AIBU to start a music thread? There are some great female artists out there who explain what it's really like to be a woman. (And it's not about wearing makeup and dresses and looking cute).

Also M.I.A.
and Chrissie Hynde.

From 36 years ago...

@Scout2016 - yep, not too keen on the rap stuff either. V dodgy

@Tesla73 have you heard Tairrie B's hip hop stuff? I am not sold on that at all but I admire her all the more for doing it.

I second that about Tura Satana as well as Tairrie Bs other band My Ruin

Also Rasputina are amazing and Carina Round, Kim & Kelly Deal, Courtney Love, Kristen Hersh, Melissa Auf Der Maur

I'm loving this one right now:

And sometimes I wish that I was born in another time
In the future, see my daughters born,
Born Into a world where
Suddenly like I could, walk the street, I walk the street like a woman should
Like nobody was around
Like I could shed the anatomy of my high school
Like my body was allowed

Probably not going to be to many people's tastes musically, but heavy rap/ metal band Tura Satana's stuff is really outspoken, defiant and angry. "Victim", about rape, and the pro choice "Put Your Head Out" spring to mind. Released mid 90s and still sadly so relevant.

Bearer of the flag from the beginning
Now who would have believed this riot grrrl's a cynic
But they took our ideas to their marketing stars
and now i'm spending all my days at girlpower.com
Trying to buy back a little piece of me
(Everywhere you go they say "Hello,
weren't you the one that sold your soul?"
Every time you leave the say "Oh no,
why did you ever let us go?")

And i think that I sometimes might have wished
for something more than to be a size six
But now my inspiration rests
in-between my beauty magazines and my
credit card bills

I've been crawling up so long on your
stairway to heaven
And now i no longer believe that i wanna get in
And will there always be concerts where
women are raped
watch me make up my mind instead
of my face

The number one must have is
that we are safe
(Everywhere you go teenage
is the rage
inside your pants
and on the front page
EVerywhere you go it's die or be born
if you can't decide then
it's your own war)

No more
and for the ladies out there i wish
we could write more than the next
marketing bid
Culture is what we make it
yes it is
now is the time
to invent

Love that Bananasaur

And another Alanis one...

First woman down was your mother
She did condone how you behave
All you could see was your father
His disrespect was in her face
Next woman down was your sister
Her silence did corroborate
She took her cues from the climate
And never knew another way

[quote musicalfrog][/quote]
Not heard that before. Excellent. Ty.

We don't need to be diminished to sisters or daughters or mothers
I am a human being, that is how you relate to me

...amazing angry song from two young Swedish sisters who usually write the most beautiful dreamy synth folk music... a wake-up call.

Anything and everything from Kirsty MacColl. The way she writes about the female experience is so relatable. This song always makes me smile, “There’s a guy works down the chip shop”. (I miss her, what a loss for the world).

Jesus died for some bodies sins but not mine -it’s these are men’s rules. Men’s religion. As a woman these aren’t mine. I don’t find myself in everything that’s built by men.

Patti Smith’s version (half cover half her own) always really mattered to me growing up because of the poem she wrote before it/behind it?

The poem is where ‘Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine’ line comes from. The poem ‘oath’ was her debut reading, in front of Ginsburg, Jim Caroll and many other famous, well established male writers. The poem is about her rejection of her religious upbringing (jw) and it was very anti religious. While this isn’t necessarily a uniquely female experience it was something I connected with as a kid. When she mixes it through with Van Morrison’s original Gloria (her version is half her lyrics half original ones) it feels like a very personally female rejection of the role of good girl religion shoved on her. It feels like a rejection of limits. Jesus died but not for me, I wasn’t saved by your religion or rules or social roles, so I’ll be out here on my own-that’s what I took from it. Feels like stepping outside of patriarchal control, but very matter of fact -no false celebration of being free or changing the hirachy or anything else fake, just her stepping outside of roles foisted on her. Which Smith does in every way. Hence she’s the godmother of punk.

Kathleen Hanna (bikini kill) up on stage in early riot girl days yelling ‘girls to the front’ was an awakening as a kid. Her yelling that any woman who felt unsafe was welcome to sit up on stage and that any man who saw a woman unsafe from other men better do something about those men was everything. No wonder her Cobain were such good friends. And Kurt Cobain smells like teen spirt was coined by Kathleen Hanna after a night they were drinking together and ended up protesting at the prolifers camped outside an abortion clinic. The punk singer is on yt & well worth a watch.

Patti Smith-Gloria is always a favourite.

Brody Dalle- mattress (from her sourpuss days-first song I discovered that was blatantly about being molested. I thought that was so brave. I couldn’t tell anyone about being a victim then and listened to this on repeat for validation I wasn’t the only survivor) The Hunger (The Distillers)

Laren Tate- (hands off gretel) he wanted more

Taylor Momsen -(the pretty reckless) under the water

Joan Jett (the runaways)- love is pain, bad reputation

Mia Zapata (the gits)- seaweed (in particular the story behind this one always gets me-Mia was swimming with a female musician friend & the got tangled in the seaweed. Her friend later died from a heroin overdose and Mia wrote this as a tribute song. Mia didn’t live to see it released as she was brutally beaten, raped and strangled while walking home from a music venue at night. It took ten years for her murder to be solved. I adore the Seattle 4, and those who came before them/with the grunge scene, I feel the loss of the male singers I adored as much as any fan. But Mia’s murder haunted me growing up. Especially how it felt like i was the only person aware of it. All my friends were morning Cobain or declaring Richy James Edwards was still alive and carving 4real into their arms in tribute. I was just paralysed by Mia’s rape and murder because it felt very much that any minute that could be me. And why did none of the girls around me feel the same? Was i crazy and catastrophising or were they living in a bubble? Either way it rammed home how alone i felt in my fear).

Kathleen Hanna -(bikini kill) rebel girl

Throwing Muses -hate my way

OP, no one is going to arrest you around here.

Anyway, here's my contribution. Erykah Badu's Cleva