Things might seem much easier for women to rock the stage nowadays. Yet, it wasn’t always as easy. Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth discussed the sexism in the music industry with NME and how hard it was for her to negotiate with sexist executives as they were not ready to listen. The bassist also disclosed why she considered Blondie’s Debbie Harry as her role model.
When Talking Heads were meeting executives back in the day, Weymouth had to deal with some sexist label officials who didn’t exactly like the idea of a woman playing in a band. Phil Spector even once told her to shut her mouth when the band played for the producer.
So, there were times when it was hard to be a female rock star, but Tina was in luck. The bassist had a rock icon she looked up to, Debbie Harry. Since Debbie had to front Blondie and take care of her bandmates, she had to deal with sexist executives and, sometimes, a sexist audience. However, Harry knew how to handle all those.
“I heard the horror stories and think it’s a terrible shame,” told Tina as he mentioned how women would be looked down on in the music industry. She then noted, “I always looked up to Debbie Harry because she’s a superb diplomat who took care of both men in Blondie and herself. We called ourselves masculinist feminists.”
She didn’t consider Patti Smith as a role model, however. Weymouth reflected, “I didn’t look up to Patti Smith because she was a diva, but Debbie was a role model of how to negotiate difficult turns. But she wasn’t always around to give me the advice I needed.”
It seemed that Tina Weymouth had Debbie Harry’s help when she needed to learn how to negotiate with sexist people in the industry. However, Harry wasn’t always around to give her the advice Weymouth needed. Still, Tina learned how to become a diplomat as she handled all these difficult situations a lot better over time.
