Best Female Rock Group


Okay, I know this "best of" thing has been done to death, but I think it's fun. A guy in my office and I were discussing this the other day. To limit the hair-splitting (although I suspect that's a good part of the fun with these things), "Female Rock Group" is defined as follows: the band must be fronted by females and the majority of the members must be female, and the majority of the material must be written by the female members. For example, The Breeders qualify for consideration (majority female, fronted by the Donnelly sisters and a kick-ass, if slightly pathetic outfit), while "Blondie" does not (only one female member, most of the music written by her boyfriend.) Female rockers, like PJ Harvey and Liz Phair, who write their own material and have relatively anonymous backing bands also qualify (don't quibble, it's my thread).

Now, let's get on with it!

My entries are:

1. Breeders

2. Bangles (yes, the Bangles. check out the cuts that were NOT chosen to be singles, e.g., "Dover Beach")

3. Sleater-Kinney ('nuff said!)

4. Bikini Kill (ditto)

5. Liz Phair.

6. Throwing Muses.

7. Belly.
anth0456
Most of the most famous and best women performers have tended to be solo artists,of course bands,musicians etc. have played a large part but they don't make your criteria-Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega,Joni Mitchell etc..
So the best is easily for me....
The Patti Smith Group
and more recently
PJ Harvey

Both awesome live,both can rock and write songs on a level miles better than anybody mentioned so far...........
I always thought that Joan Jett (and the Blackhawks) could play rock & roll with the best of the kick-ass male bands. Of course, this goes back to the 80's. Last I heard of Joan, she had shaved her head, and was starring in a remake of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in New York. Happy Tunes!


Sleater-Kinney and PJ Harvey are spot-on choices. Both have delivered the goods over the course of their last several albums. Both qualify as major artists, IMO.