4. Ian Gillan and the Legacy of the Operatic Voice in Heavy metal: Borrowed Feminine Classical Virtuosity in Metal Masculinity
Who Do We Think They Are? - Deep Purple and Metal Studies - Andy R. Brown
Francesca Stevens [+]
Falmouth University
Description
Francesca Stevens, in Chapter 4, not only seeks to analyse Gillan vocal stylings, but to do so as part of an examination of the interconnections between borrowed classical female vocal virtuosity and the aesthetics of heavy metal masculinity. Through the lens of gender semiotics and critical popular musicology, the chapter considers the appropriation of classical feminine vocal capabilities by Gillan and his contemporaries by means of the dramatic use of an operatic vibrato and countertenor range. This singing style and technique employed by Gillan is analysed in relation to the sonic representation of essentialist gender tropes through his application of a delicate balance of classical/feminine and rock/masculine. This dichotomy is realised through Gillan’s use of the female tessitura, mimicked chiaroscuro, and wide vibrato, mixed with traditional rock techniques, such as vocal distortion and nasal resonance. At the centre of the analysis is the performances heard on the ‘live’ album Made in Japan (1972), focussing on the virtuosic sequential vocal patterns heard in ‘Child in Time’ and the (guitar/vocal) call and response (‘parroting’) cadenza and F#5 fermata (or feminine ‘scream’) notes heard in ‘Strange Kind of Woman’. As Stevens argues, borrowed classical virtuosity while intrinsically considered feminine, affords Gillan, and subsequent heavy metal vocalists, an authentic heavy metal masculinity. But this authenticity is sustained and perpetuated by an invalidation of the remnants of the feminine from which it is appropriated. In this respect, the tumultuous relationship with and rejection of the feminine in hard rock and heavy metal, can be analysed as cause and effect, from the early construction of masculine authenticity in the genre, to the under-representation of women in metal as a whole, and the latter ‘sectioning off’ of heavy metal female lead singers as ‘Female Fronted’ bands based on vocal tessitura and regardless of (sub)genre. The example, referred to by Stevens, of Gillan’s response to a fan letter (‘from Melanie of the Isle of Wight’) in a 1970 Melody Maker interview, asking how Gillan produced ‘the very effective screaming effect on ‘Child in Time’,’ is worth quoting in full here: Thanks for the compliment […] but I haven’t the faintest idea how I manage it. Although lots of people regard it as incredible and ask me how it is done. It’s simply a vocal effect and I do it every night on stage, considerably endangering my health. I’ve never had any special training but I think that it helps that I wear tight trousers! (Robinson and Clare 2017:107). What this response indicates is that Gillan had little or no knowledge of classic operatic vocal technique. But it also indicates – via the jokey ending aside – that Gillan, despite this lack of knowledge, recognises that the technique that he has developed involves an appropriation of the feminine which he is unable to fully acknowledge without undermining his hard rock masculine persona.