Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Brief Highlighted History of Women in Rock....

Yep. Brief on words. I guess it doesn't need to be a dissertation. Just enjoy the music.




Janis



Heart



The Runaways



Lita Ford



Joan Jett



The Pretenders



Blondie



Go Go's



Eurythmics (love Annie here)



Annie Lennox again (original abominable alter ego)



Check these out too (Dark Rayality's contributions. He's all about the girl groups. I'd say a good 80% of his music.)

Taking us from the 80's to the new millenium.....

Cyndi Lauper
Til Tuesday
Missing Persons
4 Non-Blondes
Veruca Salt
Breeders (I contend the Pixie's sound was more Kim Deal than Frank Black.)
Belly
Curve
Switchblade Symphony


Now. If you want to talk about female bassists, drummers, guitarists, keyboardists, outside of "girl bands" then we might have an issue of under-representation. But I could go on and on all day.

Feel free to fill in all the spaces I've left blank.

20 comments:

Nigel said...

Cool. Allow me:

Berlin

Sheryl Crow (yeah, I hate her politics and proclivity for breaking up marriages...see Lance Armstrong...but I love her lyrics)

The Bangles

Lone Justice w. Maria McKee (and you know I love her, especially when she's covering Petty)

Pat Benatar

Stevie Nicks

Scandal

I could go on, but really I'll leave a few for others. BTW, all above are from my personal music collection...

BB said...

Patti Smith!!!!! No, not Smyth, she's the one from Scandel. This is the original rock chick. (Janis had too much soul to be ALL rock). Gilda Radner used to spoof her on SNL in the 70's, most people thought she was channeling Janis, but it was Patti. Her recent acceptance into the Rock Hall of Fame was totally un-Patti-tears and a heartfelt speech with huge props to mom. I can probably think of more, that was just my knee jerk first thought.

Nigel said...

I was thinking Patti Smith too...and she probably needs to be in Michele's original post.

We've left several rocker chicks out still...who will fill in the blanks?

Michele said...

Nigel, all of yours would have been on there too.

We've got Berlin, Pat Benatar, and Stevie Nicks in our collection as well.

Had to leave some for you guys though.

BB said...

Wendy O. Williams
Grace Slick
Melissa Etheridge
Hmm... still thinking.
I know Rickie Lee Jones is more blues and jazz, I just wanted to say her name!!!

Michele said...

I like saying Bee Bee Rebozo...but I don't think he has anything to do with girls who rock. I think he has something to do with the Bay of Pigs.
Oh, and Hozni Mubarak is a family favorite too.

Hubby is mad because I only listed about 1/5 of his collection of excellent women rockers.

Michele said...

B52's, Cocteau Twins (not really rock, but eh.) Cranberries, The Cranes, Darling Buds,Kate Bush, Lush, Mazzy Star, Sinead O'Connor,OMG! Souxsie and the Banshees (how the hell did I forget that one!),The Sundays, Throwing Muses....that may be all of the itunes. I can search through our CDs though. Some aren't rockers per se but I like to say their names as well!

Michele said...

I forgot Susan Tedeschi. That's a girl who can play and sing. She blows me away!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjSXjpyiYKg

chasedestroy said...


Bjork


im so glad Curve and Lush have been mentioned, all of those lovely shoegazer singing ladies...



Tori Amos (love her or hate her, im on the fence)



PJ Harvey



Shirley Manson from Garbage (arguably the sequel to the band Curve)


its funny that Switchblade Symphony was mentioned, just cause when i saw them they were way more like Goth-y cheerleaders than rockers...


Ellen Allien


Ellen Allien is not a rocker, but as a Label owner of Berlin's BPitch Control Records, and is amazing DJ and Producer of electronica. Ellen Allien is arguably the most important female figure in Berlin's electronica scene (electronica really tends to be a boys club), that, and she's one of my heroes.

Nigel said...

Hubby is mad because I only listed about 1/5 of his collection of excellent women rockers.

What? You've forbidden him from logging on and commenting? Tell him to get his butt in here and speak for hisself...

Can't believe we missed Aretha Franklin. Kind of like discussing American History and leaving out George Washington.

Michele said...

I just told him that.

Hole

(that's not my sign off BTW. Just one I forgot)

wenso said...

Joni Mitchell

Lori Anderson

Joan Baez

Melanie

Luscious Jackson and then onto Kostars

(Right on about Kim Deal being the real sound behind the Pixies!)

Michelle Shocked

the Cardigans (reaching here...there's another band along these lines, but better, that I just can't remember clearly...)

Michele said...

We've moved away from rock, but that's okay, I may have started it. I wanted to include Joni Mitchell, but I didn't think rock with her. She's supremely talented.

I've been trudging through Green for the past year. I've got the picking pattern down, the left hand down, and the singing (almost)down. I just can't do any of it at the same time.

I can pretend though when I record it.

Still Stacy said...

My 17 year-old son is in love with Ann Wilson. He's tried to explain what her voice does to him. Funny.

cynthusia said...

i have to ditto Bjork; she's done things that no one else male or female has ever accomplished musically before... definitely top of the list for me!

my second #1 and definitely a rocker-lady: Kim Gordon!!

an off-the-top-of-my-head list:

Stevie Nicks (of course!)
Courtney Love/Hole
PJ Harvey
Siouxsie


not so "rawk" but i have to mention:

Alison Goldfrapp
Billy Holiday
Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins)
Valerie Trebeljahr (Lali Puna)

and the more obscure, but very important to me:

Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab)
Ellen Allien (go Chase!)
Elisabeth Esselink (Solex)
Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead)
Toko Yasuda (Enon)

i'm sure there are tons more i'm not even thinking of, but that was fun, thanks :)

by the way - HI! I'm Cindy, Chase's geeky girlfriend. i love your blog.

Michele said...

Welcome Cindy. We love geeks! I'll have to check out your more obscure references. I have heard of Blonde Redhead, only because the name struck me funny.

BB said...

Since we've reached out of the rock genre, I have to mention Beth Orton, She's FAB!!!!

Michele said...

C'mon BB! Dontcha have a band that you can't stand?

Hey that rhymes! I'll write a hit song.

aproposofnothing said...

I really loved Lita Ford when I was growing up.

Here's some of my favorites that have yet to be mentioned.

Melissa Auf der Maur

Tegan and Sara

Maria Brink (In This Moment)

Fiona Apple

Liz Phair

Lennon

Sophie B. Hawkins

Gwen Stefani (No Doubt)

Poe

Michele said...

Liz Phair! I listened that first CD into the ground and forgot her.