Michelle Winters’s Hair for Men is a smart and wonderful novel of forgiveness.
The Chicago Review of Books wrote of the book:
“Simultaneously a grimy bildungsroman and evolving philosophical treatise, Hair for Men follows a girl forced, like every single one of us, to figure out what type of woman she should become in a world full of badly behaved men.”
In her own words, here is Michelle Winters’s Book Notes music playlist for her novel Hair for Men:
Hair for Men explores two aspects of music through the lens of Louise: one is the way angry music can ease the pain of a furious young person, the other is the way age, wisdom, and experience can soften the harsh perspectives you cleave to as a furious young person and can make you love music you once hated. The two sides here are represented by Louise’s Black Flag period, and her ensuing Tragically Hip period
Note – For the non-Canadian, the Tragically Hip were known as ‘Canada’s Band’ from the early 1990’s until 2016, when their lead singer, Gord Downie, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and the band announced their final tour. The second half of the book takes place the day of their final show. The Hip’s vibe was hockey and frat boys, but what in fact lay beneath the sports bar veneer was a poetry and emotional depth, their songs examining institutional injustice and colonial wrongs, but also normal, small-town Canadian experience, which is a dangerous thing to do in an industry where sounding American is your best hope of making it across the border. But The Hip never did, as this note will attest. I’ll admit to having a Come to the Hip conversion in 2000, while bartending at an event where Gord Downie performed an impossibly arty improvised show. My enjoyment of them now, vs. the time I couldn’t get past my own Alternativeness to really listen closely, makes their songs twice as good.
Side one
Six Pack – Black Flag
This is the song that stops Louise on the street, her first exposure to the urgent release of hardcore and a life-changing, girl-changing moment. Henry Rollins will go on to become her role model, and something of a patron saint of this book.
Rise Above – Black Flag
This is the first song Louise listens to on headphones. It’s such a simple line, but something like “We are tired of your abuse,” when you’ve never listened to music that’s pissed right off is such a balm.
Total Breakdown – Bunchoffuckinggoofs
Louise’s first foray into the pit. This song is probably hard to find, but BFG were a Toronto institution back in the day, and to my knowledge Steve Goof still lives in Kensington Market and still has a mohawk. He ran for city council!
Dead Joe – The Birthday Party
This is where the sound of Nick Cave’s voice is so deep that Louise can’t hear it over her windshield wipers. Nick Cave is a foray into the outer reaches of punk for Louise. I always liked how the realms of punk don’t exclude each other; if something is cool, it’s cool.
The Sporting Life – Diamanda Galas
This is a song of terrifying feminine violence where Diamanda Galas and some of her friends have caught Snoop Dogg and are going to rape and kill him. It’s late at night, the industrial park is abandoned, and Louise is listening to this in the car, psyching herself up to pull out of the parking lot. John Paul Jones’ salacious bass slaps along as the girls shriek and cackle. It’s fully psychotic.
New York, New York – Nina Hagen
It’s always the right time to reference Nina Hagen, and while only her ponytail from this video gets mentioned in the book, she’s also another fun intersection of punk for Louise. German punk was fully unique from British, and hardcore came from the States, but they all respected each other. She was a real eye-opener for me as a little East Coast teenager, as far as what was possible in the world. Man…
Side Two
You Learn – Alanis Morisette
The Commodore is a man constantly improving. This one’s his.
Fifty-Mission Cap – The Tragically Hip
This is the first song of the final concert and also references the Commodore’s hat. There are hundreds of Canadian snapback ballcaps belonging to hundreds of Canadian men referred to as this very thing. Perhaps one of the least harmoniously pleasing of their songs, it exemplifies their dark, nebulous narrative style. Bill Barilko won the Stanley Cup for the Toronto Maple Leafs, then disappeared while on a fishing trip with his dentist. The Leafs didn’t win another Stanley Cup until his body was discovered in the wreckage of their plane eleven years later. It’s such a good, creepy, hockey-magic story.
Courage – The Tragically Hip
The first song on Fully Completely. It took a while to grow on me, because the melody is all over the place, and like a lot of their songs, it’s dissonant. But “it couldn’t come at a worse time” will never stop being smart, and he inventively quotes a whole passage from The Watch that Ends the Night, by Hugh Mclennan. Cheeky. This is Louise’s favourite song, but also Mitch and Spence’s. I sometimes like to explore tiny human frictions in my writing, like having the same favourite song as your nemesis.
Wheat Kings – The Tragically Hip
This one’s a bit of a musical challenge too. It’s beautiful, but the melody doesn’t do what your ears want it to. It’s an indictment of the Canadian legal system for the wrongful murder conviction of David Milgaard, but there’s also the subtext that all of Canada sat quietly by and let the injustice take place, while insisting afterwards that we’d always known he wasn’t guilty. The Hip didn’t want our Canadian identity going unexamined or us getting away with believing we’re really as nice as we think we are. This is Grace’s song.
My Music At Work – The Tragically Hip
I’ll come right out and say that this is my favourite Hip song. I love a pop anthem, major chords, melody resolution, and a dance routine. The lyrics are insane (“and when the sunlight hits the olive oil, don’t hesitate”, “in a sink full of the Ganges I’d remain ”…), I love the comic swipe at whichever soft rock adult contemporary station it was whose slogan was “My Music At Work.” I’ve put in some time working in the very kitchens, offices and retail stores that played that station. This one speaks loudly to me.
Locked in the Trunk of a Car – The Tragically Hip
What a song! Dark, desperate, murderous, murky, and maybe just someone trapped inside their own mind. “Every day I’m dumping the body” should resonate even if you don’t have those dreams where you’re carrying a body around that you have to dispose of.
Ahead by a Century – The Tragically Hip
This is the final song of the Kingston concert, the definitive note Gord left us on, which was: we’re going to be okay, but there’ll be work. In his last days, Gord Downie showed up everywhere, pulling attention to some of our national areas for improvement. At that final show, he addressed the Prime Minister, in the audience, on the conditions of First Nations reservations where the water hasn’t been drinkable for decades, he addressed the female fans and thanked us for sticking with them despite all the dudes, he spoke loudly and thoughtfully about our country and how we can do better. This song is where he casts off our boat from the shore and wishes us well.
Michelle Winters is a writer, painter, and translator born and raised in Saint John, NB. Her debut novel, I Am a Truck, was shortlisted for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is the translator of Kiss the Undertow and Daniil and Vanya by Marie-Hélène Larochelle. She lives in Toronto.