The Mekons, “Ghosts Of American Astronauts”. There’s not really a big deep reason for this selection, I just think it’s a hell of a song most people have never heard. I certainly hadn’t until last year when Alan made me a best-of mix, and had the short-sightedness to place this song first. I have to admit I’ve barely listened to the rest of the CD - this song is a hard act to follow. But anyway, in terms of fitting into current events, both board-related and not, this is a song featuring female vocals, with a bit of the old-fashioned instrumentation The Pipettes are fond of. It’s also a song about astronauts, which ends up being a tribute to both my dearly departed friend Ryan (he’s only departed for Chicago, not for the afterlife), whose views on star voyagers are on display at www.GodHatesAstronauts.com - and also to the actually recently departed Walter M. Schirra, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts and commander of Apollo 7. He was portrayed by Lance Henriksen in The Right Stuff, and Mark Harmon in HBO’s From The Earth To The Moon. (He actually looked a lot more like Henriksen - I mean who anywhere looks like Harmon, except maybe that tic-tac chick…) Schirra was known as both a prankster and perfectionist, a seasoned pro who was put in command of Apollo 7, the first mission to fly on top of the immense Saturn 5 booster, and the first American manned mission into space after the deadly fire that consumed the Apollo 1 crew. No kidding - you can keep all the Anna Nicoles and Boris Yeltsins dying, they get an eh and shrug from me - but when I walked into the bank and saw on a TV monitor that Schirra had died, I honestly needed a couple of reflective seconds. He was an integral part of one of the greatest things man has ever accomplished, and one of a select few who have been blessed to see this pale blue dot we call Earth as the small precious thing it truly is.

Apollo 8 followed, which went to the moon and sent back the famous Earthrise photograph, that showed us all, all of human existence and history and war and love and castles and caves, all of it hanging precariously in the heavens. Had more people experienced what people like Schirra did, the viewpoint of our world as a rare and fragile oasis in the dark reaches of space, perhaps we’d all be getting along better down here with our weapons of mass distrustion. And so I mourned the loss of one more of the steadily dwindling group of people that could actually have stood a chance of talking with people and getting them to see and appreciate their one and only home. Of the original seven Mercury astronauts, only John Glenn and Scott Carpenter are still living. Which is interesting considering the two of them were universally regarded as the “boy scouts” of the program, bucking the trend of being a hotshot pilot and not overindulging in women or drink - a point dramatized to comedic effect in The Right Stuff. Now, Schirra died at 84, and Gordon Cooper passed only a few years ago at 77, so it’s not like all the fun-loving guys burned out early, but I do think it’s interesting that the two described as “Archie and Jughead” in the film are the only two remaining. And so I implore all of you to seek out any of the original astronauts, from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, and sit and listen to them talk somewhere. As lampooned on The Simpsons, “this man has actually been in outer space!” I personally think we could all learn from these few who have flown closer to the sun and now can impart their Icarus-like knowledge of how the further you get away from Mother Earth, the clearer it becomes how unique and valuable it actually is. There’s a reason Al Gore starts his slideshows off with two pictures, Earthrise and a shot from Apollo 17 that shows the entire Earth lit up by the sun. Apollo 17 went to the moon in December of 1972, when I was six months old. No human being has been that far away, has had that point of view, since. I think we should all have a bit of that view affecting us - it might make us all value our existence a bit more, perhaps even enough to keep us all from killing each other.

Gene Roddenberry, an avid space nut who actually inspired many of the current crop of astronauts, demonstrated the absurdity and pettiness of most of the reasons given for us killing each other in the most perfect and pointed and subtle way I’ve ever seen. In an episode of the original Trek series, Frank Gorshin plays an policeman tracking down a criminal across the stars, their conflict so obsessive and single-minded they hardly notice when they leave starships or entire worlds in ruin in their wake. Of course it turns out their conflict arises from a certain simple unchangable physiological difference that has driven these two men, the last survivors of their race, to go on trying to kill each other. The crew of the Enterprise expresses confusion, for the two men look identical, both split vertically, black on one side and white on the other. To which Gorshin famously exclaims, “Are you blind? I am white on the right side, he is white on the left side!!!” A difference that visiting aliens would completely disregard, such as the difference in what God you bellieve in - and yet there has been more blood shed on this planet over such minutely-different, fairy-tale nonsense than ever over food or land or resources. You can sit on top of all the oil you want as long as you are one of “us”. On the other hand, you can be as “not-us” as you want, but if you’ve got no oil, you go right on killing each other over arbitrary right-left philosophies, we won’t intrude. Anyway, I appear to be ranting. Enjoy the song.

The other reason I’m including this song is just because I love it and can listen to it over and over, that "repeat 1" feature preventing me from ever really getting into the rest of Alan’s mix. I value the place these songs occupy in my collection, for they are the tried-and-true standbys to use in the event that life or love or job or whatever is setting my brain on fire. On go the headphones, play is pressed, and the fire is drowned. I really need to be able to drown out real life sometimes, and not just any music will do it. Recently, for instance, I’ve been in dire need of a loud distracting personal soundtrack to keep my mind from thinking. You know, at all. Just music in my ears, one foot in front of the other, that’ll get me home. And it has to be music that is just “mine”, stuff that predates or avoided any connection to specific people or events. So on goes a lot of 80’s one-hit-wonders and classic hip-hop, that’s my stuff from the 80’s before songs became either about, or reminders of, girls. Other specific tracks that come up often are of the “rise above it all, walk along in your own invincible music video” type. Currently nothing beats The Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner” in that regard, and it’s unlikely anything ever will. But others that take me away when I don’t want to be here are Moby’s “God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters (Heat verson)”, The Sex Pistols’ “EMI”, MC Shan’s “Living In The World Of Hip-Hop”, Eric Donaldson’s “Cherry Oh Baby”, Malcolm Middleton’s “Superhero Songwriters”, some stuff by Snow Patrol, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Silversun Pickups, et al (you know, music actually marketed and designed to drown out teenage angst), and this song. All help drown out certain things that are still audible over most music, and actually currently enhanced by other types of music. Yeah, it sucks to sometimes have to temporarily swear off an entire genre, but self-preservation will always prevail. Anyway, now you know… the rest of the story…

Download: The Mekons, “Ghosts Of American Astronauts” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

In keeping with this month’s feminine mystique, I thought a revisiting of one of my past crushes was in order: The Pipettes. I’ve mentioned them here and at my other blog many times before, but it’s worth bringing them again now that the group has finally secured a US release for their debut album We Are The Pipettes (August 28 — just in time to rescue you from your late-summer blahs) and before they embark upon a quick tour of the US (dates here).

We Are The Pipettes is 33 minutes of pure 60’s pop perfection: the album’s production and vibe harkens back to the classic girl groups and the early years of rock n’ roll thanks to some canny near-Wall-of-Sound production, and their tunes are full of more hooks than a fishing supply store. It might sound a bit naive at first, but keep an ear out for non-traditional song topics & lyrics (”One Night Stand” comes to mind) — it won’t take long for you to get hooked all over again, like me.

Enjoy!

Download: The Pipettes, “ABC” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

So in a comment on my Rock Out With No Cock Out post, Bob Shortell calls me out for the lack of Chrissie Hynde in my list of ladies who rock:

Shame on you!! Shame on you all for not including one mention of Chrissie Hynde! She could kick every ass on Maroon Five all by herself!

First of all, I completely agree about her being able to kick the asses of each and every douchebag in Maroon 5. I actually know a few 5-year-olds who probably could, too. (off-topic: why do so many crappy/inexplicably popular pop bands have meaningless numbers in their names? Maroon 5, matchbox twenty, etc.?)

As for the missing Hynde, I offer this excuse: I don’t know the Pretenders. I didn’t grow up with them. My parents didn’t have any of their records in their collection, and as a kid I lived in Kentucky where they didn’t have the eighties outside of Thirller — they had two seventies and went straight to Garth Brooks. By the time I’d moved away from Kentucky & started to buy my own music and figure out what I liked, it was 1987 and I was knee-deep in hair-metal (the first music I purchased with my own cash? Appetite For Destruction, baby), so I completely and utterly missed the Pretenders boat.

So I ask you all out there on teh intarwebs: where should I start if I want to “get” the Pretenders? Drop your advice in a comment: any recommendations you can give me will be appreciated.

This month’s selection comes from new draftee, old friend, and Onkel Rudi’s partner in life and crime, Kirstin (a.k.a. sprite). She blogs, she knits, she blogs about knitting, and this month she’s challenging us to get a little more gender-diverse in our selections:

Month after month the Selective Service trio do a fine job of highlighting terrific tunes around an interesting theme. Their musical knowledge is extensive and their collections are deep.

But if you follow their playlists, you will start to notice a distinct absence.

Where are the women?

Where are Macy Gray and KT Tunstall, Joan Jett and Björk, Eva Cassidy and Corinne Bailey Rae, the Mamas and the Papas and Tina Turner? Why are there no songs from Madonna or Imogen Heap, the Pipettes or Pink Martini, Aaliyah or Patsy Cline, Luscious Jackson or Tori Amos?

A decade after the Lilith Fair tours raised awareness about the lack of female voices on the radio, I can count the number of tracks by women in the 2007 Selective Service monthly playlists on one hand.

C’mon, guys. You can do better than that.

And, no, I’m not saying I want a month of plaintive singer-songwriters from the three of you, which is often what pops into people’s heads when you talk about the underrepresentation of women in music. There are plenty of women out there doing interesting things within the genres you already listen to — and they’ve been belting out tunes and playing lead instruments for years now.

So go find some of them to put in this month’s playlist!

A valid point & worthy challenge, indeed, so find them we did — enjoy!

• Onkel Rudi’s “Double-X Chromosomes”
• Uncle Sam’s “Rock Out With No Cock Out”
• UNKLE Matt’s “Attempt At Being Broad-Minded”

I’ve already written just a bit on the head-scratching musings and sheepish admissions that Sam and I have had over this particular problem. It certainly doesn’t reflect a general lack of either interest in, or ownership of, music by female artists. I think that when a monthly topic is vague or general, we simply search out songs by whoever. But when a topic is more specific in terms of the songs having some commonality, for some reason it stops being about the artist and becomes about the topic of the songs. For instance, I just looked again at my “Edible Arrangements” list - no women. This is of course not because I found a bunch of songs by women and tossed them out, it’s just that nothing came to mind that was by a female artist. Well, there was Laura Lee’s “Crumbs Off The Table”, but while that is a wonderfully written metaphor about settling for the leftovers of a relationship rather than getting the main course, it really isn’t about food. So I seem to be in this boat: I think of artist, I consider women and why not. I think of song subject, for some reason words written and sung by men come to mind. Maybe it’s just that I’m a man so I “identify” more with the stated words of a man. I have no idea. But I’m here to rectify this as best I can right now.

Two of the many genres of music that I own too much of are the following: techno / trance / club (whatever the kids are calling it these days), and trip-hop / electro-soul / “this person sang on a Zero 7 album” kind of music. One thing these both have in common is that they feature almost exclusively female vocals. Sure there’s the odd Haddaway or Tricky, but that’s not the cream of the crop when it comes to those genres. For some reason, having a Martha Wash or Kirsty Hawkshaw wailing away on your techno track, or having Beth Hirsch or Lisa Gerrard crooning over your smoke-filled beats gives them a legitimacy and emotion than just having some guy trying his best to sound like one of these women. I love techno and trance and club music, I have a huge collection and have DJed plenty, so I know this to be true - a woman sings over a thumping beat and uplilfting keyboards, it can be stunning and rousing and beautiful. A guy singing and the best you can hope for is some gay anthem. And gay anthems are great, they occupy a wonderful place in our musical mundo, but here’s the problem - if a guy wants to just sing a real heartfelt emotional song over a club beat, there’s almost nothing he can do to avoid sounding like he’s going for a gay anthem. Really, there’s only a few songs I can think of that feature a man singing a dance song and it just seeming like a really cool song, not seeming like a really cool song by (and for) gay men. Underworld has pulled it off, as have BT and Paul van Dyk and Tiesto. But one of my favorite bands is Depeche Mode (the electro years, not the “hey look what I found, a guitar and heroin!” years), and after Vince Clarke left for Yazoo / Erasure very very early on, there’s no one gay making these songs. But I can understand my friends assuming that mssrs. Gahan and Gore must be gay. I don’t know what the definition is, you just know it when you hear it - even if it’s not true. Oh and all those Real McCoy and Snap! things with the guy talking / rapping and the hired Weather Girl singing really don’t count. So everyone else might as well be singing “What Is Love?” This is all just my opinion of course. I’d like to think it’s an informed opinion, but that’s me talking. For another informed opinion, I refer you to DJ Alex Paterson of the Orb, who once described the house music experience thusly (and I’m paraphrasing here), “It’s the first things you experience in this life - a bright light in a dark place, a woozy disorientation, the ecstacy of life and the positivity of everything ahead of you, against the sound of your thumping heartbeat and the cries of your mother. A woman screaming in passion over a thudding beat is where we all come from, and it’s what moves us all at a subliminal level on the dance floor”. Yeah I paraphrased a lot.

On to trip-hop, or whatever people are calling what Zero 7 continues to do so well. This genre was created around an ethereal female voice layered over spooky strings and hip-hop beats - people took what Soul II Soul wanted you to dance to, and evolved it into something for you to listen to. Portishead, Massive Attack, they wrote the new rulebook. And while the rules allow for some scratchy-voiced talk-rapping from Tricky here and there, men just shouldn’t sing over this stuff. Recent Zero 7 albums have been featuring more male vocals, but those are the tracks you skip over to get to the songs that sound like, well, Zero 7! Portishead did a remix of Paul Weller’s “Wildwood” which is great, but he’s the weakest link of the song. If it were a woman singing, the song would kick ass. So here on this playlist I’ve popped together some of my favorite trip-hop / electro-soul songs, none of which are older than the conception of the genre back fourteen years or so. I’ve included some rarities and remixes, just to keep things interesting. If you like this stuff, just look up Zero 7 on Amazon or wherever, click on all the links you can find, and it’ll take you to Tina Dico and Sia and all sorts of other beautiful places. I did it, and my life is richer because of it. Enjoy!

1. Portishead, “Numb (Remix)”

2. Sneaker Pimps, “Walk The Rain”

3. Massive Attack, “Sly (Remix)”

4. Lamb, “Gabriel”

5. Morcheeba, “Shoulder Holster”

6. Zero 7, “Speed Dial No. 2″

One last point: I find it odd to expect people to like music by different artists in different genres utilizing different types of lyrics and emotions, just because they all happen to be of the same gender. I don’t even like every song by my favorite band, let alone feel as if I should also like everything recorded by every other band that features male genitals, either on display or “hidden” behind a thin veil of leopard-skin spandex. I find it ludicrous to consider that I might enjoy or support or even care about everyone playing on the Warp Tour or on the Family Values Tour, just because they are of the same gender as myself. I do recognize that the Lilith Fairies raised awareness about “hey, here we are too, we are women musicians, hear us roar into these microphones”, but did they also expect everyone everywhere to put the message before the enjoyment, drop all taste and opinion, and just love everything that every artist on the tour ever did? I appreciated and supported the idea, but the idea, not necessarily the music. If I liked the artist and / or the song (Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” is one of my favorite songs, and I’ve enjoyed Paula Cole ever since her live stuff with Peter Gabriel), I still liked the artist and / or the song after all the streamers were re-wrapped around the Lily pole. If I didn’t like an artist and / or song beforehand, my taste didn’t change just because I appreciated and applauded the message of the tour.

And by the way, I also appreciate and applaud people like MC Lyte, Roxanne Shante, Dimples Dee, The Cookie Crew, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce, Antoinette, Traedonya, etc - for choosing to enter into what has become the epitome of a male-dominated, female-bashing musical genre. And they all did it back before there was any possibility of becoming stars, or even really successful. But they loved what they did, and fought for every inch of vinyl real estate they could grab - even to the point of battling and dissing each other mercilessly (just ask The Real Roxanne). Oh and I also appreciate and applaud everyone on the Kim Deal family tree. And everything Annie Lennox has ever graced with her presence. And all of Tegan and Sara and some of X and The Mekons. And ABBA and Boney M. And Imani Coppola and Princess Superstar. And Kate Havnevik and Anna Nalick, even if I get them mixed up all the time. And Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, even if I bemoan the fact that people seem to be responding more to their “oh my gosh, did you hear what she said?” first singles, and not the obvious talent on display. Hell, I even like the new stuff by Nelly Furtado and Gwen Stefani, two artists I gladly left behind after they saw some dollars and gladly left behind what I liked about them. Oh and Regina Spektor had by far my favorite album of last year. It added to my life, helped me get through some stuff (you know, female-related stuff…), and I’ll listen to it for the rest of my life. I like none of the above music because it’s recorded by a woman, just as I don’t like The Arctic friggin’ Monkeys just because they are men. Well, boys. I like and dislike music because it’s music that I like or dislike. It wouldn’t matter how hot Beyonce’ or Christina were if they didn’t possess between them the voices that will carry pop soul music well into the next decade. Eh to Joss Stone, she had her chance. And it doesn’t matter how hot or how gay Jared Leto is, or how much I truly appreciate his coming out so publicly through his music, screaming to the world that “this is who I truly am” - I can applaud all that and still not like his music. And he’s got the same genitalia as me, AND I might just be his type. Doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter that Dave Matthews… wait, does someone count as a man if his music has no balls? Let’s set him aside in the “other” category. As in the “I’d rather listen to anything OTHER than this” category. Anyway, the point is it’s about the music. In order for an artist to occupy a space on one of my meticulously, painfully, sacrificially scraped-down-to-26-minutes playlists, I’ve got to love what’s in the song and I don’t really care about what’s in the pants. End of rant. For now.

Download: Portishead, “Numb (Remix)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Sneaker Pimps, “Walk The Rain” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Massive Attack, “Sly (Remix)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Lamb, “Gabriel” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Morcheeba, “Shoulder Holster” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Zero 7, “Speed Dial No. 2″ (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: UNKLE Matt’s “Broad-Based Appeal” (XML playlist)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

You can also get the whole shebang in one handy-dandy ZIP file:

Download: “Broad-Based Appeal” (ZIP — SaveFile)
(Click here for download instructions)

I was in the middle of drafting a response to Kirstin’s challenge this month describing this great conversation Matt & I had a couple of weeks ago about some of the selection-topic-related reasons why women weren’t represented much in our last few playlists, when I realized that Matt had just done it rather eloquently himself in a comment on this month’s selection post. Read it to see where our heads be.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me focus on my list. Kirstin’s challenge was wide open to interpretation, and because there was just so much to choose from, I decided to narrow my focus to women who buck the “sensitive lady singer/songwriter” cliché and buck it hard. I’ve noticed myself listening to rock and punk bands with female singers & musicians more and more in the last few years — is it because they’ve always been out there and I’ve just overlooked them? or because more and more are cropping up as the rock world becomes more accepting of women? Probably a bit of both, but the trend in my listening isn’t a conscious decision at all: if it kicks ass, I will play it, and here are the most ass-kickingest of the recent crop:

1. Elastica, “Mad Dog”
   Elastica were a small part of the mid-90’s British invasion, scoring a couple minor UK radio hits with their self-titled debut. They flamed out after that ‘94 album, suffering from numerous lineup changes and the tabloid-fodder end of frontwoman Justine Frischmann’s romance with Blur/Gorillaz main man Damon Albarn. They resurfaced in 2000 with The Menace, a taut, experimental punk album that was one of the best records of that year. This is my favorite track from the album because it’s so unpredictable and fun: the guitars jerk and growl, Justine howls, and the tune is peppered with 8-bit bleeps and bloops. Fantastic stuff.
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Date With The Night”
   This Brooklyn-based art-punk trio made a big splash in 2003 with their MTV-friendly ballad “Maps,” but that song is an anomaly in their catalog: the heart of their debut Fever To Tell and their live shows is lead singer Karen O’s yelp and frantic energy. “Date With The Night” has become my favorite tune from the album: it’s a 2-ish minute shot of thundering punk that packs an even bigger whallop on stage. They make a racket that you can’t ignore.
3. The Donnas, “Too Bad About Your Girl”
   I didn’t really get The Donnas until I heard Spend The Night, which sounds like the soundtrack to an early 90’s teen movie as played by AC/DC. Big, juicy, classic-rock riffs dominate their upbeat punk sound, and their tunes are full of teenage hormones and high school social politics. It’s like a version of Dazed & Confused that I can tolerate.
4. Noisettes, “Don’t Give Up”
   Don’t you just love it when a band just instantly clicks for you? That’s the Noisettes for me. As soon as I heard the jerky opening blues riff of this tune and Shingai Shoniwa’s dynamic, gripping voice, I was sold. Their music sounds like a jazzier, (believe it or not) wilder take on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs art punk, and it’s impossible to resist Shingai’s zany charm.
5. Gemma Hayes, “Hanging Around”
   I first heard this song while walking around a Virgin Megastore in London, and I became an instant fan. The bulk of Hayes’ debut album Night On My Side is light, introspective folk-pop, but every once in a while she lets her hair down and really kicks out the jams, giving a few of the songs a soaring, muscular rock treatment. Her sophomore album, The Roads Don’t Love You (which never had a US release), is heavier on the folk and is probably truer to the nature of her sound, but songs like this are a nice reminder that sometimes the lady folkies like to kick some ass.
6. The Sounds, “Like A Lady”
   What is it with the Swedes and unbelievably catchy pop songs? No matter what the style — disco (ABBA), bubblegum (Ace of Base), indie (The Cardigans), garage (The Hives) — the Swedes make it work, and The Sounds are my favorite Swedish new wave export. Their tunes are amazingly hooky, and Maja Ivarsson’s got a charismatic voice and presence. This song is from their Blondie-inspired debut Living In America.
7. Universal Honey, “Any Road Back”
   I first encountered Universal Honey while in college — I was (don’t laugh) working security at a Goo Goo Dolls concert on campus, and they were the opening act. Talk about a hard act to follow: the songs they played were bouncy pop-rock and unbelievably catchy, and lead singer/guitarist Leslie Stanwyck had a charismatic-as-hell stage presence — I couldn’t take my eyes off of her the entire set. Before the Goos came on, I ran & grabbed a copy of their disc Earth Moon Transit from the merch table, and it was a regular fixture in my CD player for months. They were only a blip on the radar in their native Canada and they never broke in the US, but they’ve always been a private fave of mine. I’m not sure what happened to the band (their last album, Vicious Circles, came out in 2004), but every once in a while Earth Moon Transit and “Any Road Back” find their way into regular rotation on my iPod.
8. Scissor Sisters, “Tits On The Radio”
   Jake Shears gets the spotlight, but having seen the Scissor Sisters a few times in concert, I can safely say that singer Ana Matronic is the heart of the band. She’s sassy, she’s bawdy, she dresses like Miss Yvonne, and she’s the personification of fabulous. “Tits On The Radio” is one of the few songs where Ana grabs the mic for lead vocals, but it’s a fantastically sweaty, sexy shot of robotic electro.
9. Sahara Hotnights, “Who Do You Dance For?”
   Holy crap, more Swedes? Yup. Sahara Hotnights are the best pop-punk the country has to offer. They didn’t reinvent the wheel on 2004’s Kiss & Tell, but they did release one of the most consistent albums of that year. I dare you not to tap your foot along to the beat.

Enjoy the tunes!

Download: Elastica, “Mad Dog” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Date With The Night” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Donnas, “Too Bad About Your Girl” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Noisettes, “Don’t Give Up” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Gemma Hayes, “Hanging Around” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: The Sounds, “Like A Lady” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Universal Honey, “Any Road Back” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Scissor Sisters, “Tits On The Radio” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Sahara Hotnights, “Who Do You Dance For?” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Uncle Sam’s “Rock Out With No Cock Out” (XML Playlist)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

You can also get the whole shebang (har dee har har) as a ZIP archive:

Download: “Rock Out With No Cock Out” (ZIP)
(Click here for download instructions)

Okay, sprite raises a fair issue: there is a dearth of women in my playlists.

And I live with her, so she’s well aware that I have a lot of music by women in my collection.

But this challenge was really great, because it made me realize how much great music I have that features women: singing, rockin’ out on instruments, writing some great licks and lyrics. From punk to folk, rock to blues, country to jazz, I have a lot of great women in my collection.

So in this playlist, I give a sample of the women in my (musical) life. And it’s but a small sample.

1. “Hound Dog” - Big Mama Thornton
   Sure, Elvis made this song a hit, and he was credited with introducing a raw, raucous edge to the fledgling rock-and-roll sound. But when you listen to the original version of this song, from Big Mama Thornton, you’ll find that Elvis toned down the song quite a bit. Big Mama really throws herself at this song, and makes it sound like the kind of bad relationship song that it is: full of rage, hellfire and damnation.
2. “Won’t U Please B Nice” - Nellie McKay
   She’s charming, isn’t she? A young chanteuse from New York City (via the UK and many US cities), Ms. McKay has a clear vision for her work - one that has been both a blessing and a curse to her career. Her first album, Get Away From Me, was issued as a double-disc album to give a “side A/side B” flavor to her work. And while this won her acclaim from critics, her record label (Sony) wasn’t thrilled with the extra production cost. So when she wanted to release her sophomore album, Pretty Little Head, in a double-disc format, Sony put their foot down: one pared-down album or nothing. So Nellie bought out her contract and eventually issued the album on her own. I chose this song because it’s somewhat bipolar: the tune is jaunty, playful and upbeat, while the subject matter is very dark. Yup - yet another dysfunctional relationship song for this set.
3. “Landslide” - Fleetwood Mac
   Fleetwood Mac was simply a British blues band until the arrival of two Americans: Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The addition of two Yanks to the mix created the chemistry that brought forth Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, two mega-hit albums that defined the pop-rock sound of the late-1970s. Buckingham and Nicks were romantically involved prior to joining Fleetwood Mac (they broke up less than two years after they joined, during the Rumours sessions), and Lindsey wrote many songs for the unique voice of Nicks. Among the best is “Landslide,” which was recently a big hit for the Dixie Chicks. Well, to paraphrase Bono: “the Dixie Chicks stole this from Fleetwood Mac - and now the Mac is stealin’ it back!”
4. “Eddie’s Concubine” - Eddie From Ohio
   Yes, there is an “Eddie” in Eddie From Ohio (though Eddie Harkness is not from Ohio), but the vocal leader for this powerful folk-rock quartet is the incomparable Julie Murphy-Wells. Julie has a gift of a voice: powerful, jazzy and crystal-clear. When EFO performs the “Gospel Wake-Up Call” on the final Sunday of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Julie’s vocals are powerful enough to wake up the entire festival grounds - over 80 acres of people camping. I chose this song because it talks of a woman in an unfortunate situation - feeling like a concubine in her relationship - and finding a way out. Dig the harmonies and excellent acoustic guitar work on this fine “folkin’ excellent” track.
5. “Kiss Kiss Kiss” - John Lennon & Yoko Ono
   You could easily cut out the “John Lennon” credit on this song, because it’s 100 percent Yoko. From Lennon and Ono’s 1980 classic, Double Fantasy, this song is hook-laden and fun. Of course, there are some squeals from Yoko, but they actually serve a purpose during the solo break. And Yoko gets orgasmic in the song - yes, it’s a bit of a TMI moment, but it also works in the context of the song and the album. “Kiss Kiss Kiss” was the B-side to Lennon’s comeback hit, “(Just Like) Starting Over.” This is actually a Yoko song that doesn’t get fast-forwarded when it pops up on my iPod.
6. “Fucking Boyfriend” - The Bird & The Bee
   I was caught somewhat off-guard by The Bird And The Bee. I was initially thrown off by the vocal work of Inara George when I heard her perform “Again And Again” on Leno: she was going after really, really high notes, and hitting most of ‘em quite well. And the song had a hummable tune, if a very nonsensical lyric. So when the full album came out, I was interested in hearing what the rest of the songs held. Needless to say, I was hooked from the first song: George’s vocals and the retro-meets-mod keyboard work create a tasty sonic tapestry. “Fucking Boyfriend” is another great relationship song - not about a great relationship, but about the miscommunication that often happens amongst the single, swinging set. This song, in a remixed version, has been a big hit in dance clubs since late 2006.
7. “This Old House” - Loretta Lynn
   The coal miner’s daughter has seen her share of ups and downs over the years. But her latest studio album is definitely an up, due in large part to her collaborator, Jack White. White’s modern sensibilities dovetail perfectly with Lynn’s classic country and bluegrass style, and “This Old House” is a great little romp of a country tune.
8. “Call My Name” - Charlotte Church
   Remember Charlotte Church? You know, the teenager from Wales who set the classical music world atwitter with her performances of arias and other operatic endeavors? Okay, now toss aside that entire image from your mind. The Charlotte Church of today is a brassy, bratty young woman who chain smokes, hosts an entertaining music variety show on Channel 4 (UK), and sings catchy pop songs. When I first heard this song in 2005 over in the UK, I was completely taken aback: instead of operatic vibrato, there was sassy, note-perfect belting of songs. And then there’s the video, where Charlotte sheds the stage dresses for something…. more risqué, to say the least. The song is power pop, sure, but it’s catchy, good pop - and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Lemme tell ‘ya: I had a hard time narrowing down this list to the 25-minute limit. If I could’ve gone longer, songs by Joni Mitchell, The Pipettes, KT Tunstall, ABBA, Allison Krauss, Patty Smith, Janis Joplin, The Mamas & The Papas, Jefferson Airplane, Ani DiFranco and many, many more would’ve been in the running.

Download: “Hound Dog” - Big Mama Thornton (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Won’t U Please B Nice” - Nellie McKay (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Landslide” - Fleetwood Mac (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Eddie’s Concubine” - Eddie From Ohio (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Kiss Kiss Kiss” - John Lennon & Yoko Ono (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Fucking Boyfriend” - The Bird And The Bee (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “This Old House” - Loretta Lynn (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Call My Name” - Charlotte Church (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: “Double-X Chromosomes” playlist (xml)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

If you want it all and want it in a single file:

Download: “Double-X Chromosomes” (zip)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)