Legendary Women of Rock Part 2: Jett Joplin Tina Patti And Harry

Posted On: February 23, 2010
Posted By: odeisel
Comments: 2

By shelz.

Welcome back to Legendary Women in Rock. Today we have the final five chicks who regularly do damage to your tweeters and whose voices ring loud and proud in your ears days after listening to them. Lighters up folks, it’s time for your second dose of head banging mania, girlie style.

Janice Joplin – Big Brother and the Holding Company

Hip-Hop is far from the only musical family that saints its fallen members. Rock & Roll also has a sturdy connection to the ones they have loved and lost. For some artists, that love magnifies their talent. For others that talent can’t be exaggerated. Janice Joplin had husky pipes rooted in the deepest of Delta Blues and she could hypnotize fans with her larger than life persona and wild ass stage presence. Singers from all over the music spectrum still site her as one of the best who have ever done it and she probably was.

Deborah Harry – Blondie

Harry founded the band in the mid 70’s and was by far the marqee member. So much so that the group had to market the fact the she wasn’t the only one on stage so the guys could get some burn. The group, even though being credited with having the first Hip Hop inspired mainstream song, had its roots planted firmly in new wave with meanderings into reggae and disco. And that crazy mixture of genres produced hit after hit after hit disco dancer loving hit.

Joan Jett – The Runaways

The Runaways were wrong on so many levels. They were a band comprised of scantily clad barely legal girls who enticed teen boys and men alike to support so they could continue to watch them prance around in daisy dukes. The teen girls applauded their buck the system (mom and dad too) mentality. Sounds like it would fit right in today, right? Anyway, they only had one hot single (“Cherry Bomb”) and honestly it wasn’t very good. However, after the band split and the smoke cleared you were left with Joan Jett, one of the best female guitarists of all time.

Patti Smith Group – Patti Smith

Patti Smith is a punk rock icon, a beat spoken word artist and a music journalist. She was friends with Andy Warhol and had all her cover shots taken by Robert Mapplethorpe. She is hard core. She is chic. Her music is honest to a fault and she is probably the only white person who has ever been able to ALMOST effectually intellectualize the N bomb. While her attempt at doing so was ill advised, the song “Rock and Roll N*gger” sparks some of the most challenging debate, even today. Take note John Mayer, take note.

Tina Turner

Who doesn’t know Tina Turner’s story and who doesn’t have at least one song on their list of favorites by her? She is the queen mother of second chances. The ruler of arena rock and probably has a better set of legs now than most of us sported when we were 25. She has been in this industry longer than just about anyone and has just recently showed signs of calling it quits. Her voice was rough rugged and raw, her stage performance pushed the boundaries of acceptable sexuality and her presence was mesmerizing.

Well there you have it. They aren’t necessarily the best but all have contributed more than their fair share to the rock cause. So even if these aren’t your personal favorites, they still deserve rock reverence and everything that comes with it because many of them are probably on your favorite rockers top ten list.

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