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From powerful ballads to headbanging anthems, female rockers have left an indelible mark on music history. Join us as we celebrate the fierce women who shattered the glass ceiling of rock music! Our countdown features powerhouse vocals, iconic guitar riffs, and lyrics that changed the landscape of a traditionally male-dominated genre. Which female-fronted rock anthem tops your personal list?
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the songs by female artists
00:09that have most profoundly rocked audiences over the years.
00:12As long as the bands in question have a female frontwoman,
00:15then they are eligible for inclusion in our list.
00:25Number 10. Bring Me to Life, Evanescence.
00:30The early 2000s new metal craze was, at the time, and remains a highly polarizing cultural phenomenon.
00:43However, one aspect of it that seemingly everyone can agree on is Bring Me to Life.
00:48Anchored by frontwoman Amy Lee's powerhouse vocals,
00:50the band's signature song transcends its genre trappings to become a timeless, belt-out-loud anthem.
00:56Bring Me to Life has been described by co-writer Lee as a wake-up call to seize one's life back
01:06and to stop simply going through the motions.
01:09While the song was initially rejected by radio programmers simply for the fact that the band had a female lead singer,
01:15it's pretty clear that Evanescence got the last laugh.
01:18Number 9. I Love Rock and Roll, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
01:37We'll give you a moment to collect your jaw from the floor
01:40upon realizing that Jett's enduring smash hit is actually a cover.
01:44Originally written and recorded by obscure 70s British rockers The Arrows,
01:49Jett and her band blew the original out of the water.
01:52So much so, in fact, that Jett and the Blackhearts' rendition spent seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.
01:57And I could tell it would be long, it was with me.
02:01Yeah, me!
02:02A sweaty, bare-bones sing-along, Jett injects I Love Rock and Roll with a head-banging electricity,
02:08proving in an instant that not only could the girls compete with the guys,
02:12but they could roundly outdo them too.
02:14Sure, they had other hits, but I Love Rock and Roll best crystallizes Jett and the Blackhearts' essence.
02:19Number 8. One Way or Another, Blondie
02:29Coming on the heels of the punk rock explosion of the late 1970s,
02:39Debbie, Harry and Blondie played a crucial role in helping the genre to transition into the polished new wave of the 80s.
02:45They certainly had the punk cred, having performed regularly at the hallowed halls of New York City's infamous CBGB nightclub.
02:57The release of their third album, 1978's Parallel Lines, saw the band face criticism for embracing disco,
03:04and in the eyes of some, abandoning their punk roots.
03:07Those critics would need only wait for the album's sixth and final single, One Way or Another.
03:12It retained the punk aggression that had initially propelled them to stardom,
03:16while incorporating experimental elements that solidified their status as trailblazers.
03:21One Way or Another, I'm gonna lose ya, I'm gonna trick ya, trick ya, trick ya, trick ya, one way.
03:28Number 7. Zombie, The Cranberries
03:31Motherhead hangs slowly, child is slowly.
03:38The use of rock music to appeal to political and humanitarian causes was hardly a new concept in 1994.
03:45With that said, though, it's hard to find examples, before or since, of any musical artist pulling it off
03:51as well as melancholy Irish rockers The Cranberries did with Zombie.
03:55Written by lead singer Dolores O'Riordan,
03:57Zombie laments the human cost of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
04:00We are her, we are her, we are her.
04:05Specifically, O'Riordan wrote the song in response to the March 1993 bombing in Warrington, England
04:14by the provisional Irish Republican Army.
04:16Drenched in distortion, Zombie is a stark contrast to The Cranberries' typically more subdued work,
04:21which only makes its political message all the more powerful.
04:25In your head, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie,
04:31Number 6. Cherry Bomb, The Runaways
04:35A few years before Joan Jett struck out on her own and became a rock star in her own right,
04:46she was the guitarist for this all-female outfit,
04:49one of the first to make waves in the world of music.
04:51The Runaways, most famously consisting of Jett,
04:55Cherie Curry, Lita Ford, Jackie Fox,
04:57and Sandy West, never achieved significant mainstream success.
05:00Stay on the street, I'm the girl next door
05:03I'm the fox you've been waiting for
05:07But what they did achieve was cementing their legacy
05:10as having opened the doors for other female rock artists
05:13to realize that the genre didn't have to be a boys' club.
05:16Cherry Bomb, the first single off of The Runaways' self-titled debut album,
05:20is quite literally the sound of the future introducing itself.
05:23Hello, Daddy! Hello, Mom!
05:27Number 5. Barracuda, Heart
05:33Fronted by sibling duo Anne and Nancy Wilson,
05:43Heart rose to fame off of the strength of the sisters' wailing vocal chops.
05:48Anne and Nancy were incensed by a confounding marketing stunt orchestrated by Mushroom Records,
05:52in which the label falsely asserted that the two had involved themselves in,
05:57well, let's just call it a family affair.
06:05Disgusted and offended, the Wilson sisters wrote Barracuda,
06:09a searing indictment of the music industry.
06:11Said producer Mike Flicker, quote,
06:14Barracuda could be anyone from the local promotion man to the president of a record company.
06:18That is the Barracuda. It was born out of that whole experience.
06:21The rest was history, and the song's classic riff has been recognized as an all-timer.
06:35It was hard to pick just one song to sum up the contributions of the celebrated ska punk band
06:49that introduced Gwen Stefani to the world.
06:52When you're sorting through the likes of spiderwebs, don't speak, and hella good,
06:55it's no easy feat.
06:57In the end, we had to go with Just a Girl, the band's first major hit.
07:01The song's biting lyrics deal with co-writer Stefani's frustration with societal perceptions of women.
07:06Just a Girl used rock music to explore issues that, within the genre, hadn't really been explored before.
07:19Wrap its novelty up in an almost scarily catchy package,
07:22and you can see why it helped to shoot the band into the stratosphere.
07:25Number three, You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette.
07:41Look, it's time to give up hope that Morissette will ever reveal just who her You Oughta Know is about.
07:47But, to get wrapped up in that conversation completely misses the point of her breakout hit.
07:51Every time you speak the band, we know how you don't live up,
07:55the world's gonna die, till you die, but you're still alive.
08:00Morissette, who was born in Ottawa, Ontario, was just 21 when You Oughta Know was released,
08:05revealing a wisdom that exceeded her years.
08:08The song was released in the wake of the explosion of the grunge bubble,
08:11which had popped upon the 1994 death of Kurt Cobain.
08:14Morissette took that inescapable sound and put her own spin on it.
08:26That spin, which combined grunge's sensibilities with her now-trademark caustic wit,
08:31catapulted Morissette into overnight superstardom,
08:34and set the stage for female singer-songwriters to open up without holding back.
08:38Cross-eyed man, a chicken to me, you, you, you, you, oughta know!
08:57Largely considered the legendary Joplin's signature song,
09:01Bobby McGee was originally written by country stalwart Chris Christopherson,
09:05alongside Monument Records founder Fred Foster.
09:07However, the song is so widely associated with Joplin
09:11that the late blues singer has posthumously claimed it as her own.
09:22A rowdy showcase for Joplin's raspy, dynamic vocals,
09:26me and Bobby McGee only became a hit some months after her untimely 1970 passing from an overdose.
09:31While Joplin herself didn't live to see the legacy that she would ultimately cultivate,
09:35her recording of Bobby McGee stands as one of the most powerful,
09:39most straightforwardly rockin' songs ever recorded by anyone.
09:42Feeling good was good enough for me,
09:45good enough for me and my Bobby and I, yeah.
09:51Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions.
09:55Because the Night, Patti Smith.
09:57Because the Night belongs to love,
10:00because the night belongs to life.
10:05Brass in Pocket, Pretenders.
10:06I'm special, special, so special, special, special, I gotta have some of your attention.
10:15Only happy when it rains, garbage.
10:17I'm only happy when it rains.
10:21I'm only happy when it's complicated.
10:24Celebrity skin, whole.
10:27Hey, so glad you could make it good.
10:31Now you really made it.
10:33Misery Business, Paramore.
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10:57Number 1.
10:58Edge of 17, Stevie Nicks.
11:00Yeah, chances are you've heard this one before.
11:11From its opening seconds,
11:12Edge of 17 grabs your attention with those tense, muted guitar plucks.
11:16Mere seconds later,
11:17Nicks' vocals sweep you away,
11:19whether you like it or not.
11:21The third single from Nicks' debut solo album, Belladonna,
11:24Edge of 17 proved resoundingly
11:26that she didn't need Fleetwood Mac to produce instant classics.
11:29A veritable whirlwind of impeccable musical craftsmanship
11:39and the singer's never more astute lyricism,
11:41Edge of 17 has a little bit of something for everyone
11:44and is undeniably stirring.
11:46In case you needed evidence that Nicks is rock royalty,
11:50throw on Edge of 17
11:51and then just try to turn it off,
11:53if you're able.
11:53Which song on our list rocks the hardest?
12:04Are there any we missed?
12:05Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
12:07It's like a white freak girl
12:09Sings songs as I just sing it
12:11Yeah
12:14Yeah
12:17Go ahead
12:21Get her help
12:21Get her help
12:22FŃĐŸĐłĐŸ
12:22Go
12:36Go
12:39Go
12:40Go
12:41Go
12:42Go
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