American Idolatry

So I caved and bought the ELLE issue with the "Women in Music" cover a while back... I don't know what I expected. For God's sake it says "Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Fergie, Lady Gaga..." on the front.

But really, could they be more broad? I mean they could have included Shaka Khan or the Shirelles or any of the thousands of female artists ever. With Gwen Stefani on the cover, I guess I assumed (hoped, really) that it would be a women in rock music issue. Which by golly I know just the ladies for.

See, as a lady myself, I love Gwen. I do! But poor Kathleen Hannah of riot grrl fame lamented it best when she noted that bands like hers get little to no airplay because "there's already a Gwen Stefani." There are plenty of women in rock music and its many subgenres... but so many of them lend their name to encompass their entire band which, let's face it, is sort of a shame: Avril Lavigne, Janis Joplin, Alanis Morissette, Ani DiFranco, Kate Bush, even my beloved Janelle Monae. I know that people do this because inevitably the lady is the starlet and people think of her as "solo", but I'm excluding them (and there are A LOT of them) because I've always been more partial to the ladies who hide behind a pseudonym. It's just more rock apropos.

In no order, because that would be cruel to them and me.

Shingai Shoniwa of NOISEttes

Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead

Annie Clark of St. Vincent

Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond

Elizabeth Powell of Land of Talk

Brody Dalle of The Distillers

Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls

Aimee Argote of Des Ark

Reiko Tada and Utako Tayama of Kiiiiiii

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth

Each of these women has more talent, presence and fashion sense in one nasal hair than 20 Taylor Swifts in pyramid formation dressed head to toe in dip-dyed Rodarte.