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The biker babes of Shaftdrive aren’t the only bad girls busting out the jams. Here’s a survey of rock’s dangerous women past and present.
Joan JettJoan Jett
From Jett’s early days as one-fifth of prefab girl band the Runaways through her phase as the Blackhearts’ leather-clad sex goddess leader, she set the standard for hardcore, no-bullshit chicks in rock. With Bikini Kill in 1994, Jett recorded Rebel Girl, anthem of the Riot Grrrl movement led by…
Kathleen HannaKathleen Hanna
Now heading up the nerdy lo-fi electronica/activist outfit Le Tigre, she raised hell in the 1990 outfit Bikini Kill. When rocker Mike Watt asked her to contribute to his Ball Hog Or Tug Boat album, she left a withering message on his answering machine that he sampled on the record. At Lollapalooza 1995, Hanna was attacked by…
Courtney LoveCourtney Love
Grunge’s crack whore waste case’s antics could fill volumes. But she’s not always destructive. Pre-Versace and lipo-makeover, she helped out with Rock For Choice, an organization founded by…
L7L7
Even fans of the punkers were grossed out at the Reading Festival when singer-guitarist Donita Sparks hurled a used tampon into the crowd, howling, “They threw mud, we throw blood!” Guitarist Suzy Gardner recently became the first female rocker to have her breasts cast by Cynthia Plaster Caster, best known for her casts of penises. Coincidentally, fake penises are essential to…
Tribe 8Tribe 8
This Bay Area queercore band castrates giant rubber dildos onstage as a cathartic ritual and makes noise about S/M, butch-femme dynamics and heteronormativity. Non-monogamy and sex are also big, as they are for…
Lil’ KimLil’ Kim
The potty-mouthed hiphop chick’s curses are rivalled only by her array of wigs and her next-to-nothing ensembles. The shooting that occurred right after Kim’s appearance at a NYC radio station last year was thought to be the result of her ongoing rivalry with fellow skank-rapper Foxy Brown, although her management denies the allegation. Maybe Kim should come clean, like…
Lisa “Left Eye” LopesLisa “Left Eye” Lopes
After teaching her boyfriend, NFL player Andre Rison, a lesson by torching his house, the TLC member was sentenced to hard time in the slammer. She also pissed off her bandmates via Entertainment Weekly, issuing a whose-solo-record-is-best challenge.
