i have a couple of friends who like Ani DiFranco. It’s a total stereotype, but the only people I’ve met who like her are feminists or artsies, or both. I don’t particularly like her style, I think she’s way too in-your-face about her opinions, and judging by the amounts of albums my friend has, it seems that Ani DiFranco releases an album whenever she has a thought whatsoever regarding anything at all.
Ok, maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but I was recently forced to listen to several hours of her music, and I don’t find her all that talented.
Nothing really to add regarding her popularity: a small but intense fan base. The main reason being is that she’s folk (kind of an atypical fusion folk, but folk enough to turn some people off) and she’s turned down offers from major record labels, choosing to found her own. She’s also maybe too opinionated for some people (see above). She’s active in feminist and gay/lesbian/bi causes, which explains her appeal in bohemian and college populations and her lack thereof amongst corporate radio listeners.
I’d imagine TRL is anathema to her, so I don’t see her being hugely popular anytime soon. Still, IMO she’s a very talented singer, musician and songwriter.
One of the local commecial stations (seattle) played her As Is song, which was good enough for me to get one of her albums. I am not, however, feminist, artsie, etc.
One more thing about Ani Difranco: for some reason, interviews with her, both on air and in print, seem to come back to
a) her image, and
b) her business model.
For once, I would like to read an interview that omitted these things. BTW, she plays so hard that she actually uses electrical tape to keep her fingerpicks on her left hand. That is cool!
Gee…would that have been the episode where Peggy takes guitar lessons from a punky feminist folkie type? And here I thought she was just a caricature of Ani and her ilk. My impressions of her music are very similar to what Mnemosyne posted. However, I used to live in New England which positively crawls with (self)righteous alterna-chicks with guitars. As far as that genre goes, I will say that Ani seems to be much more interesting and clever (and less smug & humourless) than the average.
I still find her music torturous to listen to, though. Give me Cat Power or PJ Harvey any day.
While she doesn’t get much commercial airplay, her “small but intense” following is big enough to sell out decent-sized venues whenever she tours. An alterna-chick ex-girlfriend took me to one of two shows at a 2,000-seat theater in Denver and it was sold out with people begging for tickets outside. This was 7 or 8 years ago; I’d guess her popularity has probably held steady since then.
Her popularity has been steadily increasing since then. I first saw her about nine years ago in Pittsburgh, PA. She was playing solo acoustic for about 100 people. The next year I saw her in the same town playing for about 1,000 people. The last time I saw her was about six years ago, when she opened for Bob Dylan. I think that was around the time she had a video on MTV. I don’t recall the name of the song–it wasn’t one of my favorites. It was from the album, Dilate.
Musically, she’s always been interesting to me. As a producer, songwriter and arranger, she’s been steadily improving over the years. Her most recent album, Evolve, is her most mature and solid album to date. She has incredible control over her voice and continually finds new ways to use it. Also, her arrangements often involve a unique and compelling blend of folk, R&B and jazz. She’s even delved into hip-hop with some recent tunes, such as “Swing.”
As far as image goes, she started off being really popular among certain lesbian and bisexual subcultures. I imagine they still account for a large percentage of her fan base. Her earlier songs had a lot to do with feminist issues and her own disregard for sexual labels. She actually got a lot of slack from many her fans when she married a man. Many of her songs are still political and in-your-face, and some have that feminist slant, but many don’t.
Ani DiFranco may not be as popular as Tori Amos, but she sells more albums than most people who try to become recording artists. In the grand scheme of commercial music, she’s in the top 1% of success. Ya gotta consider the big picture.
My sister does an absolutely hysterical impression of Ani DiFranco. It can only be done properly if you have a guitar.
She definitely doesn’t have the name recognition of folks like Tori Amos and Sheryl Crow, but she has a core of die-hard fans like myself…kinda like the Indigo Girls. I’d say she’s probably better-known among college kids and 20-30 something uberfeminists and/or lesbians.
Oh, and I’m writhing over the fact that Sheryl Crow, that faux-folksinger corporate media-wannabe, is in the same thread as the beloved and oh-so-superior Ani. Just so you know.
I meant no offense by the “Artisie feminist” thing - I did say it was a stereotype, and to be fair a lot of the people who I am friends with that I “included” in that comment don’t totally fall in that category either. I see people are using the term “alterna-chick”, but that isn’t one that I’m familiar with. Perhaps we mean the same type of people, perhaps not.
I guess there’s a bit of an attitude or temperment that I associate with fans of music by musicians like Ani DiFranco, and a lot of them tend to be…well…sorta “artsy” or “feminist” or both, at least in my mind! My apologies to anyone who may have or might take offense - I’m not sure how to word what I’m trying to say, and thats the best approximation I was able to come up with!
I’m an unoffended artsy feminist chick, mnemosyne. Really, what you said communicated things far better than something like “feminazi.” [sub]grrrrr![/sub]
I’m actually surprised to hear people talking about Tori Amos as well known. Is that really true? Tori definately has a following, but she’s hardly a mega-seller as far as I know, and she certainly isn’t a Crow. I mean, when was the last time Tori had a single that lasted on pop radio?
Ani, by the way, may be less well known… but she makes far far more money than Tori.
My impressions of her music are very similar to what Mnemosyne posted. However, I used to live in New England which positively crawls with (self)righteous alterna-chicks with guitars. As far as that genre goes, I will say that Ani seems to be much more interesting and clever (and less smug & humourless) than the average.