The ninth song in my list of songs by fierce fem alternative-rock bands was the song “Bad Decisions” by the punk-rock band RedHook. The lyrics of this song mimic a the stereotypical punk-rock band image: lots of swearing, drugs, and alcohol. The three member band has only one women- the lead singer, Emmy Mack.
This is the first song I have analyzed that is difficult to report the exact lyrics of it while remaining PG. The opening lines to the song are also the chorus: “I’m a f-ed up mess, feeling angry and depressed, I make bad decisions I make bad decisions, I’m in so much debt so I’m getting off my head, I make bad decisions I make bad decisions.”
“Oops I did drugs again last night, my younger self would be mortified.”
In the second verse of the song the lyrics take an interesting turn in terms of gender and sexual expression:
“Sh*t, why did I get drunk again? And get it on, yeah, with all my friends? Got with my best friend, and his roommate too, and his roommate’s girlfriend…
hey head, what’s wrong with you?”
These lyrics reveal that the lead singer is sharing with their audience that she isn’t heterosexual, or at the very least is experimenting with her sexuality. Another thing these lyrics could be interpreted as saying though is that the lead singer likes to get with a lot of guys, which doesn’t always paint the best picture for women especially in the music industry. This detail plays into the stereotype that women in the rock band industry like to “sleep around” and do drugs/drink. Emmy comes across as a very “reckless” woman between the substance abuse mentioned, the debt, and the hook-ups’- this description and image identity differs quite a bit from the other songs I have analyzed so far during this project. Judging by the lyrics, it is apparent Emmy is not afraid to take risks, which is identified as a masculine trait by the Bem Sex Role Theory, however, she applies it in a more stereotypical feminine way.
As far as investigating the band’s official Instagram, RedHook’s social media also takes a different route from what I have seen so far on the Instagram pages of the other artists I have taken a dive into. Despite Emmy being the only female of the band as well as the lead singer, she doesn’t appear on their Instagram as much, or at least not many photos of just her do, the way many other bands have included photos highlighting the lead female singer. The photos Emmy is a part of show her off in a way that almost feels like she is more of an accessory to the band, rather than the lead singer or the face of the band. Many of the photos show her posing in very similar ways to each other, if not the exact same pose. Her hair is dyed bright red and she often wears a matching bold lip color, and is touching her hair or her lips in nearly every photo. She also often is standing very close to, if not touching or leaning on the male members of the band. This proximity and the inclusion of her always reaching towards her long feminine hair or the lipstick on her lips takes on a very different role than the more independent and fierce modeling I have seen from other bands during this project.
Another thing I noticed about Emmy’s Instagram portrayal is that she is always wearing lots of makeup in the photos she is in, and wears lots of very bright clothing with mismatching patterns, almost demanding the attention of viewer’s eyes to her. Her type of dress is childlike in these ways, however, she also does wear clothing that is more revealing of her feminine figure such as cropped tops, tank tops, low rise pants, and short skirts. It could be argued that her physical appearance is the opposite of yielding, given the attention it attracts but in a very feminine way and usually beside two men.
Overall, I found that this song and band tends to stick to a more sexualized image of femininity and plays into the stereotypes of “reckless” rock band women.
Shared by: Em von der Ruhr
Image Credit: https://www.instagram.com/weareredhook/