The Novelty Act

By Laura Robida

Hypnotists. Jugglers. Fire breathers. Those are novelty acts. The Chipmunks are a novelty act. Weird Al Yankovic is a novelty act. Heck you can even go ahead and call Spinal Tap a novelty act. What makes a novelty act a novelty act? Well, a novelty act must include a gimmick of some kind. Something that is really different. In the case of hypnotists, jugglers, and fire-breathers their gimmick is easy to find. Just the nature of their activities makes them novelties. Weird Al and The Chimpunks land firmly in the novelty category because they produce songs that carry the gimmick of being parodies or comedic.

And while we can all seemingly agree that these groups are novelties another group tends to get lumped in with these. Female rock bands are almost always viewed as novel, unique, gimmicky. We're not certain what gimmick female rockers might have. They're not doing anything unique or unusual. They aren't playing guitars with their feet or anything ridiculous like that. They're simply doing the same thing hundreds of other bands are doing – playing music. What's the difference?

Ah, yes, there are guy bands and then there are girl bands. Naturally, a girl band is a gimmick. After all, they're girls. Playing rock and roll. Here we go again.

What makes a band a gimmick? The answer seems pretty clear to us: a gimmick or novelty band is one that purposefully and with obvious intent finds a way that makes them unique. If your bass player wears a Smurf costume on stage then guess what? You've got a gimmick. If your band is called the Sour Apples and you all wear apple hats, then you've got a gimmick.

If your lead singer is a guy but he insists on wearing dresses, you don't have a gimmick. You have a freak. Congratulations. If you're in a band with a female lead singer but the rest of the band is male, you don't have a gimmick. You're popular. If you're in a band that is all guys, you don't have a gimmick. You're normal. BUT if you should find yourself in an all-girl band apparently that's a gimmick.

Sorry to break it to everyone, while an all-girl band may have consciously decided to be an all-girl band that doesn't make them gimmicky. (However, if said all-girl band performs while on stilts, then yes, they're gimmicky – and most likely terrible.) For some unknown reason an all-girl band simply equates itself with being a gimmick, a novelty. Why? We're afraid we don't have a solid answer for this.

Take a look at some of our favorite all-girl bands putting out music today. They really rock and in some cases they rock harder than some of the boys. The Donnas, Sahara Hotnights, Betty Blowtorch, Kittie, Girlschool, The Bangles, the Go-Gos, Heart, Daisy Grenades, L7, The Like, McQueen, The Runaways, and of course Vixen (to name a few.) Where are their gimmicks?

Come on, we dare you. Give us a gimmick. And here's a hint: being all female is not a gimmick. After all, would you call all-male bands gimmicky?

The gauntlet has been thrown down: find us a gimmick amongst them.