Daughter says musical instruments are for men in pop music - how do I prove her wrong?

[mids2019]

My daughter play a the guitar and electric guitar.

I was trying to think of really good female electric guitar players to act as role models and actually struggled (my bad). Men however, Clapton, Hendrix, Marr etc. The list goes on. In fact when I watch bands it always seems to be be men on supporting instruments generally.

Modern pop music seems to equate women with good looks/sex appeal/ singing and there isn't much variation. Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter , Arianna Grande, Tate McRae etc. etc. However the more heavy weight bands in pop cukture, The Beatles, Stones, Queen, Bowie are all male.

I am now seeing classical music as the genre where you have true gender equality and opportunities so I am trying to get my daughter to see at least a classical concert for this reason (as well as the music being brilliant). Am I wrong in this view??

Harry styles had a female drummer I think that he used to say great things about

Pretty sure Phoebe Bridgers plays guitars. She's current and on the more alternative side of pop.

I assume you haven't been keenly following the pop charts much for the last couple of years as, if you had, you'd have noticed a proliferation of solo female artists, both acoustic and electric, having huge hits with songs they've written and performed themselves this year alone. Yes, dance music and producer-songwriters are still popular, but boy/girl bans have been vanishingly rare in the 2020s, it's largely about solo performers.
Gracie Abrams has recently spent six weeks at number 1 with 'That's So True' and she in turn knocked' Sailor Song' by Gigi Perez off the top spot, both fairly mournful, stripped back acoustic tracks, neither could be described as flashy or too slickly produced!

are brilliant.

Radio 1 plays lots of female acts. I wonder if radio 2 sticks to the older, more male based acts?

I am surprised not to see Bonnie Raitt on the list.

Well the boy/girl bands I was thinking of are all k-pop to be fair. As you say yourself the pop charts are dominated by solo acts, some of which might accompany themselves with a guitar or keys but the majority do not. Traditional bands are dead in commercial pop bar the odd crossover from the indie or rock world where women who play instruments are far better represented.

As does 6Music.

Modern country music (Taylor Swift’s roots) will give lots of examples - the likes of Ashley McBryde and Lainey Wilson are good examples off the top of my head.

tal wilkenfeld
leta ford

Laura Logic - saxophonist with early X-ray Spex

Victoria Smith - drummer for Jamie T.

Gaga doesn’t mess around on her piano. She plays quite a chunk of her gigs on it.

Google female instrumentalists/all girl groups/You tube women pop artists.

Take her to see the Lambrini Girls

The corrs are excellent musicians although perhaps for an older audience than your daughter.
Pink plays the piano if you see her live.

Nita Strauss Is an amazing guitarist, played with the Alice Cooper band amongst other projects and she has a sponsorship deal with Ibanez, my favourite guitar manufacturer and she’s awesome. Another favourite musician of mine is Cherisse Osei who is a drummer and currently just off tour with Simple Minds, she’s incredible, I’ve seen both live a few times and they’re incredibly talented.

Assume someone's already said this but Taylor Swift plays guitar and the piano. She's not just a singer.

This is the case for a lot of female musicians, as soon as they sing as well as play they're categorised as a singer.

Brody Dalle - the distillers
Aimee Interruptor - the interruptors

The Von Bondies
Ikara Cult
Neko case
Hole

Surprised no one has mentioned Florence Welch from Florence & the Machine. She plays both piano & drums on several tracks.

Camila Cabello plays guitar & piano.

The Chicks/Dixie Chicks play various instruments.

Dasha plays guitar & piano.

So many others: Halsey, Ellie Goulding, Kesha, & Lana Del Rey.

Jennifer Batten. She was amazing doing his songs.

Brody Dalle - punk and cool asf!
Last Dinner Party - all female band
Deap valley - very cool all female rock band

I was going to suggest the last dinner party.

Would she like Riotgrrl as a genre? Also try her on Hole and other 90s grunge. Sonic Youth (Kim is the best thing about them and her solo stuff now is also great). The 90s in general are big right now- Elastica?

Mitski? Wet Leg?

The White Stripes!

Martha Argerich piano
Hilary Hann violin
Janine Jansen violin
Chloe Chua violin
Ida Haendel violin

Haven’t RTFT but female bands or bands with women I love right now include:
Press Club
Bikini Kill
Lambrini Girls
Panic Shack
Nova Twins (recommend watching videos of them live, both play, they’re insane!)
Destroy Boys
Sincere Engineer
Creeper (Hannah is their Keyboard player)
GIRLBAND!
Hot Milk
Sohodolls (Bang bang bang bang went viral on tiktok a while ago)
Vukovi

all alternative/punk/rock type bands but female musicians are out there!!!

Maid of ace supported green day. They were brilliant if punk rock is her thing