“Discussions and analyses of music—whether on TV, in books or in the music press—have always been full of the stories of men. When female fans appear in these stories it is often through the eyes and from the perspectives of men – as muses, groupies or fangirls—meaning that women’s own experiences, ideas and arguments about the music they love are marginalized or glossed over. Women in music are frequently fetishised and objectified both in song lyrics and in real life, viewed purely in relation to men and through their impact on the male ego. But this hasn’t stopped generations of women from loving, being moved by and critically appreciating music—however that music may feel about them…”
Edited by Rhian E. Jones and Eli Davies, Under My Thumb: Songs That Hate Women and The Women Who Love Them is available now. See some early reader reviews at Goodreads.
RockCritics.com 
Hope I’ll read that—reminds me: in Gimme Shelter, after he tries and fails to stop the violence, Jagger starts singing “Under My Thumb”, which now sounds like the saddest song in the world—“Down to me, the change has come…”
I definitely hear the sad in there, Don, though now that you mention it, it’s always been somewhat there in the original for me too–especially the way Mick’s vocal bravado is undercut by the guitar-vs-marimba solo, an almost gobsmacking moment of tenderness and maybe the prettiest bit in the entire Stones repertoire.
I love the title of this book a lot, though I trust the editors pay lip service to Ellen Willis, given that this was totally her beat before it was anyone’s, no?