I'm hoping mods will create a Music Circle soon. I saw some posts pushing for a Music Circle in the Circles circle and it seems the way to get the powers-that-be to create a new circle is to hype a topic up around ovarit, so here goes my cynical ass trying to be the change.

I wanted to start a thread of your favorite songs of rage written and performed by female artists.

Here's some of mine:

1. Precious Things - Tori Amos (From Little Earthquakes, a masterpiece and milestone for women's voices in music. Any other Tori fans in da house?! I pretty much worship 90's Tori's 90 and would be stoked to find fellow fans here. Definitely the most personally important feminist and musical icon for me. I haven't agreed with (or understood) everything she's had to say in terms of her views on womanhood but goddamn, the woman's art is beyond brilliant.)

2. Battle Ready - Otep (Okay, i realize nu-metal with female growl vox isn't everyone's cup of tea but i fucking love me some Otep. Also, i recently read that a woman Otep dated was friends with Marilyn Manson's wife, Lyndsay, who would call crying in the middle of the night, scared for her life because Manson was threatening her. Otep apparently offered to let Lyndsay stay at her house because Manson was actually terrified of Otep, but Lyndsay never left Manson.)

3. The Eagle Flies Alone - Arch Enemy (Melodic death metal with even heavier, harshier growls than Otep. I never tire of this song--love the riffs and i fucking love Alyssa White-Gluz's voice.)

4. M.P.D.B. (Manic Pixie Dream Bitch) - Sharptooth (Super kickass female-fronted feminist hardcore band. The song closes with Lauren Kashan gutterally growling, "How do you like me now?")

5. Red Football - Sinead O'Connor (Okay, back to the singer-songwriter stuff. Starts off with a child's chant, goes into plaintive singing, the song builds and builds, and it ends in utter savagery. As I interpret it, "red football" is a reference to toxic masculinity and abuse of animals, children, and women.)

6. Mississippi Goddamn - Nina Simone (Written in 1963 after four Black girls were blown up in church in Birmingham, AL by white supremacists. She actually felt ready to "make myself a gun"--she was so angry she was ready to kill, but her husband (who also was her manager, and also was an abuser who beat her) told her to channel her rage into her music instead, and that's how Mississippi Goddamn was born. That was her entry into engagement with the civil rights movement. There's an excellent documentary on her life, "What Happened, Miss Simone" on Netflix if anyone's interested.)

7. Dear God - Sarah McLachlan (Okay, it's a cover of an XTC song but Sarah absolutely kills it, she starts off heartbroken and is absolutely seething in a righteous rage by the end. I'm pretty sure it's the only song i've heard her rage in and it's incredibly powerful.)

8. Not A Pretty Girl - Ani DiFranco (Well, she sings "I am not an angry girl" but she is pissed in this song. This is one of the most empowering songs i know of and one my favorite songs ever.)

9. Shitlist - L7 (Because sometimes it feels good to just rage to 90s old school riot grrrls.)

10. I Don't Give a Fuck - Bo$$ (And sometimes it feels good to rage to 90s old school non-misogynistic female "gangsta rap.")