It was perhaps always a given that High Fidelity, the much-loved-Nick Hornby-novel-turned-Hollywood-romcom, would be turned into a television series – there are few stories more adaptable or soundtrackable. The surprise, though, is that in its small-screen incarnation, the protagonist is not Rob, as immortalised by John Cusack, “the ultimate music fan, a record store owner who is obsessed with pop culture and Top 5 lists”, fond of proselytising the “subtle art” of the compilation tape and grandly announcing his intention to “now sell four copies of the Three EPs by the Beta Band”. Rather, in the new incarnation from the streaming service Hulu, the record store owner is Rob(yn), played by Zoë Kravitz, a woman who “can easily school anyone’s music knowledge while knocking back whisky neats”.
To date, there have been remarkably few fictional female characters famed for their music knowledge. It’s a niche field, perhaps, but one that nonetheless has an impact.
What it is to be a woman in the world of music is a conversation that receives a semi-regular runout, although change is remarkably slow – as any festival-goer rolling their eyes at the absence, yet again, of women from the bills of this summer’s lineups might attest. Not to mention any artist asked, once more, the achingly tedious question: “What is it like to be a female musician?”
When I began writing about music, 15 years ago, there were comparatively few female music journalists; I lost track of the number of times when, backstage to interview a band, I was assumed to be a groupie. It was the same feeling as when I worked in record stores as a teenager, and male customers frequently sought out the “expertise” of the male staff.
Change comes through the normalising of women’s presence — from the stage to the radio DJ, via female record executives, A&Rs, gig-goers, festival bookers, and, yes, the owners of fictional record stores.
It’s one of the great delights to me that, today, we have so many female music writers, DJs, and self-professed record nerds, not to mention a growing number of women behind the scenes in the music industry, known and valued for their expertise. That, finally, we too may be considered capable of selling four copies of the Three EPs by the Beta Band.
