While youtubing the other night, I hit a number of early 90s songs from bands fronted by women. Now, I am generally loath to make a point about singers/band members being male or female. Usually it irritates me. Pandora, an internet radio service I like, has a bad habit of segregating the female bands. So if you select a female led band, you will probably get nothing but female led bands in your playlist. As I said, annoying. Anyway, despite misgivings, here are some really good early to mid 90s songs from bands led by women.
Breeders - Divine Hammer. Everyone loves Kim Deal, and I think it is for the same reasons Boba Fett is so loved. Some people you see and you instictively find cool. So it is with Kim Deal. So much goodness on that particular album. Those merry pranksters set their song about summertime in a snowfield. There is no official video for No Aloha so here is a live version. And we need to throw some Pixies in there, so here's Dig for Fire. Oh and what the hell, I am a nerd so I must link to the nerdiest Pixies song ever, the Happening. Oh for the days when bands sang of the first encounter with alien life.
Garbage - Vow. I generally am not a Garbage fan. I don't dislike them really, but I don't go out of my way to listen. This early song is a real treat though.
Hole - Celebrity Skin. Making fun of Courtney Love is all too easy. So I won't. Instead, check out this underrated song.
Belly - Superconnected. Belly was wrecked by the coming of Fred Durst and his dark tidings of nu-metal. Things went seriously south in popular rock music in the late 90s and songs like this got lost.
Liz Phair - Stratford-on-Guy. If you are relatively young, you may not be aware that at one point Liz Phair was not a purveyor of insipid pop songs with videos that flaunt her good looks. As part of her bad girl images, she now is given to interviews like this one where she recommended her interlocuter get friendly with a mirror. In the past, she made incredible songs with heartfelt lyrics that were true and not cheesy. This particular song is buried on the album but is excellent.
Jen Trynin - Better than Nothing. This one was probably too downbeat for success, with lines like "i'm feeling good, for now, but I know that by tomorrow, I'll probably come around." The video is so 90s with its Slacker vibe. Gas station clerk Jen is really a rocker and while she rocks, the customers wait.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Exile in Guyville
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5 comments:
Nicely done - Divine Hammer, Vow, and Celebrity Skin are some of my all time favorites. I hate Alanis Morissette but You Oughta Know deserves mentioning. How about Still by Macy Gray? Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies?
Still is good, but falls outside of the time frame, no?
For me the big Alanis track is Ironic, despite the misuse of the word.
For the Junkies, I am all about Miles from My Home, but their version of Sweet Jane is my favorite.
On How Life Is was released in 1999, so Still appears to make it under the wire. Please tell me you only like Alanis' Ironic for ironic reasons.
I am loath to admit it, but I came to like it after hating it for so long. As the famous Onion article has it
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38979
it is quite possible for ironic to enjoyment to become unironic.
If you listen to something often enough it can become familiar, and familiar leads to comfortable and comfortable leads to enjoyment. Thankfully if you listen enough times you will hate it again, as comes with most classic rock.
So be wary about your listening.
I have so many responses but all would lead to people clicking that "report it" link on the top of the site.
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