So what's basically the best thing to start off 2017 with fresh ideas in mind and hoping extensively that this would be a better year musicwise? Perhaps we're all still trying to dust off what was left out of the previous year and letting it all sink in.
I paid tribute to the most beautiful women of rock n' roll a while back so I hope this compilation that I will be making of the top 10 women in rock shouldn't be confused or otherwise mistakenly identify it with.
So what you will find here dear reader is talent,not to mention bad ass guitar playing,songwriting and vocal range.
1. JANIS JOPLIN
A few women in rock had the charisma and tremendous influence as Janis Joplin,who,together with her peers Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix defined rock music in the flower power sixties.
With fifty years of the Summer Of Love in the horizon,Janis continues to influence female rockers and inspire everyone with her timeless charm.
2. ANN AND NANCY WILSON
A lot of rock critics would agree that the Wilson sisters who comprised the core of the band Heart,is one of the most influential women in rock music.The sisters started off as a folk rock group in the seventies then gradually turned arena rock and mainstream in the eighties.
Their music spans forty years of cool acoustics,glam rock and chart topping rock ballads.After a slight decline in the mid nineties,the band came back on tour with a new album as well as an awesome set of performances in the Royal Albert Hall which was released just recently on DVD.
A few men and women of folk rock have made it to the mainstream and none of them were as awesome and influential as Joni Mitchell.
Joni started off her career during the folk boom of the early 1960s rivaling her American counterpart Bob Dylan and Donovan across the Atlantic.Joni revolutionized that style of songwriting wherein she used different tunings on her acoustic guitar which was later followed by both alternative and hard rock bands in the intervening years.
During her reformative years in the early 80s with her band Scandal,I would have included Patty Smyth on one of the cutest faces in rock n' roll but with her new wave looks and awesome singing style she might as well be in this category talentwise.
Though her two solo albums has received mixed to poor reviews,her second effort released in 1992 spawned her a number one hit single with a duet with former Eagles drummer Don Henley.
Scandal was then reformed recently with Keith Mack and she does a regular local bar tours and continues to mesmerize a number of loyal followers.
5. LITA FORD
Like Patty Smyth, Lita's early career would've easily passed her as one of the pretty faces of the industry.But then something lies deeper in the soul of this heavy metal chick that talent became more prominent than looks.
6. SHERYL CROW
The nineties were pretty much innovative,only to prove that rock music just kept on coming back because there is nothing better around in the interim.
7.BELINDA CARLISLE
Only a few women from the ashes of punk rock had made to the mainstream and eventually had successful solo careers after their respective bands had broke up to such scrutiny.From her punk band the Go Gos to her solo albums Belinda Carlisle remains an icon,even catching the attention of former Beatle George Harrison,who played guitar solos on two tracks of her 1989 solo album Runaway Horses,even citing it as his all time favorite.
Again,from her band to her solo career,Stevie Nicks never fail to amaze,there are some instances that her legendary status overshadows her recent achievements wherein hit records don't even matter.
9. DEBBIE HARRY
Debbie Harry has made a tremendous impact on both rock and pop that mainstream female pop stars like Madonna and Britney Spears have cited her as an influence.Her pop and rock crossovers has definitely earned her a place here at my top 10. Blondie's hit "The Tide Is High" remains an FM radio staple more than thirty years after its original release.
Mick Jagger's ex from the sixties has been a subject of one Beatles song [the fabs' rock hit "And Your Bird Can Sing" was written about her] and much controversy when the Stones got raided with rumors about her wearing nothing but a fur rug.Nevertheless,the bad publicities,booze and drugs has earned her a spot for being one of rock music's strongest women.
Before anything else I would like to give this honorable mentions to these women of rock n' roll that didn't quite make it on my list but still made a tremendous impact on the genre.
Dolores O' Riordan
Grace Slick
D' Arcy Wretzky
Naoko and Atsuko Yamano
Sean Yseult
Sinead O' Connor
This blog article goes to my friends Anthony Carroll and Michael Ault
(c) 2016 Keith Vernon Adagio
No comments:
Post a Comment