They say that the voice of a woman can be enough to soothe both the savage beast in man, as well as serve as proverbial nails on a chalkboard.
Nowhere has this been more true over the years than in music. My own relationship with women in music over the years has been, well let's just say that as in life, it's been complicated.
The first time I can remember falling in love with a woman's voice was when as a pre-teen boy I first heard Grace Slick sing "White Rabbit" with the Jefferson Airplane. Even though I nary understood a thing that Grace was talking about with all her talk about pills that made you either larger or small, there was still something about her sweet, yet seductive voice that made me really want to fall down that particular rabbit hole.
Even so, I would grow to develop a certain love/hate relationship with the various women of rock over the years as I grew older. For every Janis Joplin or Aretha Franklin who were able to touch some unrealized yearning deep within my soul, or for every Ronnie Spector who was able to light the flame of innocent, unconditional romantic love — there would be those angry feminist singers who could just as quickly extinguish it.
This reached an apex in the nineties, during the era of the Cranberries, the Breeders, and especially Alanis Morisette — a singer whose songs more often than not left me wondering "hey, what'd I ever do to you?" than anything else.
Right around this time, I can remember going to an outdoor Neil Young show where The Pretenders were opening, and Chrissie Hynde — an artist whose toughness I always respected — going all ballistic on people barbecuing burgers, due to the "meat is murder" factor. I mean, it's a festival already! What the f...?
And then there was the Ani DeFranco show a friend dragged me out to, where me and him stood alone in a stadium full of angry feminists glaring menacingly at us. Never before or since have I gone to a concert where I felt more like the enemy than I did a mere spectator. I've been less scared as the lone white dude at an NWA show.
This was about the point I began asking myself "when did all these chicks get so damn angry?"
Thank God, that in between the angry feminism of the Anis and the Alanises — not to mention the empty trilling of the Mariahs and the Whitneys — there have still been some great female singers whose ability to soothe the soul have stood out from the rest.
Article comments
1 - KIM MURRELL
What about Sarah McLachlan ??Go to Youtube and watch the concert video for "Possesion"!
2 - Jim Miralles
As a fan for music, the article reminds me of some of my favorite female rockers...
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart
Deborah Harry of Blondie
Martha Davis of The Motels
Joan Jett
Pat Benatar
3 - Mark Saleski
i like most of these singers, though i'd take Ani DiFranco over all of them. biting lyrics, really great guitar playing.
Haslip i can't stand at all, but i'm not a proggy guy.
...and i don't miss smoke-filled lounges one little bit.
4 - El Bicho
Good to see women get some spotlight, but I take issue with a few points.
No Tina Turner?
Slick's voice sweet on "WR"? When was the last time you heard that song?
"Great singers who understand implicitly that music works best as a comforter, rather than as a confronter.
I disagree here totally. There are many times I'll take Dylan's "Master of War", Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up", RATM "Killing in the Name", Nina Simone's "Mississipi Goddamn", Alanis' "You Outta Know", etc. over some lame, sappy love songs.
"Carole King...once said she could make the earth move under my feet."
No she didn't. She said she felt it move.
And why aren't women allowed to be angry? It's an emotion they are entitled to express just like everyone else and some do it very well.
5 - zingzing
i recently had a thing for female punk/post-punk artists. the slits, raincoats, lilliput, au pairs, delta 5, essential logic, esg, bush tetras, lydia lunch (especially teenage jesus and the jerks)... it goes on.
6 - Glen Boyd
El B...
There are lots of women I could have mentioned here, not the least of which is Tina Turner ("River Deep Mountain High" is as near to a perfect record as any I can think of).
Joni Mitchell is another who comes to mind that comes to mind, that perhaps I glossed over here. But for the purposes of this article, I went with those mentioned...I didn't the space or the time to really do otherwise. It's not a book...someday maybe though...
As for Grace Slick, I'm just going on childhood memory here. I remember that the first time I heard that song her voice really had this seductive sort of quality that was particularly intoxicating to a thirteen year old boy whose hormones were fairly raging out of control at the time.
I also agree that anger is an emotion conveyed particularly well in music. People like the Clash and RATM do that particularly well. There's just something about when that anger is so directly targeted towards men -- Alannis is the most obvious example that comes to mind here -- that kinda leaves me cold.
-Glen
7 - roger nowosielski
Also, Glen, no mention of women voices in operatic music. They're simply angelic.
8 - Glen Boyd
I'm not an opera fan, but Annie Haslim kinda covers that for me.
9 - roger nowosielski
What about Sarah Brightman, "The Phantom . . ."?
You really ought to sample women voices in the genre - Renata Tebaldi, Callas, Teresa Berganza, plenty more to come from. It's a cathartic experience.
10 - El Bicho
"You Outta Know" is directed at one man, the one who left the narrator and hooked up with another woman very soon after. It's not an attack on men in general.
Her pain and anger is identifiable to any person who has been in a similar situation. I certainly went through it, so I have no idea what you are reading into the song.
11 - zingzing
morrisette was, at that point, a bit harsh and annoying, both fine things, but combined with her rather insipid songwriting, she ends up on the bad side of both of those above qualities, in my opinion. unfortunately, as she matured, her songwriting went from harsh, annoying and child-like to just plain old boring.
12 - roger nowosielski
"Speaking of great examples of music being wed to cinema, Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack to David Lynch's TV cult-classic Twin Peaks is one of the best ever."
I certainly agree with you there, Glen. Not just the music - the entire series is a classic. Never to be surpassed.
13 - Glen Boyd
Zing makes my point for me Bicho. Her voice is just really grating and annoying to me, especially when she's pissed off at one of more of her ex's...which seemed to be a constantly recurring theme in her songs, including, but certainly not limited to "You Oughtta Know."
-Glen
14 - Mark Saleski
oh, and i forgot to say that i've always been kind of surprised that Vanessa Daou never hit it big. i remember hearing a tune on a cmj sampler and thinking "what the hell was that?!"
15 - Glen Boyd
She's super-underrated. The Zipless album is one of the most erotic pieces of music I've ever heard, and her album Dear John Coltrane is also quite good (sex isn't the only thing she sings about...it's just that she does it so well when she does).
-Glen
16 - Glen Boyd
Speaking of things I also forgot to add, the one time I saw Vanessa Daou live, she was sharing the bill with the recently passed Guru (doing his Jazzmatazz thing) of all people...
One of the weirdest pairings I've ever seen, but also a great show. Daou completely won over the hip-hop heads too.
And she is even more sexy in person. I about creamed my jeans when she signed a poster for me...and it stills hang proudly on my wall.
-Glen
17 - Bill Altice
Glen,
Check the Karen Cooper Complex, please:
Jason Sigal, Managing Director at WFMU said:
"This is amazing stuff and we would be honored to feature it in wfmu's curated portal on the free music archive. I'm very sorry for our slow response, we have a lot of stuff to wade through to find gems like these."
18 - Glen Boyd
Don't understand this comment at all; even after checking the link.
????
-Glen
19 - V B
Carole King never said anything about the earth doing anything under YOUR feet. That was a very lame thought you should have kept to yourself.
20 - martin lav
Hey Glen,
How could you have not ignored the Chrissie's comments about the burgers at a festival that had both her and Neil on the ticket? Seems as though she should have gotten a pass on that one. Ever here her Needle and the Damage Done? One of the best female voices in Rock n Roll by far.
And with statements like this:
"Hynde was asked: "What was it like playing with Neil?"
"Fucking great!", replied Chrissie."
Who could not LOVE Chrissie?