Here are 10 groundbreaking women who challenged tradition and reinvented what it means to be “rock ’n’ roll” in the decade of the 1980s.
Videos by American Songwriter
10. Stevie Nicks
Think Stevie Nicks, and you think about all those Fleetwood Mac songs from the 1970s. And that was the ’70s; this list is about the ’80s. But consider “Edge of Seventeen.” And “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” And “Stand Back.” All ’80s solo songs that transcended what she’d done in Fleetwood Mac.
The danger in transitioning from a behemoth like Fleetwood Mac to a solo career is you run the risk of getting crushed under the weight of your own success. Ms. Nicks is one of the great voices in the history of rock ’n’ roll, not just the ’80s (or the ’70s, for that matter). She belongs on whichever list she qualifies for.
9. Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar is tough. Her biggest hit is “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” an I’ m-Sick-of-Your-Shit anthem. Critics at the time didn’t think Benatar was fashionable musically. Her voice was too clear—too good for rock ’n’ roll. But Pat Benatar made her way through the music business with a crisp and clean vocal delivery, becoming an icon in the age of MTV, winning Grammys, and recording hits that people still admire.
8. Sinéad O’ Connor
One could argue Sinéad O’Connor should be on a ’90s list, but Lion and the Cobra was released in 1987. O’Connor was combative before and after the gate to the business opened for her. When her label suggested high heels, she shaved her head. End of discussion.
O’Connor’s début is ambitious and brave. “Mandinka” was well ahead of its time. It was a Top 20 hit in the UK but could have been an even bigger hit had it come out a few years later. “Mandinka” is more of a visceral feeling than what the song’s lyrics might deliver. Its imagery and protesting attitude exhibit everything to love about Sinéad O’Connor.
7. Joan Jett
Joan Jett is a fighter. She began her career as a teenager with The Runaways and then fronted the band that made her famous, The Blackhearts. Moreover, she came of age in an era when women were routinely dismissed in guitar-based rock, and she wore leather as a kind of battle armor. Defiantly, Jett owned sex like the boys and positively sneered her way through hits like “I Love Rock ’N’ Roll,” “Crimson and Clover,” and “Bad Reputation.”
[RELATED: Joan Jett: Rebellion Personified]
6. Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees
Fronting one of Britain’s first successful post-punk bands, Siouxsie Sioux became a goth icon. She was high camp and confrontational—like a more menacing Betty Boop—and influenced many artists who followed, like Joy Division, Jane’s Addiction, the Jesus and Mary Chain, U2, and Robert Smith of The Cure, who was the Banshees’ guitarist for a stretch in the early ’80s.
5. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth were heirs to The Velvet Underground and New York’s art-rock scene. Gordon, staring into the crowd from behind her offset bass, was a downtown “Kool Thing” original hipster who wondered aloud, “I mean, are you gonna liberate us girls from male-white corporate oppression?” Stylish and carefully semi-detached, she moved to New York City to become a fine artist. Instead, she formed one of the most important experimental rock bands in music history.
4. Kate Bush
Women in pop must reserve enough gas in their art tank to oppose or refuse things in a way that men don’t have to. Kate Bush has a kind of natural mystery to her that other artists work hard to cultivate. Her music was ahead of its time—who knows what St. Vincent or Björk or Tori Amos would have sounded like without her ethereal records to reference? Bush is also a groundbreaking producer who pioneered the use of the CMI synthesizer.
3. Chrissie Hynde of Pretenders
Chrissie Hynde grew up in Akron, Ohio. She witnessed, as a student, the infamous local military shooting of anti-war protesters at Kent State University in 1970. She then moved to London to assimilate into the punk scene.
Hynde rejected convention. Her songs threaded punk, new wave, and jangly guitar rock. On stage, she was aloof, reflective, and in control. Songs like “Brass in Pocket” and “I’ll Stand by You” endure for good reason, just as Hynde has endured. Two of her bandmates died from drug abuse, and she lived through a difficult relationship with Ray Davies, especially while pregnant with their daughter. So what did she do? She wrote “Back on the Chain Gang.”
2. Annie Lennox of Eurythmics
Annie Lennox was born in Scotland. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London but grew restless there. She then moved on to lead Eurythmics with songwriter/producer extraordinaire Dave Stewart. They became one of the most successful rock duos on the planet.
Lennox defied what was expected of female rock stars. She wore cropped hair and men’s suits in a powerful statement of androgyny. With her contralto voice set against placid synthesizers—the sound of American soul music and European sadness—Lennox is responsible for one of the most enthralling moments in ’80s-era pop music: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” The song’s nihilism is balanced by her affecting voice: Hold your head up (movin’ on), Keep your head up (movin’ on).
1. Tina Turner
Tina Turner was a force in so many ways. Through a combination of will and powerful musical and performance chops, she survived terribly abusive and bleak conditions over the course of her long, distinguished career.
Turner exuded pure sex appeal and attitude. But within that context, she was still all substance. “River Deep – Mountain High” is one of the greatest vocal performances captured on tape. Her voice is bigger than Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound on that track. This is the sound of a woman singing because her life depends on it. Turner blurred the line between pain and sensuality.
And this is before ’80s Tina when she went from a respected chanteuse to a global phenomenon. Her career’s second act was a kind of rebirth and would finally bring her to commercial heights worthy of her powerful voice and artistry.
I’ve been taking on a new direction
But I have to say
I’ve been thinking about my own protection
It scares me to feel this way
Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage
