On Monday, I woke up to the painful news that many people in the garage and punk scenes had been accused of taking advantage of underage fans. It left me feeling heartbroken and angry. This is a scene that I always took great care of and pride in. It felt safe, and it seemed, on the surface, to be very open and accommodating and respectful. I wrote a piece that is a little disjointed and without a clear focus. But it was also a very pure sense of how I was feeling, and I’d like to share it with you.
Before I continue, I’d like to clear the air a bit… Spinning Platters, though priding itself on elevating female voices and always being on the side of believing women, has made a few mistakes. I was reminded by a fellow writer that we did, indeed, sponsor a few screenings of the R Kelly film Trapped In The Closet. I even presented R Kelly trivia at one of these events. If I could take that back, I would. We also once had a member of our staff that was accused of many of the same things being written about Burger Records and many folks within that scene. When this came to light, we immediately fired this writer, but we did it silently, without any statement. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but after the deafening silence of the men when women come forward, I realized that our silence only protects the perpetrator. It does nothing for the victims, and, really, does nothing to help move society forward. I am grateful that Total Trash, the folks that put on Burger Boogaloo, made a statement, and that they have cut ties with Burger Records and will be renaming the event. I am also grateful that Nobunny has actually admitted to wrong doing, something that few others are willing to do. We need more men to step up. We need more men to call out their fellow men for bad behavior. We need men to admit to the ways they’ve abused people they hold power over, and take responsibility for their actions. After the jump is the piece I wrote…
Like many of you, I woke up Monday morning to learn of this Instagram account, accusing Burger Records co-founder Lee Rickard of sexually abusing underage girls, as well as giving them drugs and alcohol. It shook me. Once I started discussing it with friends, there was a lot of “that’s terrible, but I’m not surprised” talk. It hurts. Burger Records and the scene that the label helped nurture was a vibrant, exciting scene. It was a world that presented itself as a safe place to be who you are, express yourself via music that was fun and vibrant, and didn’t care about your color, sexual orientation, or gender. The mission always seemed to be about having a safe space to find yourself. That illusion of safety was crushed on Monday.
Throughout the day, more stories were coming out… Lydia Knight of The Regrettes spent two years in an abusive relationship with SWMRS’ Joey Armstrong. Those two years? The years when Knight was 16 and 17 and Armstrong was 22 and 23. Clementine Creevy of Cherry Glazerr met Sean Redman of The Buttertones when she was 14 and he was 20, and coerced Creevy into having unprotected sex at such a young age. Both of these women are doing what they love, and should be able to play music and enjoy the live music experience without people taking advantage of them.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE MEN? I know it’s a story as old as time. I’m working on another writing project about Aaliyah that may someday see the light of day, and I’m reminded of the time that R Kelly made her his underage bride, and then lied about it to save face. Jerry Lee Lewis taking his 13 year old cousin for a wife, too. The music business is filled with stories of older men deciding that it’s OK to take advantage of young girls for their own pleasure. Many of them have deluded themselves into thinking “they like it” for one reason or another, either unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge that they are in a place of power. Other men seem to legit like the power. Some men just consider it to be part of life, and not so “bad,” like the whole “That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age” bit from Dazed & Confused. Society has decided that it’s OK for men to lust after young girls.
I also struggle with who gets caught in the fallout here. Burger Records has their hands in a lot of pots. They have many bands on their label that are not aware of these happenings, and are now stuck trying to reconcile how their catalog has a label that’s been tainted, bands that still need to generate revenue (especially now when touring is halted for the foreseeable future) to survive that stand to lose sales because of this thing. Burger also has sponsorships deals in place with a slew of music festivals where they use the Burger name, but otherwise have little other connection with Burger. Burger Records also has a retail outlet in Fullerton that employs people that also stand to lose their jobs because their owner doesn’t have the decency to not abuse people.
The question next is, of course, what do we do? At Spinning Platters, we have always made it part of our mission to elevate female voices from the start. That really isn’t enough, of course. The culture as a whole needs to shift. I know we’ve been saying this to death lately, but men need to be calling out men on this. We need to turn down the voices that give rise to this culture. Call out radio stations for playing songs like “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” or “Young Girl.” Be blunt when you hear your friends make suggestive comments about young female celebrities. Understand your power and how it affects people- whatever joy comes from this creates a world of damage.
Here is a great list of resources for folks that are victims of sexual assault and relationship abuse. We really need to end this.
