Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

The willow is too close to the house.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Democrats are back in array!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

You are here: Home / Music / I Fired Dat Staff So I Could Hire Distaff

I Fired Dat Staff So I Could Hire Distaff

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This post is in: ,

So — I have this great FDR/Eric Cantor post cooking, and another on some highly wonkish political science offering insight into the next election on the basis of analysis of 2008’s dinner dance, and much more good stuff besides, but…

….I’m sitting here contemplating (that’s a nice word) bourbon (descending steadily on the $/dram scale as I work through the evening) in response to the third-of-four-quadrants close encounter with my oral surgeon today.  Gingivitis! Dont’ try this at home kids!


(Wincing yet?  Good.  Misery loves company.)

So no actually useful blogging from this quarter.  Sorry.

Besides, there’s nothing on but crazy folk that some kind person should take back inside to the nice padded room.  Feed them their gruel with blunted spoons and no one will get hurt.  No Mitt — you can’t whack Rick with your Social Security Bear.

But, hey.  All this gives me an excuse to extend  the discussion from the other night, when I tagged Freddie Mercury as one of the top candidates for the title best male rock and roll vocalist ever.

Someone subsequently said, in essence, what about the women?

Well, what about them?

Linda Ronstadt appeared in the thread as the leading candidate, and while I concur that she’s a fabulous artist, I can’t bring myself to see her quite as a rock avatar.  If you extend to jazz there are some fabulous candidates, from Billie Holiday to Cassandra Wilson and so many more…or perhaps really Billie Holiday and you can probably stop there.  You want to go to blues and you get some more…for example I defy you to say Koko Taylor isn’t on your list.  And then there’s Aretha.

You want diva-tude? Well in the last thread we had Annie Lennox mentioned, and to keep the Freddie vibe going just one more minute, you can always listen to this remarkable duet…and you can’t tell me she doesn’t have the stage presence and the voice. (And that dress!)  The great country voices….and, and, and — you get it.  No one answer, lots of great music whilst we argue.

But talkin’ rock and roll, plain and simple?  I don’t know; I haven’t got a slam dunk candidate.  Janis Joplin would have been the obvious one in my youth, were it not for Grace Slick before she wandered off into I don’t know what (and actually, listening again, Janis still wins)…and so  on.

So why not start a thread on this, and for an actual living, music making wonder who’s injecting herself into the debate, how about that Grace Potter?  I saw some comment on one youtube or another that called her the daughter Janis never knew she had, and that’s not far off.

Here she is with Joe Satriani and others, purely owning Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer.”

<div align=”center”><iframe width=”560″ height=”345″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/paeNnR33i5Q” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

So have at it:  open (musical) thread with which to wash all those Republicans out of your hair.

Image:  Jan Steen, The Dentist,  1651

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  4. 4.

    The Dangerman

    I’ll have to nominate Ann Wilson for best harder rock voice; not a huge Joplin fan.

    If you expand out to lighter rock, Natalie Merchant has an incredible voice; similarly, Paula Cole (though she hasn’t had much commercial success, she has some pipes)…

    …but, I’m going with Bonnie Raitt.

  5. 5.

    Linkmeister

    Stevie Nicks. Nancy Wilson (of Heart). Pat Benatar.

    I love Ronstadt, but she didn’t aspire to be a rock n’ roll star, she wanted to interpret songs. I’ll argue till the death that she did that better than any other woman of her generation.

  9. 9.

    The Dangerman

    @Linkmeister:

    Ann or Nancy? Nancy or Ann?

    Ann’s the lead, right? Nancy sings a little, but Ann does most of the lead. Or am I so confused after the debate that I’ve mixed them up? Shit, now I have to go Google.

  10. 10.

    MikeJ

    I’m a fan of Aimee Mann, but #1 rock n’ roll goddess?

    Kim Gordon.

    I would listen to arguments for Kim Deal or Patti Smith.

  11. 11.

    Paul

    Chrissie Hynde is a terrific singer. I never fail to get shivers during the bridge of “Back on the Chain Gang.”

    Another favorite female vocal is Karen Dalton doing “Katie Cruel”.

  13. 13.

    Tom Levenson

    @Alex S.: Well yeah. Brain bubbles not to headline Tina in the mix.

    Like I say, nothing wrong with a fight to the death with this soundtrack.

    But hey y’all — do check out Potter. She’s the real deal, IMHO.

  14. 14.

    statzilla

    Grace Slick until she wandered off into…the extreme fringe of cocaine abuse? No judgment in that statement, but have you watched recently the video for We Built this City? She rode that white horse hard.

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Grace Potter is awesome, but that video reminded me how much I cannot abide Satriani. YMMV.

    Let’s not forget Ronnie Spector.

    Also too, Shingai Shoniwa of the Noisettes is pretty awesome.

    Edited slightly

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Oh Tom. Gingivitis. Been dere done dat. Do whatever you must to keep your own teeth. Otherwise you’re in for pain, humiliation, and poverty.

    You don’t want to know how I know this.

  17. 17.

    Irony Abounds

    I think Joplin is totally overrated. Something that always seems to happen to entertainers who kill themselves. For some reason the thought that she must have been a tortured soul gets her credibility she probably otherwise wouldn’t have. Slick or Nicks are good choices, or perhaps Melissa Etheridge before she got all gooey and stuff.

  18. 18.

    JGabriel

    Joni Mitchell. Hands down.

    2nd Place: Rickie Lee Jones.

    Annie Lennox is pretty amazing too. Also, Aretha. Oh, and Nina Simone.

    ETA: Okay, maybe Joni doesn’t win hands down, but she’s up there. And she’s definitely the best songwriter of the lot. Though Nina comes close.

    .

  23. 23.

    Gin & Tonic

    Flabbergasted how you could say “extend to jazz” and not mention Ella Fitzgerald.

    I’m weak on the rock, though, sorry.

  25. 25.

    Tom Levenson

    @Gin & Tonic: Of course! But the list never ends — and if I wrote down everyone I loved…what would there be for everyone else? Gotta share, ya know.

  26. 26.

    AkaDad

    I adore women singers and all the ones mentioned here are awesome, but I’m going to be controversial and go with Joss Stone.

    She has one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard.

  27. 27.

    Joe

    You specified rock and roll, so Ann Wilson gets my vote, too. If we branch out a bit, Nena (Gabrielle Kerner) gets the heaviest play on my iPod.

  28. 28.

    4jkb4ia

    Melissa Etheridge is an outstanding choice period. The Oscar winning song was pure rock and roll delivery.

  30. 30.

    Randy Paul

    I gotta agree with Danger Man on Bonnie Raitt. Few rock singers can sing plaintive ballads and belt as well as she can.

    As for female jazz singers, you have to include Carmen McRae. This was a woman who refused to sing Send in the Clowns until someone explained to her that the clowns are sent in to distract from disasters.

    She even covered Alice Cooper (Only Women Bleed). My favorite story about her was from the jazz critic, Leonard Feather. He was at a club where she was performing and saw a waitress crying. He asked the waitress what was wrong and she just pointed to the stage and said “How can she know so much.”

    For technical ability, everyones raves about Ella Fitzgerald, but i always preferred Sarah Vaughan; a singer with a range from baritone to soprano.

  32. 32.

    JGabriel

    @MikeJ:

    I would listen to arguments for Kim Deal or Patti Smith.

    How about Courtney Love on Live Through This or Kathleen Hanna on the first Le Tigre album.

    Or Corin Tucker/Carrie Brownstein if you really want to rock out. Also PJ Harvey.

    Really, there are lot of good choices here amongst women in rock.

    .

  33. 33.

    beltane

    @The Dangerman: Yes to Natalie Merchant. Also, Adele. I am a big Joni Mitchell fan but I’m not sure if this is because of her voice or her incredible songwriting abilities.

    I feel like we’re forgetting someone but I can’t remember who.

  36. 36.

    Paul

    Off the beaten path, but Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance and Beth Gibbons of Portishead have done some impressive work.

  37. 37.

    JGabriel

    There’s a myriad of great women vocalists in rock; the more I look at this comment thread, the more I fail to pick a best.

    I’ll stick with Joni as best female songwriter, though. The woman’s a bloody genius. If Blue, For The Roses and Court and Spark were the only 3 albums she ever released, she’d still be one of the great songwriters of the 20th C. What a run.

    .

  39. 39.

    Tom Levenson

    No one’s offered either Roberta Flack or, just for a bit of a contrast with that suggestion — how about Sinead O’Connor. Not always the most even keeled of performers…but she could knock some sounds out of that instrument.

  40. 40.

    General Stuck

    As far as newer female rock singers, I would put Amy Lee up near the top, if not the top. she, Like Sinead O’connor, has the ability to sing in multiple octaves at once.

  41. 41.

    Alex S.

    If I may add something completely different, just a few months ago I discovered that the most widely appreciated female singer of the 20th century was not even a member of the judeo-christian world, but the egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum/Kulthum. In fact, she was THE arabian singer par none, like Elvis Presley without the Beatles ever happening. But her music probably sounds too strange to our ears.

  43. 43.

    The Dangerman

    If we’re expanding beyond rock to places like jazz, I’ll go Folk and give a shout out to Joan Baez; one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to was one of hers (it was during the whole Florida mess in 2000; maybe that added to the magic).

  44. 44.

    beltane

    @Tom Levenson: Yes, Sinead O’Connor, that’s who I was thinking of.

    @Lysana: I remember Laurie Anderson for being considered a paragon of coolness in my high school days but I cannot remember her voice. Now I’ll have to take a trip over to YouTube to refresh my memory.

  48. 48.

    Steve

    If the challenge is to name rock singers who can flat-out blow the doors off, Ann Wilson is definitely my pick. I haven’t heard a ton of Amy Lee but she is pretty amazing.

    A lot of names I’m seeing are great vocalists in rock bands but I resist the label “rock vocalist” for some reason.

  50. 50.

    DCr

    For pure R&R, Joan Jett, hands down. There’s also Pat Benatar, plus Stevie Nicks. And we can’t leave out Madonna or Mama Cass.

  52. 52.

    johnsmith1882

    Nina Simone = rocket fuel
    Billie Holiday = manna of the gods
    Bjork, Sinead O’Connor, the girl from Portishead, Carol King, Poly Styrene, Eryka Badu, Sade, Tracy Chapman … all greatness as well

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    Glad to see Chrissie Hynde getting some mentions. Somehow, she looks and sounds just as tough and beautiful and committed now. That’s a feat.

    Get off her yard, if you don’t belong there.

  58. 58.

    dubyabee

    Well, I’m just an old fart, but IMHO the best female vocalist I have ever heard was Janis Joplin. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.

    Better range than Grace Slick, more emotion than Bonnie Raitt, better pipes than Ann Wilson.

    “Tortured soul because of an early death”? I defy you to listen to a live version of “Cry, Baby” and still believe that.

    Oh yeah; get off my lawn!

  60. 60.

    Nicole

    I would give the top spot to Ann Wilson or Tina Turner, but another of my favorites was Johnette Napolitano (sp?) from Concrete Blonde.

  62. 62.

    MikeJ

    @Alex S.:

    In fact, she was THE arabian singer par none, like Elvis Presley without the Beatles ever happening.

    Ever listen to Fairuz? I only know her because of the restaurant in L-town that I used to go to at least once a week, but she’s super popular.

  64. 64.

    Paul

    I liked Bjork back in the Sugarcubes days, I haven’t paid much attention since then. But her vocals on “Birthday” still blow me away.

  68. 68.

    sfinny

    I love the singers already named, but one of my favorite songs of all times is Running up that Hill by Kate Bush. That song consumed me for more than a decade and I still adore it.

    ETA: Come to think of it, that’s not really a rock song. Oh well.

  70. 70.

    parachutewoman

    PJ Harvey is not only the best rock and roll female singer out there, but is in the top ten rockers of all time in my humble lurker opinion. I can’t load a video, but I recommend checking out 50 ft. queenie. I also want to give a shout-out to early Courtney Love; nothing has ever rocked heavier than, say, Drown Soda. Look it up.

  71. 71.

    Paul

    @johnsmith1882:

    Funny but “Stories…” is the only one I haven’t heard, although I’m waiting for my turn from the public library.

    By the way, SUPPORT YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY!

    That is all.

  74. 74.

    goblue72

    What we have here is a failure to not be old – at least based on the favorites listed so far, the youngest of y’alls are late 30- or 40-something Gen X’ers – at least based on the shoutouts to PJ Harvey, Sleater-Kinney, The Sugarcubes and Sinead. (What, Liz Phair don’t get no props? And seriously, no Kim Deal? The Pixies/Breeder fer chrissakes! Personally, I still hold a torch for Juliana Hatfield.) And I’m just gonna ignore any Boomers throwing Janis out there as anything other than an off-key drunk – please go sit in the corner & listen to your Bonnie Raitt CDs.

    How about some music made in the last 10 years? Maybe a shout-out to Neko Case (New Pornographers) for you aging hipsters? Chan Marshall (Cat Power) or Feist for those who like it soft? Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) for those who like it hard? Alison Mosshart (The Kills) for those who like it rough? Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls) for those who like it kinky?

    For me, if I got to go new school, my current crush is Annie Erin Clark (St. Vincent – formerly w/ Polyphonic Spree & Sujan Stevens).

    If I gotta go old school leather rock, then the gal for me? Suzi Quatro, of course.

  76. 76.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    Best female rock vocalist ever? I’m partial to the ones who can really belt out a tune. Where’s my iPod?

    Linda Rondstadt: One of my all-time faves. Our Lady of the Voice. Second best version of every song she ever sang. Close, but no.

    Janis Joplin: Close, but flamed out too early.

    Grace Slick: Great voice, boosted every band she was in, long career… but too much of a Baby Boomer choice, so she loses out for totally arbitrary reasons.

    Debby Harry: The sound, the look the backing band. ‘Nuff said. I think she’s my top choice.

    Stevie Nicks: Oh, hell, can I have two winners?

    Bonnie Raitt: Blues, not rock and a better guitarist than vocalist. She’s the reason I play a National.

    Melissa Etheridge: Boy, can she belt it out, but hasn’t had a long enough career to make a claim for the best. And she seems to have disappeared?

    Bangles: I guess Susanna Hoffs, but all four could sing like crazy. Does the ability to harmonize count?

    ALSO RANS. Not best ever but I like ’em:

    KT Tunstall, Liz Phair, Martha Davis (Motels), Johnetta (Concrete Blonde), Butterfly Boucher, Amy Lee (Evenescence), Joan Osborne, Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson (so sue me), Pink (so sue me again)

    On another note: So what’s your high/low on the $/dram scale? For me it’s Maker’s Mark / Evan Williams.

    ETA: I just looked at some of the other votes. How could I forget the Wilson sisters or Pat Benatar or a whole bunch others? I need to update the iPod.

    PS Grace and the Nocturnals are really good too.

  77. 77.

    JGabriel

    @goblue72: Love Liz Phair, but the question was greatest female vocalist, and, well, Liz doesn’t exactly have a lot vocal range. And I have Exile, Whiplash, whitechocolatespaceegg, and the self-title album.

    But hells yes to Neko Case (says this aging, former college-radio dj, gen-x hipster whom you totally pegged).

    .

  79. 79.

    4jkb4ia

    @76: Depending on the era, it may be best not to have a long career. Dave Marsh had a classic observation that Tom Petty would have been a legend if he had come along in the fifties and released only an album or a few singles.

  81. 81.

    hilts

    Best female rock vocalist ever – Chrissie Hynde

    Best female vocalist ever – Joni Mitchell

    Also honorable mention to Sandy Denny

  82. 82.

    Cat Lady

    @Paul:

    Spinning Away was my daughter and son in law’s wedding reception entrance song.

    “One by one, all of the stars appear, as the great winds of the Planets spiral in…Under a raven sky I have no idea exactly what I’ve drawn. Some kind of change, some kind of spinning away, with every single line moving further out in time.”

    Nice.

  83. 83.

    trollhattan

    Grace Potter got her some pipes. Had to use the Google machine as I’d never heard of her. I do recommend she stay clear of Lucinda Williams’ oeuvre (she was straying there a bit) but she’s still pretty young.

  84. 84.

    goblue72

    @JGabriel: Yeah my tongue was a little in my cheek. And agree about Liz Phair – although a lot of female singer-songwriters from the 90s were a bit less RAWK and bit more…Lilith Fair.

    If you haven’t checked them out, totally recommend the Kills. Saw them a few years back at the Treasure Island music festival (San Franciso) on the “small stage” – they totally blew the headliners away (Jack White’s The Raconteurs). Course, ironically, the two would get together to form Dead Weather and appear a year later in San Francisco at Outside Lands.

  85. 85.

    Chasseur

    Chrissie Hynde if you’re talking rock, not even close. Many greater voices and performers, but rock singers? Hynde.

  87. 87.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Omnes Omnibus: If we’re going for Ronnie Spector and the Girl Groups that saved Rock’n’Roll between Elvis and the Beatles, then I’ve gotta give my vote to Darlene Love (Crystals, etc).

    Or Mary (lead) Betty, Mary Ann, and Marge, better known as the Shangri-Las, the first punk girl group.

  88. 88.

    Turgidson

    On the subject of Cortez the Killer covers, but not queens of rock, Built to Spill’s Cortez cover on their live album kinda fucking rules. Still waiting for them to play it at a show I attend, however.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    @Chasseur:

    Bar set pretty damn high by Chrissie. “Precious” popped up in my pod shuffle on this afternoon’s bike commute home, triggering the question: Has there ever been an inaugural song with more impact than this? Maybe not since “Break on Through.” And guarantee no airplay. Managed to see her with the original Pretenders. Zowie.

    Have to give shout-outs to Patti Smith and Exene Cervenka. X could grab an audience by the balls better than any group I’ve ever seen.

    Also, also too, Etta James.

  91. 91.

    burnspbesq

    Two names that haven’t been mentioned yet, but should have been: Kathleen Edwards and Martha Davis.

  94. 94.

    burnspbesq

    X could grab an audience by the balls better than any group I’ve ever seen.

    This. And they still can. Saw them two summers ago at the Orange County Fair. They ripped.

    When I was in law school at USC from 1979-82, these were the hot unsigned local bands: X, the Blasters, the Plimsouls, Los Lobos, Oingo Boingo, the Bangles, the Motels, Til Tuesday (Aimee Mann’s band), and Gary Myrick & the Figures. On any given night you could head out to Hollywood after the library closed and catch one of them for six dollars. Those were the days.

  95. 95.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @burnspbesq: See my reply at 76 for Martha Davis. I didn’t mention Kathleen Edwards ’cause I consider her more country than rock, but she makes the list too.

  97. 97.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @burnspbesq: Bugger! I left LA in ’78. Caught a lot of good bands at the Palladium, Roxy, Troubadour, and Palomino, but missed ALL of the ones you mentioned.

  98. 98.

    burnspbesq

    Three from the “criminally underappreciated” category:

    Lydia Pense (Cold Blood)
    Marti Jones
    Christine Collister

  102. 102.

    Yutsano

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Carrie gots pipes. Regardless of how she was discovered, she can belt like no tomorrow. And I dare any mom with a daughter to listen to “Mama’s Song” and not melt into a puddle.

    Kelly is pretty damn good too. And I love any woman unafraid to have a real body.

  103. 103.

    Amir Khalid

    I know I’m very very late to this thread, and all the great female rock/R&B singers have already been mentioned. But I must add the name of a personal favorite, Patti Scialfa — who remains obscure in her own right because she has only released three albums (the first when she was already past 40), and because she is best known for being in her husband’s band.

  106. 106.

    schlemizel - was Alwhite

    Now that it is too late – did you get a second opinion before you let him do that to you?

    While in Fl I had a dentist who build a very lavish new office. My first visit to this office was the most painful cleaning I ever got as the dental tech really leaned into the pick as she checked my “pockets”. DDS came in & said I needed root planing on all four quadrants. When I asked him what root planing was he said “don’t worry, your insurance will pay for it”

    That smelled fishy so I called my old dentist in MN, who was a great guy & very honest. He asked what numbers they got from the pockets so I told him what I remembered. He told me I just needed to floss better and certainly didn’t need planing.

    Turns out that is a procedure some dds will stretch their ethics on as it pays well & the diagnosis can be made to the insurance companies satisfaction rather easily.

    I’m sure that is not always the case but it is always something to keep in mind.

  107. 107.

    MarkJ

    I can’t figure out the criteria – why is a dead guy eligible (Freddie Mercury) but we have to pick a woman whose still alive?

    goblue72 – sometimes wisdom comes with age, and you need some perspective to identify who is really a great vocalist rather than whose “sound” is of the moment. I like Neko Case, but she only sings part time with the New Pornos and he solo work isn’t exactly rock. Cat Power is too sedated to be a great rock singer (same for Feist). Adele and Joss Stone, both of whom have been mentioned by multiple folks, are hardly Gen X or baby boomer picks.

    I’d vote for Aretha Franklin hands down, or Chrissy Hind if a “rocker” rather than a soul diva really is required. I really don’t understand the distinction though – “rock” started out as blues for white people. Saying soul isn’t rock seems like the same sort of fake distinction to me – you’re ruling out folks based primarily on race.

    I like Adele, but I heard her sing an Aretha song on a televised concert once – she said up front that she probably couldn’t do it justice, and she was right. Not to knock her – there’s no shame in not being able to hang with the queen of soul – but in this case I’d have to argue that the queen keeps her title. Even if she is a boomer icon (and no, I’m not a boomer).

    There really isn’t a lot of contemporary rock being done by women – it’s all too mellow these days to qualify. At least what I’ve heard is.

  108. 108.

    handsmile

    I’m so late to this thread that I should bring along a hose and a broom.

    If the question is best female rock-n-roll vocalist, the answer is Deborah Harry. (All due respect to the many fine runners-up nominated by commenters above.)

    And to Tom Levenson: as a card-carrying Art Historian, I utterly adore your inspired representations of artworks to illustrate your posts. But that Youtube cover of “Cortez the Killer” included here is one the most soulless concoctions I may have ever heard. I endured it for more than three minutes before Satriani’s insipid noodlings exceeded the pain threshold. De gustibus and all that….

  109. 109.

    Ordovician Bighorn Dolomite (formerly rarely seen poster Fe E)

    I maybe a bit late to this party but I just want to throw a shout out to Annie Haslam from Renaissance

    Tangentially related to the topic–it totally made my day to see Satriani appear on this blog–even if as a sideman. As I say to my friends who just don’t groove to avalanches of guitar–when it comes to music I like notes, the more thre merrier!

    As an example here is something utterly unrelated to best female singer, but woooo, the sweep picked counter melody section/harmony section after the guitar solo still makes the hair on my forearms stand up.

    Warning: That last link is pretty damned heavy metal, so be careful!

  110. 110.

    wrb

    Janis, Joni, Emmy Lou, Gillian Welch, Aretha, Lucinda Williams, Sandy Denny, K.D. Lang

    Yea that list leans toward folk or country rock. My listening isn’t particularly slanted that way though so it is interesting that is where I find the memorable female vocalists.

    edit: forgot Motown. Several there.

    The Dixie Cups

    My male list would rock much harder

  111. 111.

    Gravie

    MarkJ: Yes! Aretha! And re: Laurie Anderson from upthread, she’s not really a singer per se, more of a vocal monologist. But great, all the same.

  112. 112.

    (another) Josh

    Led Zeppelin record notwithstanding, I think Maddy Prior is more of a rocker than Sandy Denny, even if she had the misfortune of a band whose rhythm section can’t keep a beat very well.

    For my generation, Joan Jett really was second only to Janis in popularizing the idea of a female rock vocalist among middleAmerican audiences.

    Dunno why there’s so few mentions of Patti Smith in this thread. I think every susbsequent female rock singer owes a lot to her: you can hear her voice pretty clearly behind Johnette’s, for example.

  115. 115.

    Paul in KY

    Saw Grace Potter & Nocturnals at this year’s Bonnaroo. She is da shit.

    Satriani’s not so bad either, but I’ve never seen him in concert & he’s not so easy on the eyes.

    Edit: As far as female rockers, I’ve always liked Debby Harry. for younguns the girl in Paramore has alot of talent.

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