Women in Punk Rock

Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Viv Albertine, Siouxsie Sioux, Poly Styrene and Pauline Black
Photo credit Michael Putland

In the late 70's, when punk bands like the Ramones, The Clash, and The Sex Pistols were making waves with a new kind of rock, women musicians and vocalists jumped on board. Punk music, being inherently anti-establishment, was a perfect fit for outcast female musicians who had more of a fuck you attitude than a hopelessly-devoted-to-you one. Women began to start their own bands, whether they knew how to play an instrument or not, and the punk girl movement began.

There has always been a great argument over what was punk and what was poseur, but so many bands from that era were either influenced by or emulated that sound - raw, un-honed guitar, simple drum beats, and vocalists who weren't concerned with carrying a tune - and evolved the sound into what was eventually known as new wave, goth, and alternative,

The women who screamed their way to the top of the punk charts - Chrissie Hynde, Poly Styrene, and Wendy-O Williams just to name a few - may not have had women's rights in mind when they did it, but their fearless, in your face music and attitudes gave a lot of girls who grew up in that era role models that didn't fit into the pretty-lady role. We were hearing from feminists that we could do whatever we wanted, and were hearing from punk musicians that we have to take what we want, courtesy be damned. We could be suit-wearing CEOs or jeans and leather wearing artists, and if there was no respect there, fuck you.

Musicians as diverse as Siouxsie Sioux, Bjork, Kim Deal, and the members of the GoGo's all came out of the punk movement, and paved the way for women like Ani DiFranco, Alanis Morrisette, Gwen Stefani, Amy Winehouse and more. They helped move women in rock - as well as women who just listen to rock - into a new arena where they could be as bad as they want to be.

There are a couple of great sites out there paying homage to women in punk - check them out. Punk 77 blog has an amazing outline of prominent female musicians, and The F Word has a fantastic four part series you won't want to miss (parts 1, 2, 3 and 4).