Thursday, October 22, 2009

For the Ladies Who Rock...We Salute You

I have been contemplating this post for quite some time. I wanted to write a post about girls who rock, because it seems like they are far too few. There are some fantastic female singer songwriters, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell others not named Joan, but they are not what you put on when you wanna "Rock Out" in your pad. Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Diana Krall have some of the most amazing voices ever, but not rock by any stretch of the imagination. The other problem that female rockers unfairly face is that they become a sex symbol, and that sexy symbol status overshadows their Rockerness. No one thinks Bruce Springstein(I am sure there is a better example, but "The Boss" is who I came up with) losses rock credibility because millions of women find him attractive. Some female rockers try to capitalize on this *cough...Pussy Cat Dolls....cough*

Some groups like the The Supremes and many of the other Motown groups come off having too much bubble gum in the their sounds for my rock tastes. Also having a guitar is something of a necessity if you wanna rock. So here are my list of awesome Rocker Girls.

Aretha Franklin-I had actually written a line in the introduction about why she wasn't on the list, but then I listened to Respect and Think and thought about the scene in the Blues Brothers movie, and thought that if Ray Charles would go on my guys rock list because of the way I feel when I listen to Ray, then its only fair to put Aretha on my female list. She does with her voice what a great rock guitarist goes with his six string. Plus she was in Tommy ,the greatest rock opera ever, which was written by The Who so she gets instant street cred for that.

The Donnas-The Donnas do what the Pussy Cat Dolls what us to think they do...nough said.

The Runaways-For those of you who have never heard of The Runaways you are missing out. This was an all-female rock group in the 70s that had Lita Ford, Micki Steele(The Bangles) and Joan Jett in it. This was a band that even the most ardent Jock Rocker would be able to ban his head to. It produced three icons of female rock and is well worth a listen.

Bikini Kill- Hard core rockers from Washington state, that may be the closest XX Chromosome band you can compare to Nirvana. While at the same time starting the Riot Girl movement in music. Political lyrics and feminist themes make Bikini Kill the real girl power band.

The Bangals-Almost didn't make the list because when I listen to most of their popular stuff I think its all pop stuff, but songs like In Your Room made me concede that they earn at least as much rock cred as any new wave band. Plus they have a Runaways alum.

Lita Ford-Slashing guitar that could have made her a stand in for Van Halen any time.

Pattie Smith-One of the first punk rock girls. Blondie and Pattie Smith's solo stuff make her truly hardcore.

Alanis Morissette- As much I and almost every other guy in the late 90s hated her, we can't ignore that Jagged Little Pill was landmark album. And we all had the choruses from this album stuck in our heads for 5 years. She was engaged to Ryan Reynolds which almost kept her off the list, not because I hate him, but because he just doesn't seem like the male equivalent of Tawny Kitaen.

Joan Jett-The ultimate rock girl. When Joan sings "I don't give a damn about my bad reputation." We know she means it. When Avril Lavigne sings a similar sentiment we think she is trying to convince herself far more than she is convincing us. A fun thing to try get someone really obsessed with music talking about girls and rock and when they say "there are no good girl rockers." You say "except Joan Jett." The person will almost always reply "Well, yeah of course I didn't mean Joan Jett" Try it. I promise it works.

There are few names that didn't make it on this list. You are probably asking about Janis Joplin. I was just never a huge Janis fan. I will admit she rocks, because drinking Jack Daniels straight from the bottle is pretty rock n' roll, but I was just never impressed. There are others I am sure, feel free to leave glaring omissions in the comment box.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

actually Alanis is NOT married to Ryan. they broke up and he is married to Scarlett Johanssen. And P.S. they're making a movie about The Runaways. It looks super cool, cept Dakota Fanning playing a rock chick is weird to me.

Unknown said...

oh and Patti Smith is freaking awesome. Love her.

jaesi said...

you cant tell me that Avril Lavigne doesn not rock.
Doesnt anyone who has tattooed eyeliner and makes their videos running around in a mall? :)

Jules AF said...

I'm not exactly sure what could make a man comparable to Tawny Kitaen. But man, Ryan Reynolds is so hot. If that's a qualification, yes, he is like her. If having an amazing body with rock hard abs is a qualification, yes, he is. haha

Crystal said...

How could you forget Heart? And Pat Benatar? And Paramore? And Gwen Stefani? :)

Colt said...

Gwen and Pat I grant you, that was a total mind blank, but Heart and Paramore I would not have considered. I also would never have considered Eveneseance.

Jodie Smith said...

Melissa Etheridge is a no brainer and should not have been omitted. I also think Tina should be on there. The Stones plus Tommy equals more Rock cred than Blues Bros plus Tommy.

Britta said...

Patty Griffin. Saw her at an Indigo Girls concert and instantly bought an album which is one of few that I can listen to straight through. And now that I mention them, Indigo Girls. They may be folksy, but trust me, they can rock, and they sound even better in person.

Brooke said...

What, no Eartha Kitt?

Brooke said...

Or Janis Joplin?!?

J McO (change later) said...

Nice list. The Donnas went to my middle/high school and my brother actually helped them get recognition early on.

I think you would really enjoy St. Vincent. She SHREDS and is just brilliant.