Talk:Fanny (band)

Original lineup
If there's some evidence to indicate that Nickey Barclay is not an original member and that there was someone else there before her, some evidence linked here would be good. Otherwise I'd be inclined to leave her in since she's mentioned in just about everything I've seen via good old Google. --BenM 14:31, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose that June Millington be merged into Fanny (band). Due to some recent expansion of the Fanny article, June's article contains mostly overlapping information, and some of June's article is also about her sister Jean, whose career is also covered in the Fanny article. D OOMSDAYER 520 (Talk|Contribs) 14:54, 19 April 2012 (UTC)


 * No merge, stay separate. June Millington kept growing in notability after Fanny. In 1986, she founded the Institute for the Musical Arts, an organization that educates and empowers female musicians. She is known as a record producer and label owner. Binksternet (talk) 16:11, 19 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Okay, but in that case June's article needs serious expansion to focus on those things and not simply repeat material about Fanny. -- D OOMSDAYER 520  (Talk|Contribs) 16:50, 19 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes, the article needs much work. Here are some sources:
 * Notable Moments of Women in Music (2008): "the Institute for the Musical Arts, an organization that educates and empowers female musicians."
 * One-page article devoted to Millington, written by Michael Pierce in Guitar Player magazine, also published in book form: The Guitar Player Book: 40 Years of Interviews, Gear, and Lessons from the World's Most Celebrated Guitar Magazine.
 * Queer Noises: Male and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth Century Music: "Millington ...later became a respected producer for Cris Williamson, among others..."
 * Author Jennifer Baumgardner calls Millington a "women's music heroine".
 * Navigating the Music Industry: Current Issues & Business Models. The authors list Millington as important to women's music through her label Fabulous Records.
 * Reebee Garofalo, Rockin' out: popular music in the USA (2008), pp. 253-254. Garofalo describes Millington's career going from Fanny to women's music, record producer, and session player for Olivia Records.
 * She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, pp. 115-116: Description of how Millington grew into women's music starting in 1975.
 * Girls Rock!: Fifty Years of Women Making Music. The authors describe how Millington and nine other artists should have been listed in Rolling Stone, the musical encyclopedia
 * "Olivia Records: Women Making Music Together" article in Yoga Journal, describing Millington's "spiritual journey" that is expressed on her Olivia Records album Heartsong.
 * Interview with Millington in Backstage pass: interviews with women in music. Binksternet (talk) 18:56, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Can't think of a better argument than that, so sometime soon I will get to work on expanding the June Millington article, maybe with some help... -- D OOMSDAYER 520  (Talk|Contribs) 14:51, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Weaselly lead
The lead is still a bit weaselly. Who decided which bands were "notable"? In what way "notable"? Any band can be amongst the first if there's no clear explanation of which other bands you are excluding. Best to stick to hard facts that demonstrate they were ahead of their time, than undefined vagueness that leaves the reader guessing. -- Escape Orbit (Talk) 00:08, 9 February 2013 (UTC)
 * "Notable" has a precise definition at Wikipedia. See Notability. According to the Wikipedia community, if something is notable it merits an article; or if it merited an article then you can assume it's notable unless someone successfully argues otherwise. Fanny has a Wikipedia article so they're a "notable" band, and the evidence of notability is what makes up the whole rest of the article after the lead. If the lead leaves some readers guessing, it might encourage others to keep reading the rest of the article to find out why. -- D OOMSDAYER 520  (Talk|Contribs) 19:02, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

The article completely misleads about the choice of the name "Fanny". It was common knowledge at the time what "getting some Fanny" meant. It was the band's way of saying they knew what they needed to do to succeed, and they were willing to do it. More than a few women in show business owe their success to the same thing.2601:246:CE00:BC80:2523:2470:710C:BBDD (talk) 04:13, 11 December 2020 (UTC)

The problem with your suggestion is that the only actual source cited contradicts that. Bob Caldwell CSL (talk) 14:08, 11 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Also totally sexist, implying that all women got ahead by handing out sexual favors, with no reliable confirmation that any women did so, much less the band Fanny. ---  DOOMSDAYER 520 (TALK&#124;CONTRIBS) 16:11, 11 December 2020 (UTC)

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GA Comment
- As someone who has contributed a significant percentage of this article's text in past years, I would like to thank the GA reviewers for their fine work, plus for the recent improvements. Regarding the two question marks in the analysis above, I feel that the targeted statement at #2-C is a nice embellishment for the article but it could be removed with no damage. At #4, Fanny is a band that gained much of their appreciation long after they broke up, and given the nature of rock history, it is now easy to find online reviews from recent years and those are almost uniformly positive. If they received any critical reviews when they were really together (1970-74) those will be much more difficult to find in old print magazines and newspapers. ---  DOOMSDAYER 520 (Talk&#124;Contribs) 19:35, 12 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Regarding the original sources, I agree it could be difficult. I am merely asking the question in the interest of article improvement, not threatening a "fail" if more measured critical assessments aren't found.  This was certainly a pleasure to review.   78.26  (spin me / revolutions) 19:40, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Musical criticism
Aside from success as determined by record sales, commercial potential and public awareness of the band there is little in this Wikipedia page about the music itself. Specifically music criticism. Also - Was this band assembled as a novelty act with a sexually suggestive name? Was the band itself intended to promote the sex of beautiful young women i.e the Millington's are exotic and beautiful physically? Would the music business package Fanny and promote the feminist or general public view that women were under represented in rock and roll because of male oppression?

What is musical criticism? Are the following opinions "an intellectual activity of formulating judgements on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres"?:

Some of the band's output was poorly produced and engineered, poorly written and performed by musicians who ultimately were no better or worse than any other average musician. Alternatively Fanny's music is mostly forgettable, a surprisingly worse copy of contemporary formulaic rock music that itself was always in danger of being called "shit or worse". (Fortunately this is the Talk page.)

I note that there is discussion above (Talk page) about public perception of Fanny which the author appears to confuse with criticism but this favorability simply translates to the public's romanticism about an early all female rock band. I suspect that this page is void of musical criticism because Fanny was a business, designed to sell a product and only incidentally were a rock band. I suggest that this page exists because of that business' popularity, attitudes about human sexuality, nostalgia, sentimentality, romanticism and idolization - much less so because of the music. Part of the public sees beautiful young women playing in a rock band and this is mostly sexual imagery regardless of the music the same as it was for Elvis. To even suggest this risks accusations of bigotry, sexism and misogyny. In conclusion the Fanny entry is void of musical criticism and could be enriched with musical criticism and an analysis of the music business in the 1970s. This entry shouldn't be misconstrued as a put down or an effort to denigrate the musicians in the band. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.120.207.104 (talk • contribs)


 * That would be original research and your essay can be published somewhere else. ---  DOOMSDAYER 520 (Talk&#124;Contribs) 12:55, 14 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Between us, both myself and Doomsdayer have cited as many sources as we can find, which is why this is now a good article; one of the criteria of which is "broad in coverage". Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  13:25, 14 October 2019 (UTC)
 * The comment about the band being a "business first" speaks to a deep ignorance of both June Millington and Nickey Barclay's commitment to their songs and their art, and makes me immediately discard your comment in its entirety for improvement to the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.111.27.4 (talk) 17:16, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Brie leaving the Svelts
The opening para of the 'Career' section says "Brandt left to get married and was later replaced by Alice de Buhr." That's not what either of the cited sources says though. The Guardian article says "Drummer Howard left after she married a man who told her to quit the band". The official Fanny site says "Their first drummer was friend Brie Berry, who dropped out of the band to have a baby." I suggest going with what Fanny Rocks says unless anyone has another source. paxman (talk) 15:47, 18 June 2020 (UTC)
 * To avoid saying anything that might not be true or accurate, I would go with "Brandt quit the group and was replaced by Alice de Buhr". There's no real need to mention anything else. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont)  15:58, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

direct link?
in the moment there is a direct link to a photo of a music venue and the billboard on its roof, where a photo of the band('s backs) is pictured. I was happy to have had the opportunity to see this picture, but still am unsure about a direct link in/ under a wikipedia text section (instead of under the article near or in the references part), but don't know what to do about it (and if it was just a format(t?)ing error or straight boldness on the side of the person who put that link there in this way). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:3035:601:EB83:7341:4660:A110:EDDC (talk) 05:42, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

tiny detail re the bass
in the documentary mentioned, jean herself describes it as a 1962 precision, not a '63. she uses several other basses during the doc, but this (sunburst) instrument is the one specifically mentioned as having been the main bass during the band's career. duncanrmi (talk) 01:56, 13 February 2024 (UTC)