Where have all the girl rockers gone?

Being born in the late 80’s gives me the disadvantage of knowing what true rock-n-roll music is. I grew up in the time where pop music was making its mark along with rap music. I know that pop and rap have been around longer than the 80’s but when I was growing up, that was what the radio stations where mainly playing.

Maybe it’s in the way I grew up or maybe it is just my taste in music, but I need to ask the question: Where have all the girl rockers gone?

I’m not talking about Pink, Hillary Duff, Kelly Clarkson or even Avril Lavigne, I’m talking about the girls from Heart, Joan Jett, Blondie and Pat Benatar. The girls that actually did what they sang out, the girls that actually had something to sing about. None of this “sk8ter” (what is up with that spelling, too?) crap, but actual music.

Yes, some of the girls mentioned, that I don’t like, play an instrument; but have they really had that great of an impact on the music scene as those girls that have come before them?

Even the remarkable Aretha Franklin had more gumption and empowerment than the now-a-days “soul singers.”

Rock music is the array of instruments blended together with a sensational singer to tie into a song that speaks to the masses of the world.

I do feel sorry for the younger generation of girls. They don’t fully know the concept of what it means to have real “girl power.” Not the Spice Girls, not the Pussycat Dolls, but the Go-Go’s, and the Bangles.

Songs that have to do about stealing another woman’s man, or about dipping it
low, and bringing it up slow, don’t really give the message that younger girls need to respect themselves.

Music can have a big impact on our lives, in a negative way or a positive way. So when songs come out on the radio about pleasing your man or making it ok to be an adulteress, it doesn’t give the best impression on the younger girls of our society.

Now, let me state that there are some girls out there that can really rock out and give an inspirational message at the same time.

The band Flyleaf, though not a full girl band, has the lead singer Lacey Mosley, who gives out a haunting tone to a new world perspective.

The band In This Moment’s lead singer, Maria Brink, brings new enlightenment to the spark of the empowerment of women in the society of music.

Perhaps we just aren’t ready to have motivating women back onto the music scene. But all I can say is that we need more role models to the younger generation of girls. Younger children are influenced by celebrities, and since this is the case, we need to have encouraging women showing them the endless possibilities the world has to offer them.

Posted in Opinion