COVER STORY: SHE WHO SHREDS
As we head into a brand new decade, Australian Guitar takes a look back at some of the most influential riff-splitters of the last four. This isn’t the end-all, be-all, definitive list of the greatest women in rock and beyond – rather, our celebration of the ones that we think have had the biggest and most notable impact on the instrument that drives the genre.
As we step into a brand new decade, we can all agree that guitar music has had many faces, many trends, and many, many instrumental musicians (pun unintended, but we’ll embrace it) over the last few. “Why not take a look at the faces that have shaped guitar music over the last four decades or so?” we thought. And when we did, we realised something: while the guitar is typically seen as a ‘ masculine’ instrument (and, we’ll admit,
Australian Guitar is not exempt from having given men an unfairly extended time in the spotlight), a great many of its most talented, most daring and most memorable rulers are women.
And before you think about it, no, this isn’t a socio-political exposé into gender equality in the music industry – though we very much welcome the attention such topics are receiving of late. Rather, it’s a general overview of just how many women in music have been ripping up the scene, terrorising the transition of genres, and generally running amok just as fervently as their male counterparts. Because the fact that discussions about women in music are in vogue does not mean their presence in music is a recent trend. Chicks rock, and they’ve rocked for as long as we can tell.
If you love the guitar – hell, if you love music in general – you’re bound to love at least one of the women included in this list. These lady legends were among several pilgrims of the genres that shaped these decades, doing as much as (and sometimes more than) the fellas to bend, break, twist, and create sounds on the guitar that would inspire future generations to pick up where they left off. This here is proof of a domino effect. You might have heard of some of them, and you might just find your new favourite guitarist among them. Whatever happens, we think you’ll agree their music is well worthy of discussion.
It’s the core of indie-rock, punk, pop, shred guitar, glam metal and all those tast y little subgenres in between: guitar music knows no limits, no labels, and certainly no expiration.
We begin in the 1980s, where after the advent of musicians like Eric Clapton, Susie Quatro and Jimi Hendrix, the guitar continued to enjoy a massive spike in popularity. It sat alongside the trending dance-pop and post-disco boom in a decade whose experimentations in sound were as daring as its ones in fashion. Rock music got a real overhaul, effects pedals as big as the hairdos. Guitar music was palatable, flexible, and downright exciting to hear.
People’s tastes in music took a relatively quick twist in the ‘90s, where grunge ruled supreme and a plaid shirt or crushed velvet dress were the staple uniforms for those that held a guitar between their hands. This decade also saw a rise in chicks who rocked, both on the guitar and on the microphone. Alanis Morrisette, The Breeders, L7, and 4 Non Blondes offered just a mere snapshot of the brilliant urban rhythms produced by the gals that penned the soundtrack of a decade of recessions and baggy jeans.
Emo and nu-metal ruled at the turn of the century. Sure, you might think of My Chemical Romance, Silverchair and the like, but chicks were doing a lot for their scene, too. These were the years of unprecedented passion and soul-baring anthems; the advent of the internet meaning charts and trends took off and changed faster than you could change the strings on your Strat.
Crashing quickly into the 2010s, we’ve seen many different trends shape the recent years. Metalcore, blues-rock, Taylor Swift when she was a “guitarist”… It’s all been happening. We’ve been given the gifts of the likes of Larkin Poe, Nili Brosh, Courtney Cox and so many more. Such has been the diversity of this decade that we’re left in high anticipation about what the future will bring to guitar music, and what further accolades the ladies will achieve.
And now we wonder: what will the guitar sound like in the 2020s? We wait with baited breath…