Sunday , June 13, 2010
nogoodforme IX: Best Solo Female Records
Herein we introduce our latest semi-regular feature, the nogoodforme IX -- a good old-fashioned list for your ADD-fueled lifestyle. Of course, we picked a doozy of a category to start with, and yes, we know we "forgot" a ton of people -- Patti! Joanna! Bjork! Nina Simone & Nastasia! -- but these are our favorites. Tell us yours!
Betty Davis, They Say I'm Different: The most empowering record of all time, especially when you bear in mind that the majority of its DUDES SUCK sentiment is directed at the supposedly forward-thinking and open-minded free-jazz pioneer Miles Davis. Immerse yourself in this ass-kicking feminist opus when in need of some serious strutting.
Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, Supa Dupa Fly: Hooks, jamz, a touch of surrealism and the BEST production ever, this always gets qualified as one of the most influential hip hop records by a female artist -- but we say any artist, because the sound on Supa Dupa Fly totally dominated radio for the next decade. Boss.
PJ Harvey, Rid of Me: Honestly, the whole Peej catalog could probably take over this entire list (and it was brutally hard to pick just one record of hers.) But ultimately Rid of Me is the one album that probably no one else in the world could even replicate in its uncompromising ferocity.
Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Mambo Nassau: If Paul Simon's Graceland, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, and a sippy-cup of frozen alcoholic lemonade had a wide-eyed baby daughter, it would be LMD's Mambo Nassau: how's that for an offer you can't refuse?
Madonna, Like a Prayer: One mega-sultry-yet-restrained Prince duet + one lost-classic divorce song + a few all-out heartbreakers + "Keep it Together" + that mondo bizarro closing track = our favorite Madonna album ever.
Sinead O'Connor, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got: All you need to know is "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance" is maybe the most gut-wrenching breakup jam ever written, and perfectly embodies this album's beautiful mess of high-drama and oh so quiet. (P.S. Oops, we totally forgot Bjork!)
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville: This album is chick lit-meets-conceptual-art: brainy, audacious, thoroughly pop, of its time and still totally classic, with devastating emotional candor rendered with wry, deadpan wit.
Judee Sill, Heart Food: It's so rare that an album title perfectly encapsulates the music it contains. Particularly awesome when you imagine Judee's lovey-dovey odes are about the ladies of nogoodforme.com rather than the Holy Trinity.
Mary Timony, Mountains: Every MT record is golden (especially, um, The Golden Dove), but her first post-Helium effort fulfills our lust for that guitar-god-meets-creepy-storybook-songstress thing in a really special way.
Tags: Betty Davis, forgetting Bjork, Judee Sill, Liz Phair, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Madonna, Mary Timony, Missy Elliott, PJ Harvey, Sinead O'Connor
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Posted by Kat, Liz and Laura in nogoodforme IX |
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8 Comments!!
Say something so insightful and witty, it will blow us away. (No pressure.)
Got something to say? We'd love to hear it! Name, email and "type in the weirdo drunken text" thingie are all required to comment; don't worry, we won't email you or anything, we just want to make sure you're not an evil spambot. Keeping in mind the good-times mentality we like to keep going here, we've worked hard to keep NOGOODFORME.COM as fun as possible. We welcome all kinds of comments, but insults/abuse/general bitchery are not tolerated. In other words, we put the smackdown on evil troll posts. If you want to be a hater, please go elsewhere. Now, as Salt 'N Pepa say, "Only the sexy people..."
i'm justifying the lack of patti by arguing that those early records were techincally 'the patti smith group' and therefore don't count as solo outings. there; now i can sleep at night.
does cat power count as a band too?
By Liz
on September 30, 2008 7:02 PM
yeah, let's count her as a band. or her own category! i really thought about swapping out liz phair for cat power's 'you are free,' but then that felt like a world of wrong.
By Kat
on September 30, 2008 7:46 PM
you covered it in the introduction, but i must cast a vote for joanna newsom's "ys." incomparable!
By juliet small ernst on September 30, 2008 10:39 PM
i know, we totally should have had 'ys' in here. there's nothing like it! i think i rationalized it by telling myself that it was way more than a mere 'record.'
By Kat
on October 1, 2008 12:12 AM
annie lennox's diva and marianne faithful's broken english
By ashleydc on October 1, 2008 1:19 PM
Oh yeah, Broken English! That's a really good point, ashleydc.
By Laura
on October 1, 2008 3:38 PM
Does Jenny Lewis count even if she had the Watson Twins backing her on her first solo effort? If so, Jenny Lewis should definitely be counted. That live show totally changed my life, all gold dresses, duwop groups and cowboy boots.
By lauren on October 7, 2008 4:55 PM
Rid of Me is supposed to be credited to PJ Harvey as a band, right, not solo....
some other faves could be Stevie Nicks's "Bella Donna," Karen Dalton's "In My Own Time," Joni Mitchell's "Hejira," the only Linda Perhacs album, "Parallelograms"... and any and all Kate Bush, ever.
By Kaye on October 10, 2008 4:00 PM