Heart
Apr
11
Videos of the Week – Favorite Women’s Bands
Ok, time to do a Videos of the Week feature and instead of doing sports, I’ll be doing a music video post. Haven’t done one in a while. This one will feature some of my favorite all-female or female-led bands over the years. There’s some good music here so get ready to enjoy.
I’ll begin with The Go Go’s which consists of Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine and Gina Shock. This is my favorite song from them, Head Over Heels.
Following the success of The Go Go’s in the early 1980′s, came The Bangles with Susanna Hoffs, Michael Steele, Debbi and Vicky Peterson. Their biggest hit was Walk Like an Eygptian, but Eternal Flame was also big.
We move to the 1990′s and the great riotgrrl band, L7 led by the wonderful Donita Sparks. I wanted to marry Donita Sparks at one time. Anyway, this is Pretend We’re Dead.
This brings us to Luscious Jackson, which used to back The Beastie Boys, then branched out on their own. I saw them live in Providence and I loved every minute of their concert. I bring you City Song.
Shonen Knife from Japan got big in the United States when Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain asked them to open for his tour for “Nevermind”. I really got to love this band and it’s still going strong to this day. This is Tomato Head.
That brings me to another Japanese women’s group, Cibo Matto. Their biggest supporter was Sean Lennon, son of John. I love Sci-Fi Wasabi and so should you. Know Your Chicken.
Tanya Donnelly of Newport, RI was in a series of groups including Throwing Muses and her own band, Belly. I love Tanya. I’ll give you a live performance of Gepetto on the BBC from the early 1990′s. Tonya rocks. Did I tell you that I love Tanya?
Moving to current times, I just love Flyleaf and Lacey Mosley’s voice. I can listen to Flyleaf all day and not get sick of them. Here’s I’m So Sick. Doesn’t describe me at all.
Can’t go without mentioning The Ting Tings with Katie White on the vocals. Their songs are so infectious and this is Shut Up And Let Me Go (Hey!).
I can’t go without a mention of all-girl bands without a video from The Runaways which featured Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, Sandy West and Jackie Fox. They were big in the 1970′s and I look forward to seeing the movie on the band soon. This is Cherry Bomb.
I would be remiss if I didn’t post a video from Heart. This is Ann and Nancy Wilson performing live in their hometown Seattle in 2002. Great performance. I love the Wilson sisters.
The band that paved the way for women in rock was Fanny. You may not have heard of them, but they rocked. Those in music know of their influence to women in rock and if you don’t know who they are, I suggest you find out. Before Heart, The Runaways, The Go Go’s, The Bangles and any of the bands I featured here could get played, it was Fanny who showed them the way. Here they are appearing on the Sonny & Cher Show in 1971 doing their biggest hit, Charity Ball.
One more from Fanny, a rare appearance and great quality video from the BBC doing Stephen Stills’ Special Care.
I could do so many more bands like Throwing Muses, the Breeders, Veruca Salt, and Hole but I’ve run out of room and time. Maybe I’ll do another all-women’s group Videos of the Week down the road. I hope you enjoyed this look at all-female and female-led bands.
Jul
23
Fang’s Bites Musical Interlude – Heart
Time for a musical interlude as I haven’t done one in over a month. I’ll post videos from one of my favorite bands, Heart. Led by sisters Ann & Nancy Wilson, the band was one of the pioneers for future female-led bands. Ann sang, Nancy played guitar and through the years, have added and subtracted various band members.
The core of the band has been the Wilson sisters and they started in Seattle in the early 1970′s before hitting it big around 1977. They played hard and folk rock before being forced to sing power ballads in the mid-1980′s by their record company. In the mid-1990′s, Heart went back to its hard rock roots where they’ve stayed.
I’m going to post six videos here and they really don’t even begin to broach their discography, but perhaps during a Videos of the Week, I’ll go all out and post a whole bunch of their music.
Right now, let’s begin in 1976 and a live appearance by the band on a TV show (not sure which one), but this is “Heartless.”
I can’t believe I found a video of a performance I actually saw on TV. This is from the California Jam 2 in 1978. ABC played this on a late night Friday, I remember it being on after midnight and it went for about 2 hours and I watched the whole thing. Watch how hard the band works on stage. Oh, before I forget, this is “Barracuda.”
Let’s move to Heart’s power ballad era, but instead of showing those horrible videos that MTV played, I’ll post a video from a concert the band did in Seattle in 2003. This is “Alone.” And a very nice acoustical version. Ann and Nancy had some very nice harmony.
From the same concert, here’s Nancy singing “These Dreams”. Again, great harmony.
Since you see the beginning of “Mistral Wind” in the last video, I’ll add it so you can see it in its entirety.
From that same Seattle concert, Heart covers Led Zepplin’s “Black Dog.” Heart really loved Led Zepplin and often paid tribute covering their songs live. Ann pulls this off so well.
And flashing back again, this time to 1976 and NBC’s Midnight Special which never played at midnight, but always at 1 a.m., here is “Crazy on You” and Nancy’s awesome acoustic beginning to the song.
Ok, that’s actually 7 videos, but once I start finding good songs, I just want to post them. Down the line, I’ll do a Videos of the Week with Heart. Press releases coming up.
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