I introduced the subject of wigs in my last posts because I am curious about how songs reflect the biases that are sometimes conscious and sometimes unconscious in the song writer's society.

Songs that contain references to hair usually reflect a society's preference for women's hair of a certain color and/or hair of a certain length. Though I can't think of any examples, it seems likely that there are some American songs that positively or negatively refer to the 1920s Roaring Twenties "bobbed" hair cuts that became vogue than among some women. However, it seems to me that in "Western" societies, long hair has been and is still considered the norm for women, though since the mid 20th century there has increasingly been more acceptance of shorter hairstyles for women. My point is that these opinions about hair are likely to be reflected in popular music and other indices of folk culture such as jokes.

In addition to a societal preference for long female hair, and in spite of the fact that a large number of women wear hair attachments such as hair pieces and extentions, and a smaller but still substantial number of women wear wigs, I believe that an analysis of popular music {and for these purposes, I include "folk music" in that definition of popular music}, would reveal a decided bias against women wearing fake hair. There's no question that this bias against women wearing fake hair also shows up in jokes, but I'm going to refain from citing any jokes in this post or others in this thread. ;o)

One song from the mid 1990s that includes a referent to women wearing fake hair is DJKool's "Let Me Clear My Throat". That song has a call & response talking interlude where the highly danceable percussive music stops and the DJ asked -and I am paraphasing

"Now, all ladies in the house who have real hair, real fingernails and have a job, say yeah!" The next sound you hear on the recording is that of women shouting loudly.

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Btw, this online site http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/album/album.cgi?ALBUMID=493849 includes a listing of the songs, and this review of DJKool's album:

"DJ Kool's Let Me Clear My Throat was one of the most invigorating hip-hop records of the mid-'90s, simply because it didn't follow conventional hardcore, alternative, or gangsta rap patterns. Instead, DJ Kool returned to the wild, careening atmosphere of freestyle, old-school hip-hop, anchoring the rhymes with spare scratching and elastic reggae grooves. The result was one hell of a party album, filled with terrific beats and infectious, humorous rhymes. ~ Leo Stanley, All Music Guide"

-snip-

Although that website refers to "Let Me Clear My Throat" as hiphop, I thought it was an example of "bass music". Here's a definition of bass music:

Miami bass (booty bass, bass music) is a form of music known for deep, throbbing beats, hyperkinetic rhythms and, often, sexually explicit lyrics. It arose in the southern United States, centered on Miami and Orlando, and elsewhere in Florida, as well as Atlanta and Alabama. Miami bass has achieved little mainstream chart success, though it has won acceptance among US southerners and some northern hip hop listeners, a form to which it is closely related.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_bass_music