The Top Ten Rock Chicks

10. MAMA CASS

Cass Elliot, better known as Mama Cass, is something of an anomaly in the world of rock and roll for more than a few reasons. Most notably, she has a classically exquisite alto/tenor voice not often found in the world of rock. She’s difficult to distinguish in the perfectly blended harmonies of The Mamas and The Papas, but her warmth and sincerity are undeniable in her solo ventures like “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and “Don’t Call Me Mama Anymore.”  It’s these solo projects that both undermine and cement her role as a rock and roll goddess. Somehow, despite being surrounded by a popular musical culture permeated with disillusionment and cynicism, Cass managed to have enormous success with cheerful and positive songs that managed to never cross the line into trite pop.
Considering the era in which she rose to fame, Cass’s bio is noticeably devoid of stories steeped in intoxicated binges and benders so common to her contemporaries. An occasional anecdote is the best you’ll uncover. Instead, there are tales of her vocal range rising to include 3 previously unreachable notes after getting knocked on the head with a copper pipe. There are short-lived, questionable marriages. There is a daughter whose father remains shrouded in mystery. These are the banal stories one expects to hear of Barbra Streisand or Elizabeth Taylor, not a defining icon of the summer of love. Yet, Cass, the spectral opposite of the hippie waifs so common around her, was something of a sex symbol. She posed nude with strategically placed daisies for a pin up poster and the other members of The Mamas and The Papas report shouts of adoration and hotel room keys being thrown to her during performances.
Cass Elliot proved her rock and roll pedigree by falling somewhere in between conservatively acceptable and rock and roll revolutionary without ever truly crossing the line into either category. She thumbed her nose at the expectations of both the culture and the counter-culture and made her own kind of music. – KS

9. JULIE CHRISTMAS

If you haven’t heard Battle of Mice’s A Day of Nights you need to go listen to it immediately.  Fucking stunning right?  That lady you hear on vocals who is seemingly going through a severe case of bipolar disorder on just about every song is Julie Christmas.  I legitimately can’t listen to that record without chills going down my spine.  Her ability to go from a hurt, vulnerable girlish voice to a terrifying she demon is uncanny.  What makes her one of the greatest female rockers though is that she uses the strengths of her gender.  Too many times when ladies front metal bands they try to be equal to their male counterparts (i.e. Arch Enemy).  While this is awesome, it gets a little boring as most of the time the female vocals become more of a novelty, one that could be replaced by a male counterpart with no effect on the band’s sound.  Christmas however, seems to focus her efforts on proving how unique she is from her hundreds of male counterparts.  She realizes that as a lady, her voice can do things and reach pitches that us dudes can’t and she embraces this with full force.  Aside from just her gender though, Christmas is able to bring something extremely rare to metal: emotion.  Her dynamic vocals are able to capture some very genuine and scary feelings.  Take the song “Bones in the Water.”  She starts the chorus with this creepy spoken word passage, done in this creepy high voice that leaves you completely unsettled.  Then when the tension gets high she unleashes a scream that will give you chills.  All of this comes together to create this portrait of a jilted lover and the pain and anger that comes with it.  Music this effective is few and far between and singers like Christmas are even rarer.  Unfortunately Battle of Mice has disbanded but you can still check out her vocals in her equally awesome band Made Out of Babies. – ASW

8. MONIQUE POWELL

 

The first time I ever heard the sultry crooning of Monique Powell was on an episode of the ever popular WB series- Roswell. The moment was tender and sweet and the song, “Let Me In” accompanied the moment between alien and human sweetly, ignoring the fact that Liz and Max were batshit insane for being so madly in love in just a ittybitty amount of time. The song worked so well that I immediately took to my 56K modem and researched who sang it and what all the lyrics were.  It was one of the first songs I downloaded on Napster! It’s beautiful, damnit. Worth the 20 minute wait for a single song!

Most people will recognize her as the lead singer to Save Ferris and their cover of “Come on Eileen”. I dare you not to dance while this song is on, its ridiculously catchy and will be stuck in your head for days! “ She Has a Girlfriend Now” is my favorite ska collaboration ever, and it is so silly. She is adorable and her voice is just so fun! -MV

7. MELISSA ETHERIDGE

Armed with a killer voice and and magical lesbian power, Melissa Etheridge has made a huge stamp on the music world.  She has won Grammy’s (GRAMMY’s people! Those things are REAL!) in the no-longer-existing category of “Best Female Rock Vocal”.  I shouldn’t even have to write any more.  THAT is how much of a definitive top female rock singer she is.  But, guess what?!?  She also SURVIVED CANCER.  Holy Livestrong Batman! Incredible! Good thing musicans do not get tested for performance enhancing drugs…there’d be nothing in music culture worth writing about.  But I digress.  All hyperbole aside, I really do have to say Melissa Etheridge solidified her place in rock history when she appeared alongside Joss Stone in tribute to the great Janis Joplin at the Grammy’s in 2005.  The performance was incredible. Etheridge was obviously bald from chemo treatments, though she covered her head with a scarf, but nonetheless kicked some serious ASS.  While battling cancer, she can still kick more vocal ass than most of the lady singers out there.-LF

 

6. CAROLE KING

Carole King isn’t necessarily a rock singer in the traditional sense. Most of her songs are played on piano and they tend to more about lovin’ a man and less about rebelling against stuff. So what makes her a badass rock star? Probably the fact that she’s one of the best songwriters of a little period known as ever. She’s been writing hits since the early sixties and in 1971 she said “fuck that business, I want credit” and willed one of the most respected albums of all time into existence. Tapestry probably has more #1 hits on it than a lot of the other ladies on this list had in their career and the album itself spent 15 weeks at the number one spot. If she’s not as well known as some other singers it’s only because she prefers to stay in the shadows, working behind the scenes to achieve her vision. Like Batman. – DT

5. SHIRLEY MANSON

Mainly recognizable by her firey red hair, short dresses, and black boots- she had the mid 90’s grunge look down for all aspiring girls who didn’t want to fit into the virginal school girl look Britney Spears portrayed. She represented the black sheep of the time, being Only Happy When It Rains, a Stupid Girl, and [I Think I’m] Paranoid.  The key to really knowing you are a rockstar is when Guitar Hero requests your presence to be an avatar on their game. Shirley Manson is an unlockable character and the only female among the ranks of Kurt Cobain, Carlos Santana, and Johnny Cash! She doesn’t even play the guitar but she is that great of a lead vocalist that they still made her into a little computer graphic so that we can creepily change her outfits and make her sing songs that aren’t hers! -MV

4. GRACE SLICK

Did you know Jefferson Airplane had not only a whole album before Grace Slick, but also an entirely different chick singer? Yeah, neither did anyone else. This is due solely to the fact that Grace Slick made the band. She single-handedly penned what would arguably become their greatest hits, “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love.”  The lyrics to these songs are poignant and the music became the soundtrack to a generation, but it is the haunting and almost eerily beautiful vocals of Grace Slick that keep these songs popular today. It was also Grace Slick who kept the “Jefferson” name going well into the 80s until she became the only original member of Airplane to remain in Starship. It was at this point, ladies and gentlemen, that the world was blessed with the outstanding guilty pleasure that is “We Built This City.”
During the height of her fame, Grace Slick lived the rock and roll lifestyle as though she had no choice.  In 1969, she became the first person to say “motherfucker” on live television. During an appearance on a game show, she was forcibly removed for abusing the contestants. She even attempted to enter Nixon’s White House with Abbie Hoffman as her body guard and the intention of dosing Nixon’s tea with LSD. She also realized the distant dream of hippie chicks everywhere when she had a short-lived tryst with The Doors’ front man Jim Morrison that was apparently so memorable she dedicated an entire chapter to the experience in her autobiography.
Grace Slick helped create the standard by which we still judge true rock stars today — drunken, drug-addled, system-bucking musicians who still retain the presence of mind to create life-altering music. Then, in the 90s, she had the good sense to retire because, in her words, “All rock and rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire.” If only she would have told her good friends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards this little nugget of truth. – KS

3. JOAN JETT

Thank God for Joan Jett and everything she stands for. Touted as the Godmother of Punk she rose above the girly, giggly, flirty but never vulgar female music icons as one of the first truly badass rock chicks. Jett is the Bettie Page to Debbie Harry’s Marilyn Monroe. She wants a guy standing there by the record machine, she takes him. She wants to put out an album; she makes her own record label. Her brash attitude took the world by the balls and became an instant role model for us girls who like to curse, spit and fuck – why should the boys get all the fun? Her throaty growl took full command of every song like it was nothing. Have you ever watched some drunken sorority girl trying to pull off “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” at karaoke? It’s excruciating. While the range seems easy enough most girls just don’t have the right attitude or whisky-soaked chops and simply whine their way through it. She doesn’t hit high notes, she lets forth a guttural scream of awesomeness. Jett deserves so much more than to be immortalized in film by a petulant lovesick teenybopper. But rest assured long after anybody remembers why we should give a shit about vampires that sparkle instead of ruthlessly feeding on humankind like nature intended, Joan Jett will still rule as the undisputed Queen of Rock. -AS

2. STEVIE NICKS

Let’s be honest. Stevie Nicks’ best days are probably behind her. She looks like the lovechild of the current Kathleen Turner and the current Beverly D’Angelo. But looks are not what we’re here to discuss. Forty year old rock and roll is what we’re here to discuss, and in this case, Nicks is your girl. Not only was she part of a classic rock (then just called rock) hit machine, churning out over 7,000 singles in the mid to late 70’s, but she was also strapped in to the chaos that was rock’s greatest soap opera: the incestual, line-up changing Fleetwood Mac. How she managed to be a rock star in the midst of all that is pretty impressive. Her entire career was just build-up, however, to her greatest achivement: having an entire episode of “Glee” based on her music, something that can only be boasted by such luminaries as Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, and dozens of other people. – RH

1. JANIS JOPLIN

Janis’s voice was a gritty wail. Her music was my introduction to lust and loss. When I started to like her music was when I started my having any taste in music at all. The quality of her voice was as important as the bluesy guitar riffs and the soul-crushing lyrics in teaching me that life sucked and my parents had seen some shit in the 60’s. For voice alone, she deserves to be #1 on this list.
She would probably be pissed to be on a list of women rock singers instead of just a list of rock singers. Her biography is clearly gender neutral- she was voted the ugliest man on campus in college; she got beat to shit in a street brawl; she carried around a bottle of Jack. It wasn’t that she could hang with the guys, it was that she could fucking hang. And what’s more rock and roll than a heroin overdose? – KA