Paradise Titty (from left to right): Bassist Deb Norris, guitarist Beth Puorro, guitarist Emily Marks, vocalist Kitty Shearer, drummer Lori Glidden; image courtesy of myspace.com/paradise titty
I went to go see Paradise Titty at Stubbs’ last night. I went because a) the all-female Guns N’ Roses cover band is comprised of some Girls Rock Camp Austin personnel — including co-ordinator Emily Marks womanning Slash’s duties, b) I’ve missed their first few shows, and c) I’m fascinated by women performing in cock rock cover bands (see also Lez Zeppelin and AC/DShe). There seems to be a spirit of reclamation behind it, there’s a lot of inherent gender drag and play, and the bands tend to cultivate considerable followings with feminists and/or queer folks (particularly lesbians), which tends to be a reflection on the band members. Also it’s nice to have it affirmed that some of the ladies you know have killer chops.
(Note: After reading this post, Kristen at Act Your Age asked the “yeah, but what about the show” question. Ah, right. I shall answer here. The band sounded great and were really in sync, though I singled out drummer Lori Glidden’s command of her kit. I was surprised that lead singer Kitty Shearer, who possesses a rich tonal quality, sounded very little like Axl Rose. Likewise, save for Marks’s dexterous and faithfully Slash-like guitar playing, Paradise Titty sounded less like a cover band and more like a rock band covering Guns N’ Roses — even when covering GNR’s version of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” While I know the outfit’s M.O. is to cover another band’s material, the show made me wonder what their original material might sound like.)
I’m not particularly familiar with Guns N’ Roses’ music. I have a cursory awareness of the singles, some of the music videos, and Chinese Democracy. I know that one of their songs contains racial epithets and homophobic language and that they were fond of heroin and alcohol. Much of my low opinion of Rose is informed by his Charles Manson obsession and violent behavior toward former partners like Stephanie Seymour and Erin Everly (the daughter of musician Don Everly and muse behind ”Sweet Child O’ Mine”). Oh, and that Slash is an awesome guitarist. Beyond that, I have spent much of my life abiding by the gendered belief that Guns N’ Roses were a band my stepbrothers liked (specifically a band Darren liked; Daniel has long been more of a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan).
So I was really interested in how a group of women would approach the band’s repertoire. I became especially curious after attending a Wax Fax trivia night and finding out that a) the original cover for GNR’s debut Appetite for Destruction was artist Robert Williams’s disturbing piece of same name and b) that said album contains the closing number “Rocket Queen,” which incorporates the recorded sounds of some girl getting fucked by Rose in the studio.
Robert Williams's "Appetite for Destruction," later to be the rejected cover for Guns N' Roses' debut album; image courtesy of arrestedmotion.com
Now, I’m not entirely clear of the situation or Adriana Smith, the pseudo-credited instrumentalist in question. Apparently she dated drummer Steve Adler and had sex with Rose to make him jealous. I’ve also heard that Smith was brought in to dance for a harmonica player that the band worked with. Regardless, this is all very icky to me. If fucking Rose is the prize or a means to an end, it’s icky. If this woman was getting passed around, it’s icky. If she was proud of being passed around and becoming studio spectacle, it’s icky. And if she didn’t know her impromptu “performance” would turn her voiced pleasure into a disembodied instrument, that’s all kinds of icky.
Having not seen Paradise Titty before, I was very pleased with how the ladies handle the song. They basically play it straight-ahead without the fuck sounds, though I’m sure we’d all oblige if the band wanted to take the song to a Vagina Monologues place during performance.
But what really makes their version work for me is that powerhouse Shearer seems to turn herself into the rocket queen, (note: she could also be singing to her rocket queen like Rose did; in doing so, she takes the song to a new, queerly sexy place). It also seems to honor the subject of the song, as Axl wrote it for a female acquaintance who wanted to start a band called Rocket Queen. Remember that a key reason why Heart are so beloved by generations of women and girls is because Ann Wilson was all about taking the subject position. I’ll take a deep-throated belter claiming her space in rock over just about anything else any day. So much the better when she’s got a great band backing her. I can’t wait to see and hear this one develop.
