I remember
going to a Nats game several years ago with some friends, and the conversation
for some reason turned to the subject of female rockers (possibly because the
Nats weren’t all that good back then). Can’t remember who all was mentioned –
Patti Smith and Joan Jett, I think – but I was pretty vocal in my support for
the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde as the best female rocker of all time.
This is an
opinion I still hold today. Hynde can rock with the best of them (“Middle Of
The Road” and “Time The Avenger” being among the best examples here), do
scathing social commentary without getting preachy (“My City Was Gone”), and
has the voice to do a knockout job on ballads (“Thin Line Between Love And Hate”
and “2000 Miles” here, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Windows Of
the World” elsewhere). Learning To Crawl throwaways
like “Watching The Clothes” would be among the highlights of many other LPs.
Favorite
tracks:
Back On The
Chain Gang
Show Me
Thin Line Between
Love And Hate
Ann Wilson?
ReplyDeleteI can't remember whether either of the Wilsons came up in that conversation. I really liked the Dreamboat Annie album -- picked up the LP at the time, and the CD a year or so ago -- but to be perfectly honest, always felt that after their first album or two, Heart descended into primarily doing power-ballad schlock. No offense to anyone reading this, but "All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You" has to rate among my 20 or so least favorite songs of all time, much worse than any slow stuff the Pretenders, Bangles, or Go-Gos ever recorded.
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