Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Readers interested in punk rock music in general and women's contributions to the genre in particular will relish Cinderella's Big Score: Women Of The Punk And Indie Underground, a tribute to punk rock's female artists. Maria Raha works for Spin and Vibe magazines: her focus on the U.S. and English punk rockers of the 1970s and 80s details how women influenced groups of the times, and beyond. Recording history influence and background blends with details on the lives and contributions of major female musicians and groups.

as a huge fan of great rock books like Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 and Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (An Evergreen book) i was pretty excited to discover this book--i believe through amazon recommendations. as great as those books are, and they are two of the best, i always felt that the signifigant women of the american music underground and international punk scene are reduced to short mentions, mostly in relation to people with whom they were sleeping. sure exene cervenka and hellen killer get worthy and thoughful mentions in We Got the Neutron Bomb : The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, but with 'cinderella's big score' there was finally an entire book dedicated to all the great female rockers of the lastforty years or so, right?

hell. no. this is a cursory glance at a scattershot selection of musicians and bands. it's almost painfully simple and the terse writing style suggests someone with the bare minimum of skills. i often felt like i was reading some angsty teenager's soppy journal entries and remedial english class essays on her favorite bands. phrases like "abortive" and "s**theap" spring to mind.

it's a fantastic idea for a book. in fact there are so many bands covered in this book it's an amazing idea for two or three or four books, which if handled by a competent author would be phenomenal reads. and i think that's one of the biggest problems: raha was so excited about this project that she seems to have tried to shoe-horn in every band that fit the mold, but mid project realized what a herculean task she'd undertaken and half-assed it the rest of the way. honestly i learned more about these bands by reading their all music guide entries than the helplessly compiled drivel in this trainwreck of a book. also, no thank you for sullying the title of an excellent sonic youth title.

boo-urns.

This is a great book from a person's point of view regarding many of my favorite bands. I am not completely done reading it but I like it so far.