I love this latest dispatch from Patti Rothberg, which offers a good look at not only the meaning behind the title of her latest album Double Standards, but also a look at the inner fire and inspiration that drive Patti as an artist. I particularly enjoyed the jump back to her album Between The 1 and the 9, which remains a personal favorite of mine…..SO many memories of that time period!

P.S. – I wrote about Double Standards previously right here, if you missed it.

Double Standards- How I got the inspiration to call my 3rd album Double Standards

It started out when I had written a collection of songs…many of them having double entendres in the lyrics. I then started calling the collection “Double Standards” simply because it was standard for me to make double entendres. Upon taking it around, I discovered an overall positive response to the music itself, but there was an attitude like goldilocks and the three bears; that my material was too tough for some markets but too sweet to fit neatly into other markets. All the albums I had grown up listening to, from The Beatles to Zeppelin.. female influences from Tori Amos to Hole..there are peaks and valleys. rock anthems, ballads and the spectrum between. One song starts out soft and builds to a crescendo or has hard and soft moments. (like good, rough sex). So Double Standards started as my personal battle against a world that refused to accept me as I truly was. The full spectrum-A rock and roll girl whose first single didn’t happen to be one of my harder edge tracks: Inside (but rocks anyway!!) Excellent foreplay.
My experience with both mainstream AND alternative labels made me feel that first impressions really count alot. Was I too much woman for myself? Fascinatingly I began to address this issue on my 1st record Between The One and the Nine with multiple self portraits depicted in many stereotypes. Prophetic. Many artists BURY their earliest albums if they depart too much from their “true” image. I also learned there were quotas for girls on some stations. (Reminiscent of the He Man woman hater’s club) no matter how “masculine” her music might be. Although I’m very proud of my first album, I would naturally have grown and changed as an artist in the time that passes between recordings! Supposedly in 96 I was part of the she woman man haters club, and some want me to stay that way frozen in time forever I guess! Actually I wasn’t EVEN a deliberate part of this thing, but it fit at the time. 20/20 hindsight. Curious to hear this contraversial collection yet? To sum it up in writing: I’m still the same Patti you used to love…just better than you ever knew!
My new record Double Standards makes sense as a collection (although it is ironic that in the wake of itunes, and ipods with a shuffle function, this really wouldn’t have mattered much anyway!). It makes sense when compared to my earlier music, and it makes sense in terms of my influences, having grown up with vinyl, mtv (when they played MUSIC and VIDEOS like the letters “M” and “V” suggest) AND cd technology. I’ve sought out punk and glam rock from X to Trex and far beyond. How important is image in selling an aural medium? The Buggles said Video Killed The Radio Star, but THAT was a VIDEO and a catchy tune too! When you name your influences, you risk pigeonholing…even if you were just ALIVE when something happened to be on the radio, you become a demographic and a testimony to someone’s attempts to sell you something. But seriously, people should buy my record because the music is an adventure; diverse without being watered down. So what’s your fantasy? Double Standards is fantastic. Virgin or whore; I’m a really fun girl (and a hot bitch to boot) who’s 5’7 and loves rock n roll. Buy one, get set free!!

original link

Purchase Double Standards right here.

Patti Rothberg Live (record release show at the Blender Theater)

Cool video compilation of highlights from her record release show, including the storming cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Sway,” which you can find on Double Standards.