whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:Joni Mitchell: Fear of a Female Genius

Classic case of a musician being greatly celebrated yet somehow underrated at the same time. If you were to suggest that sexism plays a part in that unsatisfactory state of affairs you'll get no argument from me.

And fwiw, I had no idea that Mitchell was her husband's name; never heard her called anything else, never knew about the early marriage.

I'm looking forward to reading the new biography.
Was just having a conversation about her last weekend and discussing why she's so revered and simultaneously despised. Sexism definitely plays a role, not necessarily out of misogyny, but machismo. I made the point that it's sort of like the same reason a fair number of males will say "I hate cats": Not because they necessarily have anything against cats themselves, but they hate the anti-machoness of them. Guys don't necessarily hate Joni Mitchell as an artist or even a person, but they hate the femininity of her music.
Blue is in my top-10 (or at least top-20) favorite albums of all time.

I love cats and I love Joni Mitchell