I did a review of Andrea Warner’s book, The Time of My Life. Dirty Dancing, not that long ago. It was a fascinating book about the connection of women’s rights and civil rights within the music from the film, Dirty Dancing. Andrea Warner has a new book out now, We Oughta Know: How Four Women Ruled the ’90s and Changed Music, and I was eager to read it.
The Author
Andrea Warner is known as one of the best music journalists in Canada. Born and raised in Vancouver on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, Andrea not only writes books, but is an associate producer at CBC Music, and co-host of the weekly feminist pop culture podcast, Pop This!
The Book
I am learning so much about the singers and the music history from Andrea Warner’s books. I grew up dancing to music from the late ’50s and early ’60s and ’70s…I knew instinctively that the music I danced to was also a mirror reflecting what was happening in the States, but I never really had the time to sit down and truly analysis the historic connection of music’s impact on our culture. Our music from my generation (Boomers) was a way of protesting the Vietnam War, greedy corporations, segregation, and Women’s Liberation. Our music and our dances were a flaunting “Up Yours” challenge to our establishments and government.
Andrea Warner’s book, We Oughta Know: How Four Women Ruled the ’90s and Changed Music, is an insightful drawing back of the curtain, so to speak, of how Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain, and Sarah McLachlan not only took the control away from the male-dominated music world, but also became Canada’s best-selling artists. As I read the book, I understood Andrea’s opinion of the four singers during different periods of her youth. I understood her criticism and where it came from, but also her awakening and re-evaluation of the singers and their music as her own sense of herself grew.
Conclusion
The forward in the book is written by Vivek Shraya who is a Canadian musician, writer, and visual artist who in 2016 came out as a transgender and uses her talents to explore power of personal and cultural transformation. The forward sets the tone for the rest of this amazing book.
The world is changing. In the States, we have our first Black woman running for President of these United States. Across Canada and America, indigenous First Nations are fighting for their rights. Women are fighting for their very lives with the obscene anti-abortion laws in Texas, and most red states. Stevie Nicks just came out with a song, “The Lighthouse,” which is about the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Andrea Warner’s We Oughta Know: How Four Women Ruled the ’90s and Changed Music has awakened my understanding of what female singers must deal with to survive in the music world, but also that music is, and always was, a powerful tool of protest.
We Oughta Know: How Four Women Ruled the ’90s and Changed Canadian Music is available now.
