VH1 recently released a revision of the 100 Greatest Women in Rock 'n Roll (now just Music, probably better since all the ladies were in different genres) and as Flavorwire pointed out, they made some odd choices. Not to say these particular ladies of music didn't earn their time in the sun, they worked hard and sold many records, heaven knows. Not bringing one down to celebrate another. That's not how we roll here.
I understand that the new list is a reflection of new trends and a crop of new, very talented people that are now staking their own claims in this tough and misogynistic world of music. But y'all, they threw a TON of the previous list under the bus. Where the f*** is Stevie Nicks? Etta James? Aretha Franklin is not there anymore! Not even Sheila E.! (My "I wanna break everything" moment was Tina Weymouth.) Maybe it makes sense that they changed the name of the list, so the two lists could exist together? Okay, so you wanna get specific? The 1999 list reflects that. Wanna get more broad? The 2011 list reflects that. I guess.
I got curious and counted both lists to see how many women of color were represented. The 1999 list had over 35 women, the new list only 27 (I may have missed some people, so please correct me if I'm wrong). While the 1999 list could've included more, it did somewhat a better job in the genre department. The Supremes over in Motown pop, Tracy Chapman in folk , Aretha Franklin with her gospel/rock blend, and Gloria Estefan with her take on Latin pop. The new list has some variation, but it has more pop than R&B or even folk.
So maybe the new list should be 100 Greatest Women in Pop, since damn, most of them could fit there. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not an excellent representation of genres. I guess you could argue that for the 1999 list, but you don't have to strain to find more than just a variation of pop.
Kathy from Her Five Dollar Radio also put together another problem with the list (and maybe the problem with the previous list too). God forbid that VH1 acknowledges any woman's contribution to the band she's in, let along she kicks ass at her instrument of choice. And as for the last paragraph of Kathy's excellent take-away from the list, it is amazing that people (not the writer, of course) still think that women have to be invited into the rock world, let alone bust in, do their thing, and let the guys just kindly deal with it; which a lot of the women from both lists have done. They had to break the rules in order to become who they are. And yet, there are so many limitations these musicians have to battle.
No, we haven't come a long way. We have a long way to go.
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