Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground (Live Girls) [Paperback]

Maria Raha (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2004 | Series: Live Girls

Cinderella's Big Score celebrates the contributions of punk's oft-overlooked female artists, explores the latent—and not so latent—sexism of indie rock (so often thought of as hallowed ground of progressive movements), and tells the story of how these women created spaces for themselves in a sometimes limited or exclusionary environment. The indie music world is littered with women who have not only withstood the racket of punk's intolerance, but have twisted our societal notions of femininity in knots. Raha focuses on the United States and England in the 70s and 80s, and illuminates how the seminal women of this time shaped the female rockers of the 90s and today. Groups profiled range from The Runaways, The Slits, and The Plasmatics to L7, Sleater-Kinney, and Le Tigre. The book includes women not often featured in "women in rock" titles, such as Exene Cervenka of X, Eve Libertine and Joy de Vivre of Crass, and Poison Ivy Rorschach of the Cramps. Rare interviews and more than forty black-and-white photographs are included in this tribute to the transgressive women of the underground music scene.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

From Patti Smith and the Runaways to newer stars, veteran rock scribe Raha introduces "the women . . . instrumental in shaping punk and indie underground music," members of "a community which proudly rejects the societal and cultural norms." Contending that "punk rock as a movement has changed the face of music forever," Raha dissects women's involvement in it, including the often-unwanted roles sex and appearance play in the perception of women in rock. The Runaways resembled the Monkees and the Sex Pistols, what with manager Kim Fowley calling the shots and band members chafing under them; Raha compares their career and those of the likes of L7, the Butchies, and Tribe 8, whose forthright lyrics and sonic assaults are more feminist than feminine. She shows that the Cramps' Poison Ivy is a mover and shaker in her own right, like such others as Exene Cervenka, Debbie Harry, and Wendy O. Williams (of the shaving-cream-shirt wardrobe malfunction). Raha lets them all tell their stories in a treasure trove for pop-music and punk-culture cognoscenti. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (December 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580051162
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051163
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,029,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Shoddy research!, December 24, 2008

By 

Jenny Lens (Santa Monica) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground (Live Girls) (Paperback)

I contributed photos to this piece of poorly researched crock of smelly crap. I could barely stomach the first chapters because I read so many inaccuracies, whether about Blondie, Runaways, Go-Go's, X and others. The author had access to people like myself, who know the dates, quotes, locations, etc. She lifted text from other books, which were not correct either. Terrible research! How can anyone pay any attention to something which has easy to verify mistakes? Horrible horrible horrible. I wrote the author, who said she had researchers. Well, they didn't do their job! Total disrespect for the women she purports to admire. HYPOCRITE.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment., July 1, 2009

By 

X. Chren "subculture enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground (Live Girls) (Paperback)

I was very excited upon finding this book. "At last, a book for all the women in punk I've admired!" I thought. Though the author does a fine job in her selection of women for the book, the writing is mediocre, to say the least.

The book could have been an interesting dissertation into what it's like to be a minority in an alternative scene. However, the chapters lack any reference to movements within specific time periods. There is no analysis of what the women have done for the punk scene in terms of musicianship and effects of lyrical content; instead, Raha writes as if she is a starstruck fan, only able to spew praise and nothing but.

The author should have thought out a better approach towards writing about an impressive list of women in a scene that already has a roster of many underdeveloped and underwritten books to its name. However, the style of Raha's writing and her lack of insight makes the book ultimately fall under said category.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars pretty good, January 23, 2007

By 

Avid Listener (Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground (Live Girls) (Paperback)

Raha's book is pretty good but has some flaws nevertheless. The author seems to be too harsh on non-indie musicians, as if nothing of any worth has ever come from any of them.
Also, she seems to be trying to write objectively, but her opinions and tastes come through in her writing sometimes. Just as an example, she doesn't seem to be too fond of Bikini Kill's music(maybe that's just my impression but she seems to feel the need to justify their technical flaws, despite the fact that they weren't any worse than many bands in this book, let alone in punk in general, and the fact that technical aptitude is far from being extremely important in punk. There seem to be some omissions as well, among them neglecting to mention how Mia Zapata of the Gits died and how it affected the community. Still, if that's in order to concentrate on her life instead of her death, then omitting the information was a good decision.
Despite all its flaws, the book is very informative and serves as a great testament to some of the amazing punk/indie women of the past and present, who, despite their talents, efforts(in many cases both musical and activist) and influence, constantly get overlooked in most punk/indie chronicles.