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[DunDunDunpachi]

Per the title, who are some female artists and female-led (not necessarily female-only) rock bands of the 60s, 70s, and 80s stand above the rest?

I nominate Heart. Started with excellent bluesy rock 'n roll in the mid-70s with their debut songs:







I'd rank 70s Heart up there with the best Zeppelin.

Heart embraced the more distorted side of rock two years later with Barracuda



And then embraced the power balad / hair metal crooner in the 80s with hits like "What about Love", "Alone", and "City's Burning"





The lead singer, Ann Wilson, has an absurd vocal range and is always playing with key shifts. Gorgeous voice. Yet, Heart's instrumentals match the quality of the vocal talent.

 

[EightBit Man]

From the 1960s, Grace Slick I guess. Have to think about the subsequent decades.

 

[HORRORSHØW]

Patti Smith

 

[DiscoJer]

There's really not a lot of choice until you get to the 80s. In the 60s you had Jefferson Airplane (yeah, yeah, Janis Joplin, but she sucked) and 70s you have Heart. Only in the 80s (and late 70s) do you see a lot more female singers, acts.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

There's really not a lot of choice until you get to the 80s. In the 60s you had Jefferson Airplane (yeah, yeah, Janis Joplin, but she sucked) and 70s you have Heart. Only in the 80s (and late 70s) do you see a lot more female singers, acts.

Pat Benatar?



Stevie Nicks?



Joan Jett & The Blackhearts?

 

[EverydayBeast]

Gotta be Joan Jett

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

That lady-swagger.

 

[Bumbles]

Joan Jett

 

[#Phonepunk#]

Ronnie Spector for sure. i mean she sang "Be My Baby". that shit is iconic. it is legendary. a stunning pop symphony with all the torrential emotion of a lovesick teenager, she is the perfect voice for that here.



Joan Jett is so amazing. for so many reasons. what a badass. i love this cover she did of "Crimson & Clover".



Shocking Blue is one of my favorite psychedelic garage bands and singer Mariska Veres was cool as fuck. "Love Buzz" was later covered by Nirvana but here it has this hazy, smoky "White Rabbit" style proto-krautrock propulsion to it.



Yoko Ono gets shit all the time but IMO she put out some of the most avant garde music & film, performing alongside John Lennon and Ringo Starr and other great musicians really going crazy on their instruments. a lot of great and overlooked stuff like "Fly" and "Plastic Ono Band. it is funny, she was a visual artist for 40 years or so before meeting John Lennon and started making music only then. like Leonard Cohen, she was a latebloomer. her solo material is good as well, "Goodbye Sadness" and "Walking on Thin Ice" both have a NYC No Wave feel to them. early stuff like "Mind Train" sounds really like Can.



the music she made with John & afterwards veered towards Can or Fraust-style krautrock. Plastic Ono Band featured a German bass player (Klaus Voorman) as well as Ringo and John as noise rock rhythm section, they recorded multiple noise albums and performed for a year or so while the Beatles were still going. i think people forget how neat it was to invite this middle aged Japanese woman avant garde feminist into this band of 4 British dudes and have them start playing with tape loops and drone rock. the collage art "Revolution 9" is so cool and "I Want You" is a really rad almost metal drone rock song that has her Fluxus noise influence. very underrated & underappreciated.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

I'm gonna come out of left field with some Canadian-ness that more than likely wouldn't have been mentioned. Carol Pope from Rough Trade.

 

[lock2k]

Per the title, who are some female artists and female-led (not necessarily female-only) rock bands of the 60s, 70s, and 80s stand above the rest?

I nominate Heart. Started with excellent bluesy rock 'n roll in the mid-70s with their debut songs:







I'd rank 70s Heart up there with the best Zeppelin.

Heart embraced the more distorted side of rock two years later with Barracuda



And then embraced the power balad / hair metal crooner in the 80s with hits like "What about Love", "Alone", and "City's Burning"





The lead singer, Ann Wilson, has an absurd vocal range and is always playing with key shifts. Gorgeous voice. Yet, Heart's instrumentals match the quality of the vocal talent.

70's Ann Wilson is such a babe.

 

[MGHA]

Ivy Rorschach


But she was a lead guitarist so definitely Wanda Jackson, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett and MANY MANY OTHERS

 

[Snaggletooth]

Suzi Quatro.

 

[Bullet Club]

Divinyls with Chrissy Amphlett in the 80s.

 

[kiiltz]

Transvision Vamp



Roxette



Both Wendy James and Marie Fredrikssohad that sultry yet strong husky voice. Gosh, it's so sexy.

Also
>80's rock gals



is there anything more picturesque of an 80's rock gal than a woman singing in a dimly lit room, cigarette in one hand, microphone in the other?

 

[jufonuk]

The bangles back in the day all of them.
Wait what was the question ?

 

[Starlight Lotice]

The Bangles were pretty good in the 80s and of course I was going to say Heart regardless.

Not much of a fan of Pretenders though.

Oh wait...Debbie Harry from Blondie! Love that band!!!

 

[GymWolf]

Probably not a rock band but the chick at 2:15 can probably resuscitate dead dicks just with her eyes and voice

 

[Dural]

More pop than rock, but whatever, the Go-Go's are still the only all female band that wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the charts.





Belinda Carlisle is also pretty fucking hot!

 

[Nymphae]

Stevie

 

[Ivory Blood]

Not a lot of people know Saraya, they were overshadowed by all the other fine examples in this thread. But nonetheless their music is just as good, and Sandi could sing with the best of them.