Women Who Rock (or Chick Music)

There was a time, not so long ago, when my ability to connect with someone through music determined whether or not we would be friends. That is no longer the case, which is probably a good thing, but at the same time it was nice to have that one thing that I was passionate about, that very definite, absolute thing that allowed me to filter human beings into acceptable and unacceptable. Life changes these black and white definitions for us. It's never one thing that happens, it's just a gradual process, an unwinding of sorts, of your youthful integrity into this gray area of acceptance. And this is what people call "wisdom". Wisdom, while it helps control ones emotions and offers perspective, can really suck sometimes.


So in honor of that period of my life, I bring to you a list of chick music that defined my teenage, college, and immediate post-college existence. Chick music is a derogatory way of describing it since to me music is either good or it isn't, but since these artists are female, I will humor the dudes and other negatories who dismiss it as such.


1) Joni Mitchell

Most people by now recognize Joni's genius. She's become embittered enough that she is no longer the hippie flower child that she was perceived to be back in the day. Her songs were never very "hippie" but for some reason that's how she was viewed. She is a North American treasure (see how I did that? North American?). Joni never felt that she got the recognition she deserved and that might be true, but she had a very successful career, and who knows if she would have succeeded in today's world, sad as that may be. And she has her very own PBS American Masters documentary. In my world that means she's arrived. I can't remember if it was David Crosby or Graham Nash who, upon seeing her perform at the Bitter End, said "I just couldn't believe someone could be that good." I actually felt the exact same way when I first started listening to her.


2) Laura Nyro

Laura Nyro (rip) influenced the likes of Joni Mitchell which is an accomplishment in and of itself. She was a teenage prodigy, wrote the song "And When I Die" at the age of 17, and fused together folk and R&B with a little bit of jazz. I sang her classic song "Wedding Bell Blues" at my sister's wedding even though it's about a girl who is asking her boyfriend to marry her because he can't make up his mind. This year, Nyro was inducted in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. I don't think we'll hear another voice like hers and it will be a while before we see another talent like her. 


3) Tori Amos

Tori Amos wrote four near-perfect albums in a row which is no small feat. I remember when her first legit album, Little Earthquakes, came out. Her first single was "Crucify" and I thought it was a total hack job. I was 15ish and felt the song was pretentious and the lyrics contrived. But when her second album, Under the Pink, came out I couldn't get enough of the song "Cornflake Girl" so I bought the album. I loved it so damn much that I ended up buying Little Earthquakes, which is actually a phenomenal album. And placed within all that context, I realized that Crucify is actually a great song. I went to see her live in Paris in the 90s and it was one of the best concerts, to this day, that I've ever been to. I remember her performance of Talula vividly, I felt exhilarated. She was the very definition of an exciting artist back then. I'm sure she's still exciting, but I'm older and more numb in general.


4) Kate Bush

Who says Tori and Joni and Laura has to also say Kate Bush, yes? Can't love the others without loving Kate. The way I'd describe her is innovative, brave, experimental (minus the boring aspect of what that word entails).


5) Ani Di Franco

Ani is one of the best female guitar players I know. She plays really complex stuff and slaps her way through it. She's also a great lyricist and writes things like "I am not a pretty girl, that is not what I DO" which basically describes a whole generation of women in just a few words. You want the voice of a generation? You've got one. Of course, this means that you have a slew of female singer/songwriters who copied her but can never be as good as the original. In the early 2000s I started seeing Ani copycats at open mikes with their vibrato-throaty voice and fuck-off lyrics. Of course, it was less subtle and could never be as good, but their imitation was a kind of reverence.


6) Neko Case

The discovery of Neko Case on David Dye's World Cafe breathed new life into me in the late 2000s. She inspired me to sing and write, which by that point had become scarce. I've seen her in concert three times, and every time I do, I pick up my guitar afterwards. She has a rare gift for melody and one of the best voices in popular music.


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And in conclusion, while I'm very happy for progress and all my digital music stored neatly in three places, I miss the ritual of going to the record store, browsing for a long time, settling on a purchase, bringing it home and slowly discovering an album. I think one of the reasons I don't know today's music that well is because when I bought a CD I put in real effort to listen and like it. Nowadays, I don't really have the time nor the patience, a function of age, but also, technology.