The fault doesn't solely lie with either magazine's readers or their editors, however -- try naming one musical genre from this century in which women are perceived to have the predominant voice. Impossible, because this poll is sadly indicative of the way creative women are -- even now -- continually overlooked in favor of their less talented male counterparts, due to centuries of fucked-up social conditioning.
Music has always proudly boasted that it can bridge generations and creeds: It should not be so proud of that boast, not at all. The most vital music has always been that which creates generational and social divides, that which appeals to the individual, not that which reinforces the status quo. In a century where notable revolutions took place in all aspects of women's lives (political, sociological, cultural), how can any poll be taken seriously that doesn't include The Female Voice? What use is rock music -- or jazz, or blues, or soul, or hiphop, or classical, or dance, or reggae, or any of the other countless variants of popular listening culture this century has thrown up -- if it doesn't provide an alternative to the norm? What use is culture if it doesn't provide an outlet for the voices overlooked or discriminated against in everyday life?
Take the Q readers' poll, for example. Where are the inspirational voices of blueswomen Bessie Smith and Dinah Washington, disco diva Donna Summer, gospel icon Mahalia Jackson, punk pioneers like Chrissie Hynde and PJ Harvey, country music's peerless Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton? Forget sex for one moment. All these artists are clearly talented enough to be included in any poll purporting to represent a cross-section of this century's music.
