Many of you may not remember this, but Jill Sobule had a hit with a song entitled "I Kissed a Girl" back in 1995, long before Katy Perry exploded with her own tune; a different song with the same title. Here's the first time we "Kissed":
Unlike my feelings for a similar situation involving a Rhianna song that shares the title of a Madonna hit ("Take a Bow" anyone?), I actually really like both versions of this song. They both have different sentiments, so I don't feel like it's an original that's being recycled. But... what does the first girl-kisser have to say about the latter?
Jill Sobule spoke out: “I don't feel precious about the title, but I've gotten tons of e-mails from annoyed fans....Some think it’s more of a Girls Gone Wild thing than anything shocking or empowering to true gay feelings....Maybe I'll write a third 'I Kissed a Girl' for fun. It will be about how I kissed her, I left the dull boyfriend, got gay-married in California, and really no one gave a s---.” Still, Sobule does confess: "Katy Perry's song is a kind of catchy party song, although I will admit that I do smile when a critique mentions my version in a more favorable light. Is that wrong?”
Ah, this song got a lot of play back when I was in high school. I still think that the 90's brought forward some of the best tough, strong-willed female front-ladies ever. (Read: Veruca Salt, Velocity Girl, Animal Logic, Sheryl Crow, Meredith Brooks, Alanis Morissette, to name only a small portion) Heard the song a million times but never actually saw the video.
And for the record, I like Jill Sobule's song much better than Katy Perry's, which sounds so generic to me...
Yeah, the 90's was a really great decade for female empowerment. Peter, you mentioned some great musicians--poets, really. But let's not forget the saccharine-coated lyrics of 90's pop queens like the Spice Girls.
While artists like Jill Sobule express some important feminine ideals, "generic", poppy party tunes can actually be just as empowering.
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