Melissa Etherige always references Bruce Springsteen,

[hickman]

K.D. Lang always references Roy Orbison, why doesn't anybody ever reference Ann Wilson? Everyone knows Nancy's voice. She has always been up there with Janice and and Grace. Why isn't Ann given her just due? Watch this and tell me why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcAn3z7D1Pc&mode=related&search=

[idgiehkt]

1. She's one of the best female rock singers ever

Got me through my childhood. Nancy sang lead on exactly one song, "These Dreams", and only because her boyfriend (Bernie Taupin) wrote the lyrics and she threw a hissy fit over getting to sing that song. Ann is a power house, she has either three or four octaves in her voice and their live stuff is unbelievable... not only that but her singing seems so effortless.

Heart was given so much shit for being a Led Zepplin rip off, instead of looked at as a good solid hard rock band in it's own right. I remember a critic from back then saying "Take Robert Plant and Jimmy Page and endow them with mammaries, and you have the essence of Heart". Well, not everyone has to be Led Zepplin to have a legitimate place in rock history...their songs have as much or more substance as the Stones' did, and it isn't an insult to be compared to Zeppelin; lots of bands tried that same sound. But Ann and Nancy not only got shit from the media, but from Mike and Roger Fisher, who referred to them as 'front women' for the band. They fired Roger (the lead guitar) and both sisters ended their relationships with the brothers and that kind of signified the end of Heart, at least for me. I bought a couple of their albums in the 80's but to me they just kind of sucked, same thing happened to Jefferson Airplane in the 80's...what were they supposed to sing now? Then Roger Derosier (the drummer) and Steve Fossen (? on the name, the bass player) left and it went further down-hill. During that time Ann gained weight, and for some reason white women with big voices are not allowed to be fat in rock-n-roll. It is weird because it is okay for someone like 'Retha or Patti Labelle to carry a few extra pounds, but they beat the hell out of Ann for her weight gain, despite her having one of the most powerful female voices rock has ever seen, and she can *still* belt em out just as good. It was heart-breaking the way she was treated. I remember one of their songs, I think from Private Audition which was the first without Fisher, some radio dj took that song and dubbed in someone singing over it ribbing Ann for her weight gain with lyrics like "I'm huge, I'm a cow", etc. The truth is that Ann actually had the pipes that Janis would have killed for.

I am glad they are touring again because they contributed so much to rock 'n' roll. It's nice to see women like Joan Jett and Debbie Harry and Stevie Nicks getting their due, and Ann Wilson is right up there with them. I think the decision to change their sound in the 80's kind of 'vanished' them...but then I know people who like those softer 80's songs. I like the hard ones where Ann goes full-tilt with her voice; she does the best version of "Unchained Melody" I have ever heard, and the band does an amazing cover of Zeppelin's "Rock 'n' Roll". The End. :)

Thanks for posting about my favorite singer, I adore this woman.

[hickman]

2. Lol, unfortunatly I'm betting the critic meant it as a compliment.

I remember a critic from back then saying "Take Robert Plant and Jimmy Page and endow them with mammaries, and you have the essence of Heart"

In the 70's that's what passed for a compliment about girls trying to rock.

[hickman]

3. Oh for the love of Mike, I got them mixed up.

Crap. I meant Nancy Wilson. On guitar. Sorry. Sometimes I think I'm too old to be posting here.

This is Nancy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcAn3z7D1Pc&mode=related&search=

[idgiehkt]

6. okay, this is making more sense to me now

you can still edit. :)

yes, that intro, I think it's "silver wheels", is beautiful.

[hickman]

18. I went out for a few minutes, and I can't edit now.

I screwed up. No redemption.

[idgiehkt]

4. I wish.

He was saying they had no originality to their sound and their only draw was their tits. I honestly think Ann's voice scared people... and her persona too, because it was obvious she was always a rock singer in a band, unlike Stevie Nicks who had her own thing going. It's a huge injustice for me that her voice is not more respected, since everybody damn well loves their songs like Barracuda, Crazy on You, Straight On (my favorite), Heartless, Magic Man, etc; those are all rock classics.

[progressoid]

8. Robert Plant wishes he could belt it out like Ann.

But I wonder if Ann's vocal similarity to Janice is a ultimately a drawback. Janice set the bar pretty high.

[idgiehkt]

10. I don't think

that their voices are that similar. Ann's voice is so smooth and polished and just huge and effortless, and it took every ounce of everything Janis could muster to do what she did, which still sounds like a bunch of screaming unless you listen to the early blues greats that she was trying (but failing, honestly) to emulate. She had a unique vocal delivery because she wasn't capable of doing with her voice what she really wanted to do, like I don't think she had very much vibrato in her voice at all, whereas Ann had no problems with that, everything seemed to be pretty easy for her.

[misanthrope]

13. Joan's kept her rock 'tude...

...but Stevie's lost a lot and Debbie seems to be pretty much a burn out now.

I'd say Ann's fared pretty well with her talent.

[mitchum]

16. Deborah Harry really never had much of a voice to lose...

I enjoyed Blondie, but I have to agree with my wife when she said, "The only reason Blondie is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is because they used those filthy bathrooms at CBGB"
Fun, but inconsequential act.

[misanthrope]

20. Different strokes...

....I'll take "Shayla," "Dreaming," "Union City Blues," or "Atomic" over anything Heart did. Not saying Debbie's voice was "better," just that their music appealed to me more. Their quasi-punk/new wave 'tude was a welcome relief to the bombastic arena rock Led Zeppelin personified and Heart embraced.

When I watched "Almost Famous" the first time, all I kept thinking was, "Thank God CBGB came along."

But whatever it was Debbie had, it's long gone...

[mitchum]

21. I also dug Blondie rather than Heart...

and I think "Parallel Lines" is a particularly good record, but when you stack Blondie up against the other "CBGB acts" (Television, Patti Smith Group, Richard Hell & The Voidoids,Ramones, Talking Heads), Blondie just seems rather lightweight (a pretty woman with a limited voice fronting a pop group)

[misanthrope]

22. Agreed**nm

**

[idgiehkt]

26. I love "Dreaming" and "Atomic"

I love Debbie Harry because she was so aware of her sexuality and so possessed of it; something incredibly rare. Like she had humility, unlike Madonna, who threw it in your face...it's hard to put into words, she had it but she knew she had it, and she'd laugh in your face for being affected by it and by thinking you'd put anything over on her.

I do like the self-awareness of Blondie in comparison to Heart, you are right, the arena rock is hard to take seriously sometimes. But the earnestness of the songs about Ann being a young girl and meeting Mike Fisher (Magic Man, Crazy on You) and the songs about how it feels to be a young girl or young woman (White Lightning and Wine, Little Queen, etc) are so honest that they touched a chord with a lot of women who grew up listening to them. Maybe it was lost on the men who listened or the music critics but so much of what they expressed, burgeoning female sexuality, was very rare in rock back then, and Ann sang about it with such power.

[driver8]

27. I was just telling my wife today that I had a crush on both Ann and Nancy Wilson

when I was a kid. Look at the cover of the album "Little Queen" and tell me they aren't hot!!

Not only that, but Ann's singing and Nancy's guitar playing are absolutely spectacular!!

I wasn't a big fan of their 80's stuff, either...but I'm glad to see them still going strong.

[idgiehkt]

28. I love that album cover

I can remember the gypsy wagon in the background and the either hairbrush or mirror nancy is holding. I wanted to be a gypsy someday and run around wild like the girl in the song "Kick it out"

kick out your motor and drive
while you're still alive
kick it OUT!

well here:

[mitchum]

5. She is a really really good singer, but I never cared for her band

[idgiehkt]

7. why not?

:evilgrin:

[mitchum]

9. Mmmm...how do I phrase this tactfully?

"gettin' down in the parking lot 70s big rock"
Then again, so was Aerosmith. And it is unfair that they are accorded "classic" status while Heart does not receive the same respect.
Ann Wilson is an incredibly talented singer.

[idgiehkt]

12. you are right.

But I think that Roger Fisher's guitar licks in some songs are classic, too. But the guys in that band were kind of emasculated or something by having females playing with them back then. Something weird happened with that whole dynamic, probably because Ann scared people, she's kind of like a banshee. When I watch the youtube videos she sings like a tornado or some force of nature but she doesn't even break a sweat, it's kind of unnerving for me to watch. Yeah, Heart has some songs that should be classics like "Dream On"...then again, Aerosmith didn't really sell out like both Heart and Jefferson Airplane did with that icky "We built this city" kind of music (most of that stuff from Heart's 80's albums is far worse than that, even), so maybe once you go that way, you can never return to respectability. :(

[mitchum]

14. IIRC, they did make those guys wear that Robin Hood drag...

while Renaissance faire stuff can look good on women, it usually makes a guy look (and feel) like a complete ass :)
Also, the others will always resent the front man or front woman (that's a rockandroll verity)
Then factor in the romantic relationships in that band. That generally doesn't lead to long time peace and productivity. Although Dusty and Billy in ZZTOP eventually started seeing other people (yes, as incredible as that sounds, it's true)and were able to continue playing with each other.
I would have liked to see her singing in another context, but then she probably wouldn't have been playing in stadiums.

Patti Smith was a woman singing powerful incantatory rockandroll for me at the time (and she still is)

I think Aerosmith did really sellout after their comeback. Pretty wretched stuff. Equally wretched was the seeming expectation that we were supposed to applaud their earning back of their mansions, sports cars and trophy wives. It's my understand that in AA there are no "atta boys!" allowed or expected, but maybe rock star 12 step programs are different.

[idgiehkt]

15. lol

Like the cover of "Little Queen". I just saw a video from the 70's where Steve Fossen was wearing some weird kind of strappy leather halter that was cut just below his nipples, he did look ridiculous, I couldn't even finish watching the video.

:rofl:

I also noticed just now watching some videos that the songs were almost too small for her voice, I wonder what she could have done if she'd been playing slower, more bluesy songs (which is why I love her version of unchained melody).

Yep, there is only one Patti Smith.

What you said about the guys in ZZ Top just blew a sprocket in my head, lol. :rofl:

[mitchum]

17. The ZZTOP thing is not the kind of thing one makes up and expect...

others to believe. I have it on good authority from someone who worked with them.
Adds an interesting subtext to a number of their songs, doesn't it?

[idgiehkt]

25. It's delicious.

I just love knowing this, I only wish that they were 'out' at the time. Gay teens need role models of all different stripes. It's like that scene in Rock Star where the lead singer ends up being gay. I love finding out stuff like this.

[hickman]

19. I think the "guys" were emasculated because the "Band"

was a couple of girls. Nancy and Ann. This was not Rock. Girls don't get to sing loud unless they have Paul Kantner and Jack Casady making the real music behind them. The girls should have just written the songs and let the real rockers, Mike and Roger front the band. I totally agree.

[idgiehkt]

24. they were emasculated by the music media

Mike Fisher was the manager of the band, not a musician. It sounds to me like not only did Ann and Nancy have sexism coming from within the band, from the musicians, but also from the music media. The band wasn't taken seriously by the critics because of the presence of the women. I think the songs were a collaborative effort. What is really strange to me is that Fleetwood Mac didn't suffer the same fate. Probably because their music was not as hard. Of course the early stuff was, and still with songs like "Oh Well" and others, they still did have hard songs but they weren't known for them. But their band as a whole wasn't disrespected because of the presence of Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie. Probably without Stevie Nicks Fleetwood Mac would not be nearly so well-known. I'm not sure what went wrong there, but I know it was the music media that shrugged them off, which was unfair.

[misanthrope]

11. Damn, I never noticed...

...the resemblance between '70s-era Ann and Janine Turner in her Northern Exposure days until now.

[Orsino]

23. "Crazy On You" may be the finest female rock performance ever.

Yeah, Heart were pretty dippy, even back when they still remembered how to rock, but damn--that woman could sing.