We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock [Hardcover]

Gerri Hirshey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2001

Rock and roll has traditionally been a boys' game. A male-controlled field, it forced female artists to work twice as hard, usually for half the recognition. No matter the obstacles, however, women have always been drawn to the restless life of the road, to the glamour of the stage, to the need to make a joyful noise. Beginning in the early days with Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson, and Maybelle Carter, Hirshey takes us on a wild ride through a century of popular music and the women who made it. We are whispered to in the dark night of Janis Joplin's soul and pinioned to the studio wall by Aretha's mighty pipes. We listen in as Phil Spector and Ellie Greenwich build the Ronettes' perfect pop moment, "Be My Baby." Joni Mitchell rewrites womanhood, and Debbie Harry and Patti Smith tear it down again. We meet Madonna at nineteen, debating what she's willing to do for a record deal, and find out what Tina Turner thinks of being called a victim. Hirshey gleefully deconstructs vitriol queen Courtney Love, country darling Dolly Parton, neohippie Sarah McLachlan, and provocateur fatale Lil' Kim. Whitney Houston and Cher elucidate the meaning of diva, while Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott look to the female rock star of the future. Through it all, one of rock's best journalists delivers a passionate history of women in rock that is deft, provocative, and always deeply entertaining.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It was the "chick" that came before the "women in rock" tag; and it was the women rockers' need to break out that made them fly the coop. So argues Rolling Stone road warrior Hirshey (Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music) in this unabashedly subjective history lite. That's not to say that this study doesn't serve a purpose. With its rapid-fire alliteration ("Punk poetics were determinedly pustular"), jump-cut transitions and discussion of fashion, this could act as a hip primer for readers new to the field. To her credit, Hirshey also emphasizes deserving hip-hop up-and-comers like Lauryn Hill and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott. Coverage, however, often favors those whom Hirshey has previously interviewed for Rolling Stone and other publications. Although Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Cher, Madonna and Whitney Houston get their due, on the flip side, people from blues heavyweights (Ma Rainey) to riot grrrls (Kathleen Hannah) get short shrift. Some of Hirshey's commentary, e.g., her profile of Blondie singer/songwriter Deborah Harry, appeared in Rolling Stone's 1997 "Women in Rock" issue. Though definitiveness was never her goal, Hirshey's stab at "women in rock" is neither tough nor substantive enough to satisfy those whose rock reading has moved beyond the pages of glossy mags. Agent, Philippa Brophy at Sterling Lord Literistic. (Apr.)Forecast: While this volume will find its way into the hands of college-age women, it's unlikely to reach a much wider readership.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Rolling Stone veteran journalist Hirshey (Nowhere To Run: The Story of Soul Music) tries to pack the history of women in rock into 288 pages; it doesn't work, and not solely because of the page crunch. To her credit, Hirshey starts with rock's foremother the blues but she continues down an uneven path. Her lineage of female foundation-layers is scant and scattered. Few pages sometimes just paragraphs are allocated to ground-breakers like Bessie Smith and Janis Joplin. She relies too heavily on her vault of rock interviews to fill pages (some of the information previously appeared in Rolling Stone's special "Women in Rock" issue in 1997). As a result, those artists she has never met are often slighted. All in all, this effort reads like an informal diary of her relationship with her rock gal pals. Not recommended; instead, public libraries should invest in Gillian G. Gaar's She's a Rebel (Seal Pr., 1992) and Barbara O'Dair's The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock: Trouble Girls (LJ 1/97). Robert Morast, "Argus Leader Daily," Sioux Falls, SD
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; First Edition edition (April 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871137887
• ISBN-13: 978-0871137883
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,757,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the worst books on "rock", November 16, 2003

By 

Jacob Whatley "jake_iw" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock (Paperback)

Gerri Hirshey reveals in We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock that the press coverage of women in "rock" in 1997 was one of the reasons she wrote this book. Her point is to establish that women were always there in "rock." [Hershey's use of the term "rock" is elastic enough to include Mariah Cover and Celine Dion among others.]
The full title of her book is We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock. After reading the book, you may feel the full title of the book should be: We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock and the Clothes They Wore And the Way They Did Their Hair and Makeup.

If you're interested in hearing about the evolution of the Ronettes hair, then this is the book for you. Hirshey also manages to get Ronnie Spector on record discussing the very important musical issue of "eye liner" at length.

Hirshey appears defensive early in the book when she explains that clothes and make up are so very important. Why even James Brown has told her about the first outfit he wore on stage. That may be so but neglects to mention the outrage of Rolling Stone readers when Hirshey's Rolling Stone Interview with Tina Turner graced the magazine in the eighties. Readers used to a comprehensive discussion of the musician's recordings (past and present) were distressed to find nothing on music but everything on clothes. Hirshey breathlessly panting over the skirt Tina wore to Live Aid demonstrated the obvious limitations of her reporting. Surely, any other RS interviewer bringing up Live Aid might have asked about the humanitarian nature of the concerts themselves or about how you connect with an audience when you are one of many performers and your on stage time is so brief.

Leave it to Hirshey to focus on Tina's skirt and set the record for all time worst Rolling Stone Interview. (One wisely left out of the book The Rolling Stone Interviews: The 1980s.)

Her focus on fashion at the expense of music should cause her to feel defensive when writing a book on music. More to the point, her glaring lack of music history should embarrass her. I stopped counting factual errors in this book after I reached one hundred. But I was left with the clear impression that Hirshey knows little about popular music (rock, pop, soul or whatever).
More importantly, I was left wondering whether or not The Atlantic Monthly Press bothers to employ a fact checker?

Two examples out of a over a hundred:

1) On Dusty Springfield, Hirshey tosses out that the "finest example of what would become known as 'blue-eyed soul' was her 1968 album, Dusty in Memphis." That will certainly be "news" since Dusty in Memphis came out in 1969.

2) Writing on Carole King, Hirshey notes the song writing partnership with Goffin at the beginning of King's career. Hirshey's wrong that Goffin & King wrote only for girl groups.
(Even if one omits later hits for The Byrds, Aretha Franklin and the Monkees, the fact remains that from the start Goffin & King wrote for Tony Orlando, Bobby Vinton, etc as well as for girl groups.) But more distressing is the fact that three times she mentions Goffin and never once gets his first name correct. His name is "Gerry Goffin," not "Jerry Goffin." A Rolling Stone contributing editor should know better.

A larger issue is the coverage of women. Please note, there's no evaluation of music, no serious discussion on anything. She does "shout outs" -- as though she were writing a gossip column (Rolling Stone's Random Notes?) and not a history on women in music. While "giving her props" in this book supposedly on music, she can shout out three songs co-written by Valerie Simpson but never manage to name Simpson. The Mamas and the Papas are also ignored (Cass Elliot gets two shout outs -- both having to do with her weight). While ignoring these and other women in a book supposedly about women in music, she manages to work in multiple shouts outs to Elvis, Johnny Cash and James Dean. (Dean qualifies for this book how?)

A book concerned with establishing the fact that women have always been a part of popular music needs to do a better job covering the women; and when setting history right is the goal, a writer needs to have the facts right. Hershey fails on both counts. Anyone with even a basic understanding of popular music in the last forty years will find this a frustrating read as Hershey mangles facts and ignores a large number of women who contributed to popular music to instead note the "importance" of Marlon Brando wearing blue jeans.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Girls CAN and DO rock, April 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock (Hardcover)

This is an admittedly subjective history -- a chronicle of Hirshey's experiences covering everyone from the Supremes to Marianne Faithful for Rolling Stone. Filled with cool stories, neat lil tidbits, and priceless quotes from the divas we have all come to love.

Arranged by decade, it is a good overview of women's music. Places female recording artists in context of political & social events, trends in the biz, and everything else.

A great read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting clips, but not a good book, September 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The True, Tough Story of Women in Rock (Hardcover)

It took me a couple months to get through this book. Although there are many interesting clips [from the author's magazine interviews over the years], the book does not hang together. It appears that the author attempted to weave the stories together into some kind of themes, by decade: but there is really no "greater insight" provided. I would have preferred to read an anthology of more in-depth commentaries on a few female artists. I also found Ms. Hirshey's ornate writing style to be difficult reading.