Click to watch “Zero”

Karen O - Karen O wonders where the balls went in rock n’ roll, begging the question, “Where has all the charisma and the sexuality and the gnarl gone?” Nowhere, Karen O. Not as long as you’re around.

Click to watch The Kills’ “Tape Song”

Alison Mosshart - Mosshart has her hands in almost as many projects as Jack White, which is fitting since  White tapped her to lend her lead vocal stylings to his side project, the Dead Weather. Her day job is with the Kills, a garage-rock duo who are a little bit blues, a little bit American (Mosshart), a little bit British (guitarist Jaime Hines) and a whole lot rock n’ roll. They’re mastering a throwback quality set to a synth soundtrack that is best viewed through a haze of cigarette smoke and after a slow pull of whiskey, which, coincidentally, describes Mosshart’s voice.

Click to watch “Never Go Back”

Grace Potter – I’m kind of obsessed with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at the moment, and you should be, too. Potter is a knockout with a voice that’s an aural assault, tinges of Janis Joplin and Sheryl Crow running through, and the Nocturnals are a perfect combination of classic, Southern-flavored rock meets modern indie/synth rock. Check them out now.

Click to watch “Love Bites (So Do I)”

Lzzy Hale - Lead singer for Halestorm, Hale has talked of forming a female rock supergroup a la the Runaways. She was also tapped for a remake of the Ozzy Osbourne/Lita Ford power ballad “Close My Eyes Forever” with Disturbed vocalist David Draiman on his side project Device’s new album. Hale could no doubt give Joan Jett and Lita Ford a run for their money.

Click to watch Band of Skulls’ “I Know What I Am”

Emma Richardson – As bassist and vocalist for the Brit trio Band of Skulls, Emma Richardson is a woman who rocks because of this simple fact: she can explode out of your speakers with her sultry voice and driving bass line and then quiet it down to a come hither whisper and sing oh-so-sweetly.

Click to watch Evanescence’s “Everybody’s Fool”

Amy Lee – Recently labelled 2013′s reigning Goddess of Rock by Loudwire, Lee is also the Ambassador for the Underdog, giving a voice to all those who feel misunderstood and different. And what a voice it is.

Click to watch The Joy Formidable’s “Cholla”

Ritzy Bryan – Don’t let Ritzy Bryan’s sweet, fairy look fool you. As lead singer for the Joy Formidable, an artsy/noise rock trio hailing from North Wales, Bryan is a smasher of guitars and bringer back of baby doll dresses a la Courtney Love, circa 1992. On second thought, when drawing that comparison, let Ritzy Bryan’s sweet, fairy look captivate you. I interviewed Joy Formidable bassist (and Bryan’s boyfriend), Rhydian Dafydd back in September 2011. Check the interview here.

Click to watch “Sticky Honey”

Juliette Lewis - It’s true: Juliette Lewis is a woman who rocks, and not just for her Oscar nom-worthy acting skills. She’s a legit Woman Who Rocks, with or without the Licks, the band she formed and fronted in the early 2000s. Think Iggy Pop with lady bits.

Click to watch “Elephants”

Warpaint – Like Veruca Salt before them, Warpaint co-founders Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman are besties and have been since eighth grade. No bad blood and break-ups to speak of yet – and hopefully ever – and after a revolving door of line-up changes, which has included actress Shannyn Sossamon (her sister Jenny Lee Lindberg is and always has been Warpaint’s bassist) and the Chili Peps’ Josh Klinghoffer, Warpaint are a solid all-female unit of art rock, dream pop and beauty. Want proof? Click the pic above.

Click to watch Paramore’s “Now”

Hayley Williams – Paramore’s siren haired songstress has had a rough year, navigating her way through many of the cliched trials and tribs that come with being in a rock n’ roll band. But like any true rockin warrior princess Williams has emerged victorious with some of her fiercest, most honest lyrics yet. After a line-up shake-up last year, Paramore are back with a leaner, meaner version of themselves on what critics are already calling their best album yet, entitled Paramore, which drops in early April.

Click to watch Metric’s “Youth Without Youth”

Emily Haines – Haines has all the trappings, I mean, makings of an independent woman. She’s stylish, talented and smart. An analog embracing, social media shunning, self-aware lady who not only knows the value of cultivating an image but of embracing her post as a woman and lead singer for indie-rock outfit, Metric, Haines is not a bad role model for ladies to have. Oh, and she rocks pretty hard, too.

Click to watch Jenny and Johnny’s “Big Wave”

Jenny Lewis - You may recognize Jenny Lewis from the Shelley Long helmed cheesefest Troop Beverly Hills or the obscure girl-power nugget Foxfire starring Angelina Jolie, or you may recognize her from one of the various musical projects she’s dotted the musical landscape with. Rilo Kiley, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, Jenny and Johnny with boyfriend Johnathan Rice, and has made quite an impact all by her little lonesome.

Click to watch “Romance”

Carrie Brownstein - Brownstein is a tour-de-force on the indie scene. She was at the tail end of the riot grrrl movement in the late 90s, singer-guitarist for alt-rock trio Sleater-Kinney, star of Portlandia with SNL’s Fred Armisen, NPR blogger and current singer-guitarist for the all-female Wild Flag alongside Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss. Singer-guitarist-blogger-actress-riot-grrrl-woman-who-rocks. Carrie Brownstein boasts what is perhaps the single most impressive hyphenate.

Click here to hear my Spotify playlist of all the women on all four lists in this series, plus many, many more.

Click to watch “You Oughta Know”

Alanis Morissette - Morissette stood apart from the grunge movement that consumed the whole of the 90s, and, truth be told, she stood apart from everyone, claiming her own corner of the music industry with Jagged Little Pill and the hell-hath-no-fury anthem, “You Oughta Know,” an angst-ridden confessional that is lyrically courageous, fierce, expository and vulnerable. She became the radio-friendly poster girl for angry young women, leading the way for many of the ladies listed here to sing the same.

Click to watch “Stupid Girl”

Shirley Manson - Hottie? Check. Sexy accent? Check. Perfect blend of delicate songbird and badass frontwoman? Double, triple check. Dressed in the uniform of the 90s: melancholy pout, short skirts, fishnets and combat boots, Shirley Manson played the part of Misery Chick well as singer for the band Garbage. She’s made headlines recently showing her supreme support for Record Store Day, saying, “(Record Store Day) promotes the belief that time spent exploring a small, lovingly curated record store, discovering artists, music and ideas can arm you against anything that ever threatens to overwhelm or engulf you.”

Click to watch Veruca Salt’s “Shutterbug”

Veruca Salt – Besties Louise Post and Nina Gordon would stand side by side belting out songs like “Seether” and “Volcano Girl” onstage every night and then retreat to their hotel rooms where the pair would talk for hours on the phone. A falling out between the two fractured the group, reducing Veruca Salt to a tragic platonic love story and silencing, in my eyes, one of the best bands to come out of the 90s (see Eight Arms to Hold You).

Click to watch “Rid of Me”

PJ Harvey – While “Down by the Water” and Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea are more my speed, Harvey’s Rid of Me is a stand-out. Adding to the list of crazy ex-girlfriend albums (see Alanis Morissette and Liz Phair), her pure, unadulterated fury and unabashed raw power is spilled across this Steve Albini-produced gemstone.

Click to watch “Zombie”

Dolores O’Riordan – As frontwoman for the Cranberries, O’Riordan’s aggro-Irish lilt cuts like glass, and her pixie-esque frame only adds to the wonderment that such a big sound can come out of such a tiny person.

Click to watch “I’m Just a Girl”

Gwen Stefani – Cloaked in a cutesy vocal trill and pseudo-bashful, eyelash-batting stare, Gwen Stefani asked to “take this pink ribbon off my eyes” in the irony heavy, “I’m Just a Girl.” As a result, she removed the pink ribbon from many women’s eyes. Stefani stood far apart from her grunge girl counterparts, fronting the ska-heavy No Doubt, but she still showed lyrical sister solidarity and staying power, going on to become a fashion icon and designer, successful solo artist and one in a string of celebrity singers whose husbands were referred to as Mr. (Insert Female Moniker), with the honor for Mr. Gwen Stefani going to hottie rocker, Gavin Rossdale.

Click to watch Hole’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman”

Hole – Courtney Love may be the train wreck everyone can’t turn away from, but she’s got her toehold in music history, nonetheless, and it’s firmly rooted in the 90s. As frontwoman for the 75% female band Hole (alongside equally as kick-ass  rockers, if not more so, Melissa Auf der Maur and Patty Shemel), Love is considered by some to be a modern day Yoko Ono, but she’s also a no-holds-barred rock chick who gave an outside voice to every woman’s inner dialogue and spawned a legion of girls dressed as broken dolls just like her.

Click to watch “Rebel Girl”

Bikini Kill - Responsible for spawning the riot grrrl, movement, Bikini Kill were a punk rock feminist quartet with Runaways leanings, which can be heard all over the Joan Jett produced “Rebel Girl.” Lead vocalist Kathleen Hanna is married to a Beastie (Ad-Rock), dated Dave Grohl, started Riot Grrrl, a fanzine that spawned the movement of the same name, and is the person who scribbled “Smells like Teen Spirit” on Kurt Cobain’s wall. I don’t really need to say what came of that, do I?

Click to watch “Pretend We’re Dead”

L7 - L7 formed in the 80s but were easily rolled into the fold of the grunge movement alongside other female-heavy acts Hole and Bikini Kill. Although their act was full of tampon flinging and dropping trough on national TV, the ladies of L7 ultimately wielded their power for good and started Rock for Choice, a pro-choice organization.

Click to watch “Supernova”

Liz Phair - Gender bender Liz Phair wasn’t afraid to tackle taboo topics and sing about subject matter once deemed unbecoming of a lady to talk about. Her Exile in Guyville is like a raw nerve stroke of genius. Another post-break-up nugget, Guyville was also a response to the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street, each song on Guyville meant to parallel each track on the famous Stones album.

Click here to watch “My Favorite Mistake”

Sheryl Crow - A dirty-hot vibe, growling rasp, and impressive cadre of  collaborations, the former back-up singer for the King of Pop decided to forgo the angry young woman route traveled by so many of the ladies listed here and struck a balance between standing her ground and exposing her soft underbelly in a, musically, very straightforward way. Instead of screaming about how her man had done her wrong, Crow begged the question, “Are you strong enough to be my man?”

Click to watch the Breeders’ “Cannonball”

Kim Deal – For the first two Pixies’ albums, bassist Kim Deal went by Mrs. John Murphy, a name chosen as an ironic feminist joke. Her stint as Mrs. John Murphy may have put her on the map, but “Cannonball” off the second album Last Splash by the Breeders, the band she started with twin sister, Kelley, shot her into the mainstream. 

Perhaps the petty nature of all this back and forth between him and his now ex-bandmates is one reason why attendance was so low last night at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where Scott Weiland performed, backed by his solo band, the Wildabouts.

To start, Weiland took the stage forty minutes late, making his lateness as much of a signature as his onstage swagger. A review in the Lehigh Valley Times cited Weiland as saying he was late because he was watching The Hobbit. How very rock n’ roll of you, Scott Weiland. I heard the word “Hobbit” come out of his mouth, but the garbled string of words surrounding it was lost on me…and I was standing four people deep from the stage.

The tour, aptly titled “The Purple to the Core Tour” features hits  from Stone Temple Pilots’ first two albums, Core and Purple, respectively. But last night, the covers had it. Jane’s Addiction’s “Mountain Song,” the Libertines’ “Can’t Stand Me Now,” with bassist Tommy Black sharing vocals, and even a cover of the Doors “Roadhouse Blues” were hands down highlights, although the latter was a bit cringe-worthy as Weiland, supposedly sober but appearing not so, sang about “grabbing himself a beer.” It’s a song, and an iconic one at that, I do realize, but it still felt in poor taste given Weiland’s aforementioned incoherence.

Lead singers’ solo careers tend to succeed marginally more than the former bands they fronted, but seeing Weiland perform STP standards like “Sex Type Thing,” “Crackerman” and “Creep” with the Wildabouts proves STP is only as good as the sum of its parts.

Scott Weiland’s Wildabouts are a talented pool of musicians, and the new arrangements of old STP favorites were good, but they weren’t…STP. They lacked the chemistry and charisma that made Stone Temple Pilots one of the most famous hard rock acts of the 90s. Weiland, himself, even seemed lost and out of place among it all.

I so very much wish Weiland and his former STP bandmates, Eric Kretz and the DeLeo brothers, Robert and Dean, would resolve and rise above their issues to reclaim their spot as a tour-de-force rock band who made kick-ass rock n’ roll once upon a time.

Click to watch Pat Benatar’s “You Better Run”

Pat Benatar - Benatar was in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV. In fact, “You Better Run” was the second music video to air on the network right behind the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Her killer mezzo-soprano voice not only cracked the glass ceiling in a male-dominated medium, it shattered it down to the ground.

Click to watch the Pretenders’ “Brass in Pocket”

Chrissie Hynde - Read Chrissie Hynde’s take on How to Be a Lady Rocker. Enough said.

Click to watch a clip of Joan Jett & Michael J. Fox in Light of Day

Click to watch Lita Ford’s “Kiss Me Deadly”

Joan Jett and Lita Ford – Post-Runaways, Joan Jett and Lita Ford went their separate ways in near every sense of the word. Lita Ford went the slick, sexy, metal maiden route while Joan Jett went down the road of straightforward, ballsy rock n’ roll.

Click to watch the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”

Annie Lennox – Lennox is synonymous with the word androgyny during her stint as lead singer for the Eurythmics in the 80s. Her signature orange buzz cut and uniform of tailored men’s suits are still replicated in fashion today, but Lennox didn’t wear short hair or men’s suits because she wanted to be a man. She once said to Grazia Magazine, “I wanted to wear a suit to show that I am equal to a man, not that I wanted to be one, or that I was gay — which is what it was interpreted as…but there you go.”

Click to watch Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Hong Kong Garden”

Siouxsie Sioux – Siouxsie Sioux was an authentic outcast, an original misfit doll rocking the punk scene in the late 70s and 80s, who spawned a look mirrored in modern day musicians like PJ Harvey and Karen O. Siouxsie and the Banshees had a much farther reach with their sound, influencing U2, the Cure, Jane’s Addiction, Santigold, LCD Soundsystem and a dozen others.  

Click to hear Sonic Youth’s “Star Power”

Kim Gordon – Sonic Youth was labeled alt-rock when they staked their claim on the musical landscape in the early 80s, but when Grunge infiltrated…just about everything a decade later, Sonic Youth became the genre’s First Family. Bassist and singer Kim Gordon was one of the original Riot Grrrls, wearing baby doll dresses and swimming in her oversized cardis long before Grunge not only became a music movement, but a fashion one, as well. 

Click to watch the Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed”

Click to watch the Bangles’ “Hazy Shade of Winter”

The Go-Go’s and The Bangles – At the onset, the Go-Go’s were all raunch and punk, the Bangles were retro garage rock and Paisley Underground, but both bands became polished pop sweethearts proving chicks with guitars could rock as hard as the boys.

Click to watch Cyndi Lauper’s “She Bop”

Cyndi Lauper – “Girls just wanna have fun, but some of us wanna be in a rock band, too!” Lauper said as host of the PBS documentary, Women Who Rock. Lauper was a crazy technicolor mashup of those who inspired her to become rock star. Stevie Nicks, Ann and Nancy Wilson, the Runaways and Deborah Harry were all in there, mixed together and creating a style in Cyndi Lauper that was entirely individual and new.

Click to watch Vixen’s “Edge of a Broken Heart”

Vixen - Upon finding this picture of Vixen, a one-hit wonder all-female Hair Metal band, I fully realized how much androgyny was going on with the 80s Hair Metal scene. I mean, yes, no duh, the guys in Poison and Motley Crue definitely had the “Dude Looks Like a Lady” thing licked, but the ladies in Vixen kind of had a whole  “Girls who are boys/who like boys to be girls” vibe going on.

I went back and forth about mentioning one more lady from the 80s, and perhaps the lady of the 80s. The women who have found their way onto this list have helped shaped my sphere of influence, and those who know me would think I’ve fallen and bumped my head had I not mentioned one woman in particular. While I think she rocks, she is not, technically, a woman who rocks, so I’ll simply say this…

“There’s only one queen and that’s…”

Click to watch Madonna’s 1990 MTV Awards performance of “Vogue”

Click to watch Patti Smith perform “Gloria” on SNL

Patti Smith – Patti Smith was a poet who fused her prose and music to become the reigning “Godmother of Punk.” An amazing talent with the written word, “Horses” has found its way onto many a greatest albums list, and her memoir “Just Kids” is not only a great read, but is a New York Times Bestseller list maker, as well.

Click to watch Jefferson Airplane perform “White Rabbit” live at Woodstock

Grace Slick – Slick was and is one of the most prominent rock females, fronting Jefferson Airplane and several of its various incarnations. When the band rocketed to stardom after converting from folk to psychedelia, Slick lived the rock n’ roll stereotype loaded with sex, drugs and controversy. Among other things, she was one of the first people to drop the f-bomb on live television, on the Dick Cavett Show in  1969.

Click to see Fleetwood Mac perform “Gold Dust Woman” live

Stevie Nicks – Standing just over five feet tall, Stevie Nicks defines small but mighty. She found success with Fleetwood Mac in 1970s and as a solo artist in the 80s, 90s and even now, lending her signature deep rasp to countless hits and collaborations. 

Click to watch Heart perform “Barracuda”

Ann & Nancy Wilson – Ever hear the old adage “your not famous until the gay rumors start?” Well, even the Wilson sisters weren’t immune to that one. The preposterous notion that not only were they gay but they were sisters and gay lovers couldn’t stop these two from rising above the ridiculous rumor and rocking to stardom well into the 80s.

Click to watch the music video for “Call Me” featuring Richard Gere in American Gigolo

Debbie Harry – Punk, New Wave, Disco…Debbie Harry was all of these things wrapped in sexy, sultry, streetwise package. Her signature two-toned hair contributed to the confusion that she, not her band, was Blondie, sparking a “Blondie is a Band” button campaign. No matter, the band’s early presence and heavy rotation on MTV solidified Debbie Harry as a rock icon.  

Click to watch a live performance of “Queens of Noise”

The Runaway - These Queens of Noise may have been one of the first all-female rock bands to come out of the United States, but they hardly found any love here. Popular overseas, most notably in Japan, the Runaways released four albums and went out on one headlining tour. Their influence perhaps transcended their popularity and can be heard all over the likes of the Go-Go’s, L7, the Donnas and Hole. The Runaways are like a good bad movie, but notable rock frontierswomen, nonetheless. Speaking of good bad movies, the Runaways biopic featuring Michael Shannon, Dakota Fanning and KStew, much as I hate to admit it, is worth checking out. 

Click to hear “All is Loneliness” by Big Brother and the Holding Company

Janis Joplin – Joplin passed away of a heroin overdose in 1970, making her a woman who rocked in the 1960s, but there can’t really be a list like this without giving Joplin a shout-out. Although she repeatedly sang about loneliness, sonically, Joplin had it all – vulnerability, strength and a voice that rose up and was heard.

And going back one more decade, I need to make mention of the Queen of Rock(abilly), Wanda Jackson. One of the first crossover artists, Jackson noticed the changing tide in her genre early on in her career and fused country music with rockabilly to find commercial success in the 1950s and 60s. Jackson is still rocking to this day, most recently with the King of Collaborations, Jack White.

“This is my rock and roll fantasy camp,” Taylor Hawkins said as he switched seats with Dave Grohl who delighted on drums and allowed Hawkins to take the lead on Cheap Trick hits like “I Want You to Want Me” and “Surrender.” Standing to Hawkins’ right was Cheap Trick’s own Rick Nielsen. On the other? Krist Novoselic. The “house” band for the evening was Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffe, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel and Dave Grohl…ya know, that little known rock act, the Foo Fighters. On this night at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom, however, they were the Sound City Players, Grohl’s latest and greatest brainchild.

Sound City centers around a recording studio of the same name that played host to Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Pat Benatar, Tom Petty, Nirvana and scads more. More specifically, Sound City centers around a mixing board and that was the story Grohl intended to tell. Through the process of making Sound City, Grohl’s directorial debut, he tapped into something deeper. Not only did he tap into the human element of making music, but he also tapped into the element of speaking one’s truth. Over and over, the message of truth and authenticity is revisited, and witnessing the spectacle onstage at Hammerstein Ballroom, Grohl’s point is driven home. Every single person on that stage was there because they wanted to be, because they were doing what they loved and it showed, making it one of the most infectiously entertaining things to lay witness to. These people were in their element, they were at play. The fact that 4,000 people were watching was incidental.

Each mini-set was punctuated by clips from the documentary and served as introductions for the revolving door of musicians who agreed to come along on the ride that is Dave Grohl’s great rock crusade. There was hardly a moment during the three hour-plus set when whichever incarnation of the Foos was playing back-up to the likes of Lee Ving from Fear, Chris Goss from Masters of Reality, Alain Johannes from Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures, Rick Springfield, John Fogerty and Stevie Nicks, that they weren’t wearing an ear-to-ear grin and looking at each other as if they couldn’t believe this was really happening to them. Nevermind the fact that their day job consists of being one of the biggest bands in the world.

Springfield was an absolute highlight of the night. He was the first cinematic boy butt (and probably the first bare boy butt, period) that I’d ever seen in the lovely 80s nugget Hard to Hold. I was five. So, needless to say, the site of Rick Springfield in the flesh did elicit a little giggle. Unlike the cheese factor that comes with his acting resume, such is not the case with his music. Three notes into Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl,” the crowd erupted, prompting Grohl to say with envy, “The f*cking man wrote a song that everybody knows from three f*cking notes. Teach me, Rick, teach me. Give me your knowledge. You’re like f*cking Yoda.”

Fogerty continued the energy crescendo set up by Springfield, blazing through Creedance Clearwater Revival classics like “Born on the Bayou” and “Fortunate Son.” His was the most powerful set of the evening. The Foos (all accounted for) were on point, and Fogerty sounded as good as ever.

Stevie Nicks brought down the house, and for me, not in the usual sense of the word. Nicks talked tragically of how she lost her godson to a drug overdose a year ago. And as she does, Nicks wrote a poem about it in an effort to aid her through her grieving process. Grohl and his pet project coincided with the timing of it all, and as she explained onstage, she asked Grohl, “Knowing our history with the subject, do you wanna go there with me?” And there it was: the inevitable Kurt Cobain reference, and as Grohl so often does when the subject matter arises, he nodded subtly from the shadows, acknowledging without acknowledging. Like a shadow cast that Grohl may never be allowed to fully emerge from, the singular reference painted a sad pallor that was happily lacking from the evening.

On a base level, it’s sad because a man took his own life. It’s sad because a girl will never know her father. On an artistic level, it’s sad because that man left a large hole in the musical landscape still unfulfilled. It’s sad because, had he lived, his band that is so revered as one of the greatest bands of all time would have inevitably been reduced to some watered down caricature of itself by now. “It’s better to burn out than fade away.” It’s sad because, had he lived, last night may not have happened and all the years in between would have gone a radically different course for all parties involved. These are all things I think about and all things I don’t necessarily need to think about when I’m at one of the coolest rock shows I’ve ever seen.

Nevertheless, last night was one of the coolest rock shows I have ever seen.

http://stereogum.com/1234692/yeah-yeah-yeahs-mosquito-details/video/

Last night, a blonde Karen O stepped onstage with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to play an intimate show at the Glass House in Pomona, California, and preview material off their upcoming fourth studio album. Watch one song, entitled “Suck Young Blood” here.

The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s to-be-titled LP is slated to drop this spring.

Reblogged from FACELESS WRECKORDS: