Greatest Guitar Songs: Women Rock

Not all of the comments were suggestions of other groups or songs. Some were just criticism of the existing choices (lots of Cobain backlash). One that struck me was a criticism of the Sleater-Kinney offering, "Dig Me Out", placed at number 44 by Rolling Stone. The criticism is that it was merely an effort to include some females, though if I recall correctly, the inclusion of "I Love Rock N Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, at 89, was considered legitimate.

I was inclined to agree at first. Sleater-Kinney does nothing for me, but I have to admit that it is a good guitar song, and probably not just pandering. However, I wondered if there might not be better choices. Perhaps women are underrepresented in rock, and you can see why the obstacles that they have to deal with would make talented women doubt whether it's worth it, but still, there are women in rock. There have been some really good ones. I wanted to spend some time on other contenders.

One early thought was Heart. I'm surprised no one suggested them. I thought it might be because Nancy Wilson was playing rhythm guitar instead of lead guitar, so perhaps if you were looking for a token female, that would not be the most obvious choice. Having recently read their book, those would be inadequate reasons. First of all, Ann and Nancy were just so important to the feel and ethos and sound of that band; other musicians came and went, and some stayed for a long time, but Heart really is the Wilson sisters.

(The collaboration between Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo is also interesting to read about, but while they are both a part of the overall sound, it is more obviously Neil for the guitar part of it.)

As far as who plays which part goes, when Nancy described her reasons for staying with rhythm guitar, it deepened my appreciation for that role. How many of the best guitar bands don't have both lead and rhythm going on? And maybe they trade on some songs, or maybe their roles are really clearly defined, but it is that ability to cover multiple levels that gives you the fuller, richer sound.

Perhaps no one considered any Heart songs to be worthy. Trying to think of powerful guitar songs, my first thought was "Alone", which kind of is slower but quite dramatic. However, I had actually called a friend on the Bowie question, and when I brought up this part she immediately suggested "Crazy On You". I have to agree. There is some good guitar playing in multiple Heart songs, but there is a sophistication and versatility going on with "Crazy On You" that really stands out. Good call Karen. That would be a very solid entry.

One of the other thoughts that I'd had was The Go-Go's, and then I kind of dismissed them because they are really more pop than rock, and the list was geared towards harder stuff. I did some listening anyway though, and while they don't necessarily stand out for guitar, there is a really good combination of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard. Their sound really works, and I appreciate that. Maybe they just needed to add a second guitar player.

(I did also briefly consider The Bangles here, but I don't remember any of their songs rocking that much, and half of the songs I remember were not written by them, so I didn't pull them up.)

The other obvious places to look were The Vixens and Lita Ford.

With The Vixens, the guitar didn't really stand out to me. I loved their drums though. Lita was better for guitars, but I'm not sure she would crack the list. As much as a sentimental favorite as "Kiss Me Deadly" is, we would be looking at "Playin' With Fire" or maybe "Shot of Poison" for this. They are fancier.

Then, realizing that Lita was in The Runaways with Joan, I remembered that was another female line up. First of all, let me say that I have no objection to the inclusion of Joan Jett or "I Love Rock N Roll" - they should be in there. So it could be a little repetitious to put The Runaways in there, but I am not necessarily against it. I am not as familiar with them. I had never heard of them before the movie, and I didn't go see it. That being said, "California Paradise" might be able to crack a top 100. "Cherry Bomb" is more vocal; I don't think it shows the same guitar strength.

(This is not relevant, but "Dead End Justice" is just weird.)

Let me just put two other random thoughts out there. One is that it did occur to me to look up Holly Knight, because as a songwriter she may have written some of these songs, even if she is not the one playing them. She has written some songs I love, though not necessarily for the guitar parts, but also, even if you had a blistering guitar solo on one, she might not have written that part, which could just be how the band arranges it.

Also, I am treating bass as separate from the guitar (or seriously, "Blister In The Sun" would need to be on the list), otherwise there would kind of be another inclusion with The Pixies and Kim Deal. If we were going that route, I would possibly want to throw in a Talking Heads song for Tina Weymouth, and it would probably be "Burning Down The House".