Stuff I Love: The Gossip’s MUSIC FOR MEN coming June 22nd!

– Beth Ditto on the launch cover of Love Magazine

This controversial singer calls herself a ‘fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas’. In 2007, Beth Ditto is said to have turned down a design deal with Topshop after criticizing their ‘limited’ sizing policy.

“If there’s anyone to blame for size zero, it’s not women,’ Beth said. ‘Blame gay men who work in the fashion industry who want these women as dolls. Men don’t know what it feels like to be a woman and be expected to look a particular way.’

‘The Beckhams are part of the machine; Paris Hilton is part of the machine.”

I first saw Beth Ditto perform with The Gossip in 2002 at Ladyfest Bay Area. I was struck by this large girl throwing herself at the audience, flinging herself into the pit naked and howling, while the crowd moved her high in the air with such ease. She didn’t give a fuck.

After that incident, I bought all of her albums. She reminded me of Janis Joplin and Mamma Cass, if they had fused together and grew up in the South, listening to Black Flag and the Bad Brains.

The Gossip may be regulars on MTV these days and partying it up with Kate Moss, but Beth Ditto remains a proud fat white lesbian activist who refuses to hide who she is.

She appears to care more about being true to herself than being a celebrity, and in her case it’s paying off. People love her because she IS her. Unapologetically.

I can’t wait to hear MUSIC FOR MEN on June 22nd. I loved Live In Liverpool but gave it away to a drunk gay boy on the subway. I felt he needed it more than I did. I’ve been waiting for new material ever since.

The Gossip’s U.S. tour will begin later this year and I will definitely be attending a New York and/or Cali show. =)

Standing in the way of control

Thoughts on MTV’s Artist of the Week: The Gossip

The Gossip is currently MTV’s Artist of the Week.

I saw The Gossip perform live for the first time at Ladyfest Bay Area 2002.

What I remember most distinctly is Beth Ditto stripping off her tight black dress (she was big then too) and diving off the stage and crowd surfing in her underwear (never stopped singing). People were holding her up – she never fell once. I have footage of it somewhere.

I’ve seen a lot of shows since then but have never seen a female artist successfully pull something off that ballsy. She is not a Mama Cass ripoff. They are not a “hipster” band, and they aren’t just a queer band either. They succeeded at what they set out to do – make you dance. They also sing about what they want to and, up til now (for better or for worse), openly pushed their own political agendas. I hope that being with Sony doesn’t change that.

I really don’t like the video for Standing In The Way Of Control (it does have that awful “hipster” aesthetic) but I do like the song, which is why I am embedding it.