Shirley Manson is pleased to see the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame give flowers to her fellow female music icons.
“As I’ve said to the team here on the Hall, it’s so unusual — still, unfortunately — to see women represented in any type of national museum,” Manson, 57, tells Us Weekly exclusively concerning the opening of “Revolutionary Women in Music: Left of Center.” The Garbage lead singer was available when the exhibit opened on March 8 on the Rock Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, and was among the many first to see this collection showcasing groundbreaking and rebellious musicians from the Seventies to today.
“To see this exhibition of all these several types of talent, this myriad, all different facets of female artistry is admittedly moving,” Manson says. “I didn’t expect it to affect me that way, but I used to be really struck as I walked in by what an unusual event that is for not only me, but in addition the opposite visiting artists. We were all a bit blown away by it, to be honest.”
Manson said that considered one of the artists she’s glad to see validated by the exhibit is Alice Bag, the pioneering punk rocker who led The Bags within the Seventies. “They ran a video of Alice earlier today. Me and Jane [Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s], we each squealed because Alice has been neglected for a very long time now. Her impact on American punk music is a weighty one. And so to see her getting acknowledged here is admittedly exciting.”
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“I feel like a variety of the ladies I saw within the exhibition yesterday, I expected to see them there,” added Manson. “They’re all women who’ve made a big mark on the music industry for one reason or one other, and again, in a myriad of alternative ways. But yeah, I used to be excited to see everybody. Quite truthfully, it’s form of embarrassing, I’ve gone from one artist to the following and been squealing in enthusiasm.”
Manson admits she’s “an enormous fan of female artists” and that she’s made it a priority throughout her profession to uplift her fellow female voices because she is aware of the challenges they face within the music industry.
“For ladies who aren’t the simplest to pigeonhole, or they’re not essentially the most willing to smile and pretend all the pieces’s okay — traditionally, they prefer to challenge the established order, and the established order doesn’t prefer to get challenged fairly often,” Manson tells Us. “In order that’s all part and parcel of this exhibition too. And it’s something that I feel strongly about. A healthy society relies on discussion and argument and sharing of ideas. So, I feel like this exhibition is a testament to all of that.”
Manson once said performing was “an act of defiance” for her since she overcame her natural shyness to turn out to be a world icon of power and ferocity. When asked if she recognized the same connecting thread with all of the artists featured within the “Revolutionary Women in Music” exhibit, she said, “I absolutely [do].”
“I can’t really speak for everyone because I don’t know all their individual drivers,” she says. “But for me, [performing is] a way of proving that I exist. As a lady, you may feel invisible in society sometimes. And when women’s rights are being impeded, that’s so frustrating. I believe women suffer from feeling that they’re not being listened to and never heard and never seen.”
“In order a performer, you get to defy that censoring and that silencing,” she adds. “There’s a freedom in performing. That’s something that I greatly cherish.”
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While some might cite the success of artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift as evidence of progress, Manson said it’s generally hard to persuade someone completely involved within the patriarchy just how embattled women still are to this present day. “They think, ‘Well, women are dominating the charts. What are you talking about?’ Unfortunately, it’s just a bit more complicated than that,” she says.
“Things, in some regards, are higher for younger generations of girls, who’ve learned from the generations which have come before them,” she continues. “The young artists that I meet are so far more switched on to the system through which they’re having to be creative. They’re not as naive as all of us were. We were very, very naive because there just wasn’t that much evidence on the market for us.”
“The power to truly educate yourself about music and the music industry is a lot easier than it was for my generation,” she says, adding that the brand new batch of rising female stars she’s met are “far more fierce than I ever was.”
Manson also cites “the eradication of girls’s rights in America” — referring to the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and a number of other states subsequently banning abortion — as evidence that there hasn’t been as much progress as she’d like.
“It’s a really scary time where old men in politics appear to consider that they’ll make more qualified decisions about women’s health than the ladies themselves,” she tells Us. “Now, that in itself is just an entire sublimation of womankind, and it has to stop. And I believe what’s wonderful about an exhibition like that is it reminds people of girls’s value in our culture that we should be treated with the identical respect as our male counterparts. It’s absolutely vital and needed to a healthy functioning society.”
The “Revolutionary Women in Music: Left of Center” spotlights trailblazers across all genres of music. The White Stripes fans can see Meg White‘s iconic “Seven Nation Army” look along with her kick drum and Christina Aguilera‘s wardrobe from the Stripped tour. Visitors will see electric guitars from Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard and Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale in addition to Natalie Merchant‘s outfits from the “Ophelia” video on display.
The exhibit also features pieces honoring performers including SZA, Lisa Loeb, Malina Moye, Björk, Rihanna, Janelle Monae, Billie Eilish, Kim Gordon, Tracy Chapman, Sinéad O’Connor, Queen Latifah, Chrissie Hynde, The Runaways, Liz Phair, Ciara and Pink.
Manson, Weidlin, Loeb and Moye helped christen the exhibit at first of March, opening it to the general public.
This validation from The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame could also be bittersweet to some since similar institutions have often neglected or downright dismissed women performers. Manson offered a take when reflecting on the importance of recognition from these mainstream entities.
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“I believe all artists feel ignored, for essentially the most part,” she said. “It’s part and parcel of being an artist. You simply feel such as you’re unheard almost on a regular basis. But there’s something monumental about being included in a national museum, [validating] a narrative about something that’s been so necessary to your whole life.”
“I got to inform my dad that this was happening, and he was so proud,” she continued. “It’s just a extremely rare thing for therefore lots of us, so many alternative women, to be acknowledged in this fashion. And I hope we get to see more of that in all elements.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s “Revolutionary Women in Music: Left of Center” is now open. Tickets can be found on site or on the venue’s website.
