I've noticed on this site and many other sites as well that when people refer to music geniuses, they often point to male artists or groups such as Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, Prince (of course), Stevie Wonder,etc. but never mention women.

What about Female artists? Is it a case of sexism or do you really feel that female musical geniuses are few and far in between?

Are there any women in the industry any of you consider to be musical geniuses?

Cinnamon234 said:

I've noticed on this site and many other sites as well that when people refer to music geniuses, they often point to male artists or groups such as Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, Prince (of course), Stevie Wonder,etc. but never mention women.

What about Female artists? Is it a case of sexism or do you really feel that female musical geniuses are few and far in between?

Are there any women in the industry any of you consider to be musical geniuses?

I dont think it is a case of sexism... There arent really alot of female musical geniuses for that matter it really isnt an abundance of musical geniuses in general... that title "musical genius" is a title that is carelessly thrown around and given to.. I think the few that you mentioned are a handful when it comes to real well known singers that are also musical geniuses..

Like right now I can not think of one at the top of my head that is a female singer that I would classify as a musical genius...thats something I would have to give a little more thought into..

There's all the obvious ones which I know people will come in and rattle off soon.

But we probably haven't seen more because if you think about it, women aren't really encouraged towards instrumentation and being real musicians the way guys are. I bet a lot of the female artists out here are way more talented than they initially appear, but instead of the record companies supporting them going a more artistic route and developing as artists, they shove them into skimpy outfits, discourage them from writing their own stuff, and dumb down their lyrics and give them shitty choreography - in a nutshell, that basically to some extent, females are kind of stunted and held back in that respect.

The same thing is definitely true in K-Pop (Korean pop music) where a lot of the female artists are wayyyy more talented than they appear but seem to always be discouraged from really utilizing the talent they were given to the fullest.

There's only one female musical genius I know and she's

Bjork, Jonatha Brooke, Erykah Badu, Meshell

"musical genius" is such a worthless title. What is a "musical genius" anyway? Somebody who can read music? I can read music, does that make me one? People here are always on Madonna's clit for "staying relevant for 30 years" is she a "musical genius?"

Somebody help me understand.

Terrib3Towel said:

"musical genius" is such a worthless title. What is a "musical genius" anyway? Somebody who can read music? I can read music, does that make me one? People here are always on Madonna's clit for "staying relevant for 30 years" is she a "musical genius?"

Somebody help me understand.

Okay, imagine Prince, but without a peener, and with titties.

That's a female musical genius.

Angela Winbush is an obvious one.

Chaka Khan

Sade

Minnie Riperton

Ella Fitzgerald

Etta James

Dionne Warwick

Natalie Cole

LaBelle

Twinkie Clark

CeCe Winans

Nobody mentioned Fiona Apple or Patrice Rushen or Sheila E.

Editing to add Stevie Nicks.

[Edited 1/31/12 23:02pm]

Timmy84 said:

Angela Winbush is an obvious one.

And Patrice Rushen.

LOVE Sade, but I don't think she is a musical genius as much as she is unique.

Joni Mitchell?

Aretha?

Teena?

Ella?

Sexism....right.

But are they really musical geniuses though??

There are some female singers that are good musicians but I wouldnt necessary call them a genius at it... Why should the title be given so easily JUST because its a handfull of women that play instruments? The bar and criteria should be held the same...

Joni is good.. Erykah is good to... their exacty some of my favorites but I wouldnt call them genius either. What is the title based on? Is it based on how many instruments they play in their music? Ability to read and compose music? How well they can play each instrument? I think people are just giving suggestions of what female singers can also play instruments as welll not really looking at the entire spectrum..

Alot of people use the phrase "musical genuis" without really defining what that means.What exactly is a "musical genuis" and what makes an artist one?

Patrice Rushen

Cinnamon234 said:

I've noticed on this site and many other sites as well that when people refer to music geniuses, they often point to male artists or groups such as Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, Prince (of course), Stevie Wonder,etc. but never mention women.

What about Female artists? Is it a case of sexism or do you really feel that female musical geniuses are few and far in between?

Are there any women in the industry any of you consider to be musical geniuses?

The problem is that that word, "genius," has lost its original meaning. Today it is

simply used to express what the word "exemplary" means. Marvin Gaye, The Beatles,

Prince and Stevie Wonder aren't geniuses in the true sense of the word. What you

really mean to say is that those artists are "extraordinary."

True genius as understood by psychologists is rare and therefore, not only will it be

hard to find an example of it inhabited in a female, but in a male as well.

But you're right. The problem here isn't that genius is relegated mostly to men; it's the

fact that history and the human narrative is told mostly by men! Therefore, you'll

see more examples of male excellence (and genius) before you'll see/read about female examples. It's totally sexist how the human story gets told or is celebrated.

I would say, definitely:

Joni Mitchell

Patrice Rushen

Sade

Kate Bush

Angela Winbush

Chaka Khan

Bjork

Tori Amos

Patti Smith

duccichucka said:

Cinnamon234 said:

I've noticed on this site and many other sites as well that when people refer to music geniuses, they often point to male artists or groups such as Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, Prince (of course), Stevie Wonder,etc. but never mention women.

What about Female artists? Is it a case of sexism or do you really feel that female musical geniuses are few and far in between?

Are there any women in the industry any of you consider to be musical geniuses?

The problem is that that word, "genius," has lost its original meaning. Today it is

simply used to express what the word "exemplary" means. Marvin Gaye, The Beatles,

Prince and Stevie Wonder aren't geniuses in the true sense of the word. What you

really mean to say is that those artists are "extraordinary."

True genius as understood by psychologists is rare and therefore, not only will it be

hard to find an example of it inhabited in a female, but in a male as well.

But you're right. The problem here isn't that genius is relegated mostly to men; it's the

fact that history and the human narrative is told mostly by men! Therefore, you'll

see more examples of male excellence (and genius) before you'll see/read about female examples. It's totally sexist how the human story gets told or is celebrated.

I agree with this but I disagree with the sexist portion. In reality their arent alot of female singers that are also musicians that have had a major profound influence on music such as Prince and Stevie Wonder. I am not saying they arent but I am suggesting that is a major reason as to why female musicians get looked over. If their are more men then women in a certain field.. then yes of course their will be more men telling the story of music and portrayels so in a sense it is slightly biased but I think if their were more women that were musicians as well that had the same influence they would get talked about as well....

If you look at current entertainers now... MORE women are celebrated more then men.. NOT necessarily because its a biased but currently their are more mainstream popular female entertainers then males.. not saying their arent any males but their are more females on a bigger level so their going to be talked about more...

Genius? I can't think of a single one.

Hell..........I can OLNY think of a few men in that catagory. That word is seriously over used.

The folks listed so far in this thread come no where near Genius level.

Graycap23 said:

Genius? I can't think of a single one.

Hell..........I can OLNY think of a few men in that catagory. That word is seriously over used.

The folks listed so far in this thread come no where near Genius level.

Joni Mitchell?

smoothcriminal12 said:

Graycap23 said:

Genius? I can't think of a single one.

Hell..........I can OLNY think of a few men in that catagory. That word is seriously over used.

The folks listed so far in this thread come no where near Genius level.

Joni Mitchell?

His entire post had me doing the "Who Farted?" face.

While I don't agree with every name listed in here either, you have to be tone-deaf and all-around-not-that-bright to say that none of the women mentioned in here, are geniuses.

Musical Genius:

Prince

Stevie Wonder

Ray Charles

Bootsy

Donny Hathaway

Quincy Jones (maybe)

................................that is it 4 human existence.

Dren5 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Joni Mitchell?

His entire post had me doing the "Who Farted?" face.

While I don't agree with every name listed in here either, you have to be tone-deaf and all-around-not-that-bright to say that none of the women mentioned in here, are geniuses.

Joni Mitchell...

Aretha Franklin...

Ella Fitzgerald...

It's not a stretch at all to say any of the above are geniuses.

Graycap23 said:

Genius? I can't think of a single one.

Hell..........I can OLNY think of a few men in that catagory. That word is seriously over used.

The folks listed so far in this thread come no where near Genius level.

That's very true and its not a word I'd like to think I don't throw lightly.

I prefer to use the word brilliant, though in another thread I did say Ms. Billie Holiday was a genius and I'm standing beyhind that because it's true. Ms. Holiday, she tore up the concept of singing the melody straight out and in time. If you ever get to see the sheet music of the songwriters from"The Great American Songbook" you'll get a fully understand and appreciation of what she did to rearranged their songs. Basically she introduced new notes while disregarding others, in the melody. She developed the whole conept of singing behind the beat.... delaying the start of a line (the rhythm of the melodic line) and catching up later. Nobody was doing this before she came on the scene but almost ever singer of the twenty- century incorporated this technique into their singing more or less.

Graycap23 said:

Musical Genius:

Prince

Stevie Wonder

Ray Charles

Bootsy

Donny Hathaway

Quincy Jones (maybe)

................................that is it 4 human existence.

It's wild to me the way you always try to pass your subjective opinions off as absolute law.