Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos

by Adrienne Trier-Bieniek

Overview

Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos explores the many-layered relationships female fans build with feminist musicians in general and with Tori Amos, in particular. Using original interview research with more than forty fans of Tori Amos, multiple observer-participant experiences at Amos’s concerts, and critical content analysis of Amos’s lyrics and larger body of work, Adrienne Trier-Bieniek utilizes a combination of gender, emotions, music, and activism to unravel the typecasts plaguing female fans. Trier-Bieniek aggressively challenges the popular culture stereotypes that have painted all female fans as screaming, crying teenage girls who are unable to control themselves when a favorite (generally male) performer occupies the stage.

In stunning contrast, admirers of Tori Amos comprise a more introspective category of fan. Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman examines the wide range of stories from these listeners, exploring how Amos’s female fans are unique because Amos places the experiences of women at the center of her music. Tori Amos’s fan base is considered devoted because of the deeply emotional, often healing, connection they have to her music, an aspect that has been overlooked, particularly in sociological and cultural research on gender, emotions and music.

Tori Amos’s female fans as a social phenomenon are vital for understanding the multi-layered relationships women can have with female singer/songwriters. At a time when superficial women dominate public media presentations, from the Kardashians to the “Real Housewives,” the relationship between Tori Amos and her fans illustrates the continuous search by women for female performers who challenge patriarchal standards in popular culture. Trier-Bieniek’s research serves as a springboard for further study of women in pop culture whose purpose is to empower and provoke their fans, as well as change society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810885516
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/06/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	186
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, PhD, is currently professor of sociology at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. She has published in the journals Qualitative Research, Humanity and Society, is a contributor to The Art of Social Critique: Painting Mirrors of Social Life and has been a guest columnist for The Orlando Sentinel. Adrienne regularly contributes to organizations seeking advice or information on music and healing. Further information can be found at www.adriennetrier-bieniek.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 "Cock Rock" and "Teenybop": Finding Gender in Pop Music 15

2 Challenging the Pop Culture Portrait of Female Fans 33

3 Musical Healing 57

4 Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman 77

5 "I Felt Like I Should Do Something" 99

6 Moving Forward 117

Appendix: Methods, My Position as a Tori Amos Fan, and Further Information 131

Notes 149

Bibliography 157

Index 161

About the Author 169

Editorial Reviews

Trier-Bieniek’s masterful blend of qualitative information with sociological theory and her focus exclusively on the fans of Tori Amos makes this contribution to female music fan research unique and valuable. She makes astute observations about the labels that female performers and fans often encounter, and she uses transparent methodology, insightful questions, and thorough observations, including notes about vocal inflection, body language, and emotional responses, to draw reasonable conclusions about the impact that Tori Amos has had on the women that she interviewed. Additionally, the many personal stories that Trier-Bieniek shares from her interviews highlight much of what makes music important to those who study it, including how these female fans bonded with Amos’s music and each other, how they used the music to heal themselves and others, and how they found their own voices. Trier-Bieniek’s book is recommended for any music library as well as any scholar who wishes to study popular music, Tori Amos, female musicians and their stereotypes, fans of female musicians and their stereotypes, feminism in music, and feminist activism in music.

ARSC Journal

It's refreshing to come across a study of a genuine, modern day feminist icon that examines her relationship with her female fans. Sing Us a Song branches out into a wider exploration of female fan culture, the relationship between feminist music and activism, along with the stereotyping of women both performing and consuming music, but Tori remains a guiding light throughout.. . .Trier-Bienieck begins by dissecting the restrictive stereotypes of gender in pop culture - from 'cock rock' to 'teenybop' - which perpetuate themselves by constantly reminding young men and women of how they're expected to behave. She challenges the perception of many female pop stars as powerful, arguing that all too often they are silenced by the men who dominate the industry and who write, negotiate and profit on their behalf.. . .Sing Us a Song is a valuable contribution to pop music studies and will hopefully open the door for more examinations of female experiences.

The F Word

This book makes significant contributions to our understanding of female fan culture, the relationship between feminist music and feminist activism and how feminist musicians negotiate and challenge stereotypes in popular culture. As Adrienne Trier-Bieniek persuasively points out, female fans have largely been ignored in studies of fandom and music.

Patricia Leavy

This study paves the way for future research on female singer-songwriters and their multifaceted relationships to fan culture. The text serves as a strong resource for fans of Amos, sociologists, feminists, and people investigating the role of women in music.

Journal of American Culture

What are female fans of popular music seeking and hearing when they listen to music and attend concerts? In an innovative and fascinating study entitled Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos, Adrienne Trier-Bieniek goes inside the fan culture that surrounds Tori Amos and examines why her music appeals to her fans and how they make meaning of her music. Drawing on feminist standpoint theory and symbolic interaction theory, Trier-Bieniek helps us understand the diverse ways that fans interpret music and how music can have a very personal meaning.

New Books Network

Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman is a timely text that broadens the scope and significance of fan studies. By accentuating the voices of women who self-identify as Tori Amos fans, Adrienne Trier-Bieniek uncovers the complex and meaningful ways in which popular music can be a considerable catalyst for empowerment, healing, and feminist activism.

Rebekah Farrugia

Any music history or women's studies library will be interested in acquiring Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman. It explores now only Tori's music, but how female fans bond with feminist musicians; and it examines and analyzes her lyrics and music with an eye to blending in issues of gender and activism. Social studies classes will appreciate the focus on cultural stereotypes and how Amos represented a type of fan that went beyond the image of the screaming teen to analyze more intellectual lyrics. The focus on women's emotions and a more mature musical style makes for a powerful survey recommended for any college-level collection looking for more than light biography.

Midwest Book Review

In Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos, sociologist Adrienne Trier-Bieniek examines the myriad ways in which fans—particularly women–identify with female singer-songwriters like Amos and how these fans turn to her music for therapeutic purposes. Through her own interviews with more than 40 fans, critical analysis of Amos’ lyrics and examination of the life experiences that shaped the artist (and person) Amos is today, the author attempts to unravel this phenomenon.. . .The book focuses not just on the therapeutic uses of music, but also addresses the topics of gender, activism (such as Amos’ own involvement with RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) and the methods by which female performers navigate—and oppose—the many limiting stereotypes of women so prevalent in pop culture. Ultimately, Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman shines a spotlight on the motivation and experiences of female fans, an audience often overlooked in traditional studies of music and fandom.

Boxx

Until now, our understanding of fans and fan culture has focused primarily on men, or on the female fans of male rockers and boy bands. In this book, Adrienne Trier-Bieniek takes a long, deep look at Tori Amos' fans – and explores how women relate to the music and musicians that empower them. It's long overdue.

Beth Winegarner