over / Over all / Filling up and spilling over / It’s an endless waterfall.” Williamson, like Christian, also included songs that were unabashedly lesbian in content, “Sweet Woman” and “Shooting Star” both containing lyrics that reference open, wholehearted lesbian love, departing drastically from the dark bars Maxine Feldman described in “Angry Atthis.” 

Goldenrod Music

Started in Michigan as a women’s music distribution company by Terry Grant, Goldenrod allowed more open access to independent women’s music for women who could not afford festivals, or were afraid to be seen in lesbian company at a show. Mail-order catalogues and nondescript packaging allowed women to discover music that spoke positively about women’s issues and lesbian love without the risk of outing themselves.

1976

Where Would I Be Without You (LP) by Pat Parker & Judy Grahn (Olivia Records)

“Where Would I Be Without You” (1976)

Olivia’s first foray into poetry, Where Would I Be Without You is a powerful collection of lesbian-feminist poetry that benefits as much from delivery and production as it does the words themselves. Parker and Grahn take a decisively lo-fi approach to recording their spoken word; mumbled introductions, faint studio chatter and laughter are deliberately left in, creating the ambience of a small room poetry reading. Where Would I Be Without You was formed through the union of a Black and white poet, celebrating an interracial relationship and bringing distinctly  different points of views to the lesbian experience that could be consolidated into a single album of politically-conscious material. 

Margie Adam. Songwriter. (LP) by Margie Adam (Pleiades Records)

Although she’d worked with the likes of Meg Christian, Cris Williamson and Holly Near for years beforehand, contributing piano and vocals to their albums, Margie Adam’s debut record was released on her own label, Pleiades, in 1976. A showcase for

“Margie Adam. Songwriter” (1976)

the clean sounds of her piano, supplemented with dreamy synthesizers, rich harmonies and Adam’s mellow mezzo-soprano, Margie Adam is full of sweet, thoughtful soft rock and piano-intensive ballads. Although “Best Friend (The Unicorn Song)” best exemplifies Adam’s whimsical, gentle approach to songwriting, vampy standards like “Sleazy” are equally within her wheelhouse, allowing her to show off a full lower range, both in writing and voice.

Ladyslipper Music

Formed in Durham, North Carolina by Laurie Fuchs, Ladyslipper was a lesbian-feminist women’s music catalogue created to make women’s music more attainable for women who were unable to attend festivals, selling mail-order records by women’s artists such as Sweet Honey In The Rock and Holly Near. Ladyslipper quickly expanded into the primary source of attaining women’s music in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, publishing live show listings in their catalogues, and providing a safe, simple way for women to get their hands on music centered around lesbian experiences, without risk of hostility. 

An example of a Ladyslipper catalogue, courtesy of the Duke Digital Repository

Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival

The first Michfest was created, staffed, headlined by and attended exclusively by women. Clothing was optional, and over 9000 women were said to have attended, with the festival making extensive ventures into accessibility, such as camping accommodations for women with physical disabilities, wheelchair access for audiences, and sign language interpreters accompanying many of the acts, with a focus on cultural sensitivity (for example, a Black sign language interpreter would interpret a Black artist’s set). Deemed the “city of women,” Michfest may be the best remembered of women’s music festivals, providing a safe space for women to sing about heavy issues like rape and sexual harassment in the company of hundreds of other women, with lesbians being able to find large-scale community and solidarity.

Performers at the first Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, courtesy of their Facebook page

1977

Lesbian Concentrate (LP) by Various Artists (Olivia Records)

“Lesbian Concentrate” (1977)

A direct response to Florida Citrus Commission ambassador Anita Bryant’s homophobic “Save Our Children” campaign, Lesbian Concentrate was the largest collaboration of prominent women’s music artists to date, featuring songs and performances by Linda Tillery, Meg Christian, Teresa Trull, Cris Williamson, Judy Grahn, Gwen Avery, Mary Watkins, Pat Parker, Holly Near, the Berkeley Women’s Music Collective and more. A compilation of music and poetry with overtly lesbian themes, emphasizing love, collective action and lesbian-feminist activism, Lesbian Concentrate was marketed as a “Lesbianthology,” a portion of the proceeds being donated to the Lesbian Mothers National Defense Fund, and the inside sleeve containing a list of lesbian/feminist community organizations for each state. This album was also the first on Oliva Records to speak out overtly against homophobia and Bryant’s misinformation campaign, which claimed that gay people were “corrupting America’s youth,” in the liner notes.

Sandy Stone, Sound Engineer

Sandy Stone was the standout sound engineer within the Olivia Collective, recording and mixing all of Olivia’s output from 1974-1978. She has left a lasting mark on women’s music, assisting on Cris Williamson’s The Changer and the Changed and engineering Pat Parker and Judy Grahn’s Where Would I Be Without You most notably. In 1977, complications began to arise regarding her work, as some lesbian-feminists believed that Stone, a transgender woman, did not have a place in the women’s music business, claiming she was taking opportunities away from cisgender women. In response, Olivia stood firmly behind Stone, commenting that to define Stone primarily by her transgenderism was stigmatizing, and that the women in their technical department were thrilled to be working with her. This stance prompted the threat of a boycott of Olivia products within the two years following, and, in 1979, Stone would end up leaving the Olivia collective amidst much transphobic debate within the public, although Olivia would continue to support her. She went on to embark on a career in academia and transgender studies.

Sandy Stone at the mixing desk, via Trans Artivism

Olivia Records relocates from Los Angeles, California to Oakland, California.

1978

Olivia Launches “The Varied Voices of Black Women” Tour

Program from “The Varied Voices of Black Women” tour

Black artists and activists Mary Watkins, Gwen Avery, Linda Tillery and Pat Parker headlined “The Varied Voices of Black Women” tour, featuring a blend of music and poetry. Tillery, Watkins and Parker had all released an album on Olivia in the years preceding the tour (Linda Tillery (1977), Something Moving (1978), and Where Would I Be Without You (1976), respectively), and all four women had contributed to 1977’s Lesbian Concentrate. A celebration of Black lesbian-feminist culture and identity, the tour served as a space for lesbians of color to express themselves, a way to broaden the white lesbian-feminist community’s parameters of lesbian culture, and a call to attention for the work Black lesbian-feminists were doing in the movement. 

1983

Unexpected (LP) by Teresa Trull & Barbara Higbie (Second Wave Records)

“Unexpected” (1983)

The second album released on the Olivia subsidiary Second Wave, producer and singer-songwriter artist Teresa Trull collaborated with pianist and singer-songwriter Barbara Higbie to create a lushly orchestrated album that starts off in ballad form, switches to 80s electro-pop midway through, and ends with a foray into funk and country-western. Trull had worked with Olivia prior, collaborating on Lesbian Concentrate (1977) and releasing two solo albums, The Ways A Woman Can Be in 1977 and Let it Be Known in 1980. Higbie is primarily known for her instrumental output, going on to be nominated for a GRAMMY, but her collaboration with Trull remains a dynamic force within the timeline of the women’s music movement. 

1984

HOT WIRE: The Journal of Women’s Music and Culture

Publisher Toni Armstrong Jr founded HOT WIRE: The Journal of Women’s Music and Culture in 1984; it ran for 30 issues, covering music, film, events, women’s history and more. Unique to the magazine, each issue came with a soundsheet stapled to the back that served as a sampler of current women’s music and could be played on a regular turntable, expanding upon the accessibility that catalogues such as Goldenrod and Ladyslipper had begun providing in the 1970s. 

A 1985 issue of HOT WIRE: The Journal of Women’s Music and Culture via hotwirejournal.com

It is important to note that this timeline is not comprehensive; these selections have been chosen for their significance in advancing the historical timeline along, in order to give readers unfamiliar with the movement a basic understanding of the women involved and their musical output. Women’s music is a diverse, colorful, multi-faceted movement that continued well beyond the 1980s, and contains a multitude of talented artists and musical output beyond what was mentioned in this article. In fact, many of the artists mentioned still perform today, many of them at the Freight & Salvage here in Berkeley, California. Influential women’s music artists such as Holly Near, Teresa Trull and Barbara Higbie have all performed at the Freight within the last month (as of April 2023), and artists such as Cris Williamson continue to release albums into the 21st century. When we speak of the women’s music movement, we are not speaking of dead and gone history, we are speaking of dynamic, living people who continue to contribute to women’s causes through their art and who graciously welcome newcomers with open arms. It is important to understand the history of the movement and uplift the women who were so significant in expanding lesbian visibility through their activism, but as long as there are women making music for women, about women, the women’s music movement will never have a true ‘end date.’ In all senses, women’s music persists, and this author can only hope that her readers will go forth and explore the rich body of work the movement has to offer.

Article by Gianna Caudillo

Design by Emily Conway