New Wave Outpost Forum

by **guyinsf** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:40 am

How would you rate all the NW ladies in terms of influence, talent, popularity and just overall greatness. I'm just curious to see where they stand and who we all admire. I'm just naming some obvious ones to get this started, in no particular order:

chrissie hynde, kate bush, the b-52's girls, tina weymouth, terri nunn, go go's, patti smith, kim wilde, siouxsie soux, the slits, joan jett (if she's even NW), nina hagen, lena lovich, bananarama, debbie harry, bangles, allison moyet, anabel lwin, etc.

by **Frau_Blucher** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:49 am

1. Patti Smith - the godmother
2. Debbie Harry - put the music on the map
3. Chrissie Hynde - brought grit to the masses
4. Siouxsie Sioux - the pioneer and constant

The others don't rate in this crowd by a longshot IMHO, athough I love 'em all.

by **Sean** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:51 am

When you talk about vocals, you really can't beat Alison Moyet. When it comes to influential, I think Debbie Harry's kind of led the way for all the females.

by **guyinsf** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:54 am

Sean, you are right on with Alison Moyet's voice, hers is probably the best in NW and one of the best of any genre, very underrated singer in my opinion! I also agree with you about Debbie harry's being probably the most influential.

by **WolverineSyr** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:36 am

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>1. Patti Smith - the godmother
2. Debbie Harry - put the music on the map
3. Chrissie Hynde - brought grit to the masses
4. Siouxsie Sioux - the pioneer and constant

The others don't rate in this crowd by a longshot IMHO, athough I love 'em all.
[/quote]

There's my list too. Can't say anything more!

I just saw that Blondie is a nominee to the RnR Hall of Fame for this year, and Patti Smith Group is again nominated.

by **birdmadgirl** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:52 am

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>1. Patti Smith - the godmother
2. Debbie Harry - put the music on the map
3. Chrissie Hynde - brought grit to the masses
4. Siouxsie Sioux - the pioneer and constant

The others don't rate in this crowd by a longshot IMHO, athough I love 'em all.
[/quote]

I'd have to agree with you! [:)]

by **Frau_Blucher** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:06 am

I might have to cave and give my 5th spot to Moyet just on voice alone. I could watch the "Nobody's Diary" video over and over again. She's entrancing.

by **WoodlandParkPunk** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:25 am

I'll go with Annie Lennox, Kate Pierson, Dale Bozzio, Wendy O' Williams. All talented, unique and pioneers.

by **WolverineSyr** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:42 am

If we're talking about influence, I'll add Nico to the list. While I don't care for her music, I can't deny that she originated that cool, detached & beautiful style that was popularized by so many others.

I also want to mention Cherry Vanilla. While Patti Smith & Debbie Harry get a lot of recognition for the NY scene, Cherry was there before them doing the wild, sexy, somewhat crazy punk woman thing. You can hear a lot of her influence in Blondie's first album.

by **guyinsf** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:00 am

I guess most people credit Patti Smith as the first of the lady punks and consider her the godmother of the NY scene and they always think of her as the one that "started"the scene. I think what should really be said is that Patti Smith was the first to get recognized but I don't really buy the argument that she influenced Debbie Harry or others who started at the same time as her. The reason being, before blondie, Debbie was already in the NY scene for several years before Blondie's 1st album with a couple of previous bands (Stilletoes being one of them) and her Blondie persona and sound evolved from that. Around this time, or maybe just a tad later, the Runaways started to form so this period from the early 70's to mid, there were several girls on the scene doing their stuff. It wouldn't be fair to say one influenced the other or one came before the other cuz that's like saying the Ramones influenced Television and that's not true. Maybe more correctly, they all sort of influenced each other. As for Cherry Vanilla, she wasn't really a full fledged performer, she was Bowie's publicist, part time performer, just a general person on the scene going back and forth from the UK to NY so I don't really know what kind of influence she could have had on Debbie. She did hang out with the same people but Debbie had been in bands since the early 70's and the same with the runaways, although those girls were a bit more "manufactured" among the early punk acts.

by **WolverineSyr** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:30 am

I mentioned Cherry Vanilla because I think she is a forgotton influence on the whole scene, which often happens to female performers. I find many similarities in Blondie's demos to Cherry's "Bad Girl" album. Granted that's my opinion & what my ears hear.

Allmusic has a pretty detailed biography of her.

I think the whole scene was reciprocal anyways - people hung together, played together, traded ideas, etc.

by **schwenko** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:09 am

you can't forget Grace Slick- she led the way for the women; you might not call her new wave, but she would have been if she was born 10-15 years later. In a way psychedelia was the 60s version of new wave.

by **geoffolehane** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:57 am

I'm surprised no one mentioned The Runaways or the Bangles. They were pioneers in their own way.

by **danadotcom** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:06 pm

The only New Wave/Punk chick for me is Nina Hagen. And perhaps Grace Jones. Nina is one of the true originals. No one before, no one since. She was never just a fashion statement--she actually believes in herself as a divine artistic being. Grace, although cut from a similar fabric, has just gone off the deep end.

by **JeffK** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:10 pm

I pretty much agree with most of the choices and I'd like to add Polly Styrene from X-Ray Spex. A role model for girls everywhere. She showed that you didn't have to rely on sex appeal to project a strong image.

New Wave Outpost Forum

Rating the NW Ladies...Not on Sexiness

Rating the NW Ladies...Not on Sexiness

Who is online