Quintessential Woman Power Music

[Goldenranger]

I work with a lovely young LDS (Mormon) woman who has never been exposed to what I consider one of the great facets of feminism, the music that has stemmed from, empowered and helped stimulate (yay for double entendres!) the movement and the women and men within feminism . She hadn't even heard of Helen Reddy's I Am Woman! With her request for a CD of such music, I'm hoping to get a multiplicity of opinions on what all ya'll think constitutes the indispensable songs she should hear.

Thanks!

[Artha]

Great facets of feminism!?

Head explode.

[Alfster]

A good one to start with....

My Promiscuous Daughter
by CKY

I caught my daughter giving head to my brother
I caught my daughter giving head to my brother
I caught my daughter giving head to my brother
I caught my daughter giving head to my brother

A lame domestic fame
I call it graphic pain
Some say to innovate
I don't need that again

I caught my daughter giving head to my brother
I caught my daughter giving head to my brother
I caught my daughter giving head to my brother
I caught my daughter giving head to my brother

What can be done with my promiscuous daughter?
What can be done with my promiscuous daughter?
What can be done with my promiscuous daughter?
I can't be down with my promiscuous daughter

Not just the family name
Unveiled but don't complain
Either one can feel ashamed...
I don't need that again

Some say to innovate
It rained on my parade
A resolution on New Year's Day
Clean up my train of thought
What can be done with my...

What can be done with my promiscuous daughter?
What can be done with my promiscuous daughter?
What can be done with my promiscuous daughter?
I can't be done with my...

[TheEschaton]

Ani DiFranco. Either her first CD (self titled) or Not A Pretty Girl.

Shy and 32 Flavors off the latter album, especially fantastic.

Edited to add: All her albums are great...but those rise to another level.

-TheE-

[Back]

Aretha Franklin, Gwen Stefani, PJ Harvey, Sarah McLaughlin

[HarmNone]

You might want to add Janis Ian and Joan Baez to that list. :)

[DeV]

Throw some Tori Amos in there as well.

[TheEschaton]

Doh, how could I have forgotten Tori Amos.

Check out Natalie Merchant as well.

WNY likes to breed our feminist women musicians. Ani will forever be a heroine of mine.

-TheE-

[HarmNone]

Tori Amos is cool. I don't know how I forgot her, either. I think Joan Baez was caught in my head, since my mother crammed her music down my throat from an early age. Janis Ian I found on my own.

[Back]

If this just a listing of female performers, I could name hundreds with at least a dozen really good ones. But if this is about female performers who break the mold of traditional women’s stereotypes, thats another story.

[Warriorbird]

Regina Spektor.

[DeV]

I'd say Janis Joplin also, but meh, she is "old school" even though she definitely broke the mold back in her day as far as empowering women through her music and persona. I love some of her stuff from Me and Bobby McGee to Women is Losers.

[radamanthys]

BloodhoundGang has done some great work in that area...

Hooray for Boobies!

[ElanthianSiren]

L7 (my vote goes in for Shitlist or Mr. Integrity, but you might want to scan some lyrics as I have no idea what audience you're appealing to)

Punk has a whole subculture of this (from Wiki):


Riot Grrrl (or Riot Grrl) is a feminist musical movement that reached its height in the 1990s but continues to exert significant influence over alternative musical culture. The term Riot Grrrl is also a genre designation, referring both to the punk rock of the movement's initial members and those myriad products of its influence. The term can also refer to individual self-proclaimed Riot Grrrls, who continue to foster a woman-friendly Do-It-Yourself punk subculture by organizing all-female bands, female-centric music festivals, group meetings, and independent publications (or zines).

Although the Riot Grrl movement began in the early nineties, musicians such as Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Penelope Houston (Avengers), X-Ray Spex, Crass (especially their Penis Envy album), Joan Jett, The Slits, Beat Happening, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Mecca Normal's Jean Smith are often cited as important influences to the movement. English post-punk, 80s Olympia, 60s girl groups and DC punk were other direct influences. Uses and meanings of the term Riot Grrrl developed slowly over time, but its origins can be traced to racially charged riots in Washington D.C.'s Mount Pleasant neighborhood during the spring of 1991.

The musical birth of the Riot Grrl movement centered in Olympia, Washington where the members of Bikini Kill and Bratmobile met, but soon also encompassed Washington DC. Inspired to form by late 80s/early 90s all-female rock-bands such as L7, Babes in Toyland and Calamity Jane, Bikini Kill and Bratmobile quickly became seen as the central touchstones for the burgeoning Riot Grrrl movement via their overtly feminist politics. Taking their impetus from punk, each band's presentation emphasized confrontation and content over traditional instrumental skill and they quickly amassed a devoted cult audience. They worked to ensure their shows were safe spaces in which women could find solidarity, and create their own DIY subculture, thus setting the tone for much of the movement. Even as the Seattle-area rock scene became nationally recognized, Riot Grrrl music remained a willfully underground phenomena. Other riot grrrl bands included Excuse 17, Heavens to Betsy, Cheesecake, CWA (Cunts with Attitude), Tattle Tale, and, in the U.K, Huggy Bear, Mambo Taxi, Skinned Teen, Pussycat Trash and Voodoo Queens. Most Riot Grrrl musicians shunned the major record labels, working instead with indie labels such as Kill Rock Stars, K Records, Slampt, Catcall, WIIIJA and Chainsaw Records.