• Millie Jackson

  This soul singer has not only a great voice, but she also isn't afraid of telling what she thinks about life, love, sex, friendship, honesty. I recommend the songs "Fuck you symphony"; "Young man older woman" in which she speaks about loving a younger man in spite of what people think; "Slow tongue" speaking about sex in her usual uncensored way; "Be a sweetheart" ("I think all sweethearts should be an asshole at least once in their life..."); "This is it" in which she speaks about an unemployed husband who refuses to do housejobs while his wife is working hard all day long; and many others.

• Nikka Costa - Album: "Everybody got their something"

  This powerful-sounding sister packs a LOT of soul in her singing and lyrics. Probably known best for her song, "Like a feather", she has some very tasty music on her CD. Though she's only a 20-something her lyrics speak like an older wiser woman speaking from a place of hindsight about life:

  "I am a woman with a mission and a past to outdo.
  I don't need a gun I'v got a microphone and a melody or two.
  Just like the earth has spent a thousand years making up for what we do, so have I for you."

• Oumou Sangare - Albums: Ko Sira (1993), Moussolou (1989), Worotan (1996)

  A Malian Wassalou pop star, her voice is rich and real. Her lyrics are outspoken, assertiveand politically charged--they often speak of the way women are treated, particularly in Africa, and warn about polygamous marriage. She stands up for womens' rights. She leads her own band of men in a culture where a bride is worth "Ten Kola Nuts" (The translation of 'Worotan').

• Emily Remler, jazz guitarist

  A virtuoso guitar player and brilliant improviser, with no interest whatsoever in the marketing of sexual personae. It will thus be known that she did not "rock", if rocking means banging one's head up and down to give the boy-troglodytes a run for their money. Babes in Toyland may have been cool. Emily Remler was a genius.

• "Kim Stockwood" - for the song, "You Jerk!":

  Sometimes I wish I'd mailed you that letter
  that says the things I dare not say,
  instead I set the thing on fire,
  I had to say this out loud anyway.
  How I've waited for this day,
  when I can finally say,
  YOU JERK!
  You are such a Jerk!
  

• "The Poison Girls w/ Vi Subversa" - Aside from having the coolest nom de guerre of any female rocker EVER, Vi Subversa's Poison Girls were wailing out riot grrl anthems on albums like "Seven Year Scratch" when this latest batch of bytches with axes were in their dydees. Now in her 60s, Vi deserves a permanent place in the Bitch Hall of Fame for pushing the envelope with songs that explode the Mad Housewife image ("Jump Mama Jump"), romantic love ("I Wanted the Moon"), fascism ("Piano Lessons") and even the seemingly inevitable burnout of the perpetual activist. "I'm tired of crying/for the underprivileged/ the blacks/the women/ or even black women."

• "Koko Taylor" - The queen of Chicago blues. With songs like "Evil," "I Can Love You Like a Woman (or I Can Fight You Like a Man)," "I Don't Care No More," and too many more to list. No self-pity in these blues. "Manic Street Preachers" - They're more like women than most of the female artists here! If you listen to any of their earlier stuff you'll find they're pretty heartless (not without reason) and you'll find a good few with something feminist in them. Songs like "Little Baby Nothing" and "Born a Girl". They look like women and hate the world!

• "Snapcase" - This is an all male hardcore band that's songs are about finding your own path and the never ending quest for education and learning. Their songs about women focus on themes like: saving themselves from abusive relationships, not buying into the medias idea of how we should look, and how strong we are. Their songs about relationships are about commitment and mutual respect.

  They also have songs telling men about the power and intellegence of women and how they could stand to change a few things.

  and she will teach us
  and make some changes
  but we don't learn a thing
  we can't see her
  we can't see her
  we can't see her
  but we'll own her??!
  

  I think these guys are in full support of the heartless bitches everywhere. Not to mention that their message is pretty damn good in general

• "the She-Devils" - album: the Drugtrash Demos - Founders of the genre: !Cuntcore! Includes bios, photo gallery of live performances, mp3s, etc... Badgrrrl fronted band from Springfield, Illinois...exploring the closed doors on topics such as rape, incest, truth, and equality.

• "Nina Simone" - Nina is the quintessential heartless bitch. Any fan of jazz will know her. My favorite story about her, whether it's true or not - She lives in France and was practicing at the piano one day, her neighbour's son was in the adjoining backyard making a lot of noise. She went out and shot him in the leg, because he wasn't respecting her talent!! The song "The Other Woman" is a wife singing about her husband's mistress, a woman that has time to take care of herself, while his wife only has time for her husband and children. The song "Four Women" is the story of four black women and how the world views them, there is Aunt Sarah the hard working mother woman, there is a woman that is a product of the rape of a black woman by a white man; Saffronia , there is the beautiful one that sells herself; Sweet Thing and the tough one "I'll kill the first mother I see, I'm awfully bitter these days because my parents were slaves.... My name is Peaches" The way she screams out Peaches is amazing and heartfelt.

• Rebecca Riots - Named after a non-violent, populist, Welsh uprising from the 1800's, they're a way cool, very feminist, political and activist band.

• "Aimee Mann" - album: "Magnolia" movie soundtrack
  lyrics to "wise up":
  "it's not what you thought when you first began it
  you got what you want
  now you can hardly stand it though
  well now you know
  it's not going to stop
  it's not going to stop
  it's not going to stop
  'til you wise up"
  
  Aimee Mann writes with conviction -- we have to get ourselves out of the mistakes we make.

• "Tairrie B" - Album, "Speak and Destroy"
  Tura Satana, the band formerly known as Manhole and featuring Tairrie B, split up a while ago. The bitch came back. Tairrie's latest incarnation is mostly about her, hence the lack of pictures of anyone else in the album sleeve, but she still has the guys from Tura Satana as guest musicians on most of the tracks, with the exception of the guitarist who is also female (Melanie Makaiwi - and that girl can ram out the riffs with all the ferocity that the TS guitarists could!).

  "Speak and Destroy" essentially expands on all the old themes Tairrie loves and does well. The album has a song attacking an ex-boyfriend ("June 10th"), another which attacks attention-seekers ("Cosmetic"), another which attacks, as she puts it, "fakes and clones" ("Sycophant"), and one which expands on the spoken word piece put at the end of Tura Satana's "Relief Through Release" ("Terror"). Tairrie still screams and rants and makes you feel sorry for whoever it was that screwed her over (I'd hate to be in Tairrie's way when she gets mad), but she seems to have decided to attempt to be much calmer about her music now and again, giving rise to songs like "June 10th" and "My Beautiful Flower". The album also has a cover version of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love". I had immense trouble imagining how this would sound, and it worked despite criticism from the music industry and press - this was evidently something Tairrie wanted to do and nothing was going to stop her. She even changed one of the lines in "Tainted Love" - instead of "I'm going to pack my things and go", she sings "Now it's time you pack your things and go"! She's in control.

• "The Pandoras" - album: Stop Pretending
  Paula Pierce (1960-1991) was the singer & driving force of The Pandoras. The Pandoras were an all female "garage band" viable from 1983-89. They released 3 albums of Paula's songs. The band included future Muffs Melanie Vammen & Kim Shattuck. Recommended album ; STOP PRETENDING. Paula's songs were meant to let guys know that women could be just as aggressive - and all that aggression might entail - as men. The Pandoras were ahead of their time, and should be mentioned on a site which honors bitchdom. My Pandoras web site: http://www.unm.edu/~rocks/pandoras.htm

• "Kittie" - a hardcore, Canadian, all girl band. Lyrics such as "i think i'll spit/for all those girls who speak contradiction/....why do I get shit all the time/from you men/you are swine/you think d**k is the answer" and "take so much away from inside you/makes no sense you know he can't guide you/he's your f**king shoulder to lean on/be strong" are worthy of HB selection.

• "Meredith Brooks" - for the song, "I'm a bitch"
  To me, this song says it all.
  
  She has announced to her listeners that her mood swings don't necessarily have to come with reason's understandable to them. That she has the power to be in control at all times, even if she's feeling sensitive or vulnerable.
  
  I relate whole heartedly to this song, simply because it speaks about emotions that affect me daily.
  
  I was once told by someone "I don't understand you. You're so bitchy..."
  
  I handed them the C.D. and now they understand.

• "Dixie Chicks" - For the song "Goodbye Earl" - about an abused woman whose best friend flies into town and the two of them dispose of Earl ("Earl had to die"), and take off to run a restaurant together.

• "Fabulous Disaster" - Album: Pretty Killers
  A bunch of heartless bitches with lots of Heartless Bitchy songs. "Rich Bitches in Volvos Piss me off", "Frighten You", "Time Bomb", "My Static", etc. You can hear more at their area at MP3.com or at their label (Evil Eye Records) website.

• Bikini Kill - Definitive Kick-Ass Hard-Core Punk Chicks!
  
  From the song Bloody Ice Cream, the lyrics speak for themselves:
  
  

  The Sylvia Plath story is told to girls who write
  They want us to think that to be a girl poet means you have to die.
  Who is that told me all girls who write must suicide?
  
  I've another good one for you, we are turning cursive letters into knives.

• Snap-her, Album:"Queen Bitch of Rock N Roll"
  The album title says it all. These are the ones that got it right! Talk about Heartless Bitches!

• Shivaree - a very good female artist with a lot of power for such a soft voice. Her newest album is "I Outta Give You A Shot In The Head For Making Me Live In This Dump." With lyrics like: (from Arlington Girl)
  She got blood in her eye stones in her sky and she walks like a man
  Arlington girl Arlington girl
  She says she does she does all she pleases
  Dancing on tomb stones
  Black dirt and old bones
  
  In my opinion, Shivaree is definitely a woman artist to be on the look out for. Her sound is much like Jewel or Natalie Merchant.

• Metallica - Who gives a fuck if it's an all-male band? The message is as heartlessly bitchy as they get: Do want you want... and fuck 'em if they try and stop you!
  
  "See them try to bring the hammer down
  No damn chains can hold me to the ground
  Life is for my own, to live my own way"
  -- Escape, Ride the Lighting
  
  See also, Damage Inc.:
  
  "Living on your knees, conformity
  Or dying on your feet for honesty"
  
  The way the band acheived the massive success they are now enjoying was done in a completely un-ass-kissy way, as well. No MTV, no flashy gimmicks, just music.

• Wanda Jackson - Album "The Best of Wanda Jackson"
  Often cited as the "first female rocker," Wanda was singing about tough bitches back in the early 50s. A true renegade who frightened The Country Music Establishment (Boys Club) in Nashville, Wanda sang songs about powerful women (Fujiyama Mama) and kicking her worthless husband's ass (Big Iron Skillet). Her song, That Made Him Mad, is an anthem for heartless bitches everywhere -- in order to show her boyfriend who's the boss, the female character in the song goes out with her boyfriend's best friend (in the chorus, Wanda heartlessly cackles "... ooooo boy, that made him mad ...") Viva Heartless Bitches! Viva Wanda Jackson!

• Nitocris
  Nitocris are Australia's premiere rock bitches who have made it to the top of Australian indie-rock by being strong women who play damn good rock. One of their most popular songs 'Hellbitch' should qualify them if nothing else does! Nitocris have stood up against sexism, racism and homophobia while making better music than most local boi-bands could ever hope to produce. Amongst the best heartless bitch lyrics are these lines from 'Sycophant':
  
  You wanna pick on pathetic values
  Makes me sick, double standards
  Its all hype printed type
  Money grabbing pinhead shit
  Look into my eyes
  Did you see me lie?
  I think I was being sarcastic
  You stupid fuckin' dickhead
  

• "TLC" - Album: Fan Mail
  On the 'Fan Mail' album there's a song called 'My Life'... pure bitch. and fun. It's also inspiring...
  "You've been telling me what to do since I was old enough to walk, old enough to talk. Never let me speak or move, do my own thing. But I've grown wiser now, brighter now a little bit tighter now and you all can't hold me down,I know you hate to hear but things have changed... my life my life, on a good night when it feels right me and my girls at the club and say it's my life, my life and I believe it don't effect nobody else but me."

• Tracy Bonham - (Album: The Burdens of Being Upright) Lyrics from the song "Sharks don't sleep":

  "I ate a man today, ate a man and then just walked away..."

  
  
  This woman really fits the category... she does not whine about men and relationships like Alanis for instance. She talks about the crap women have to put up with and does not give a shit about what others think. Moreover she plays a hell of a guitar; it's a very decent band and the whole CD is worth listening to. Plus she makes a violin Rock instead of making it sound like Bluegrass!

• Exene Cervenkova (a.k.a. Cervenka) - Punk rock/Appalachian mama, formerly co-vocalist and songwriter with the Punk band "X"! Vicious humor, fierce intelligence and a voice that makes you want to cry - it is sooo good. "Your phone is off the hook but you're not" is a great song.

• Uncle Bonsai - (album: The Inessential Uncle Bonsai) - musical humor at it's finest - with songs like "Penis Envy", "Boys want sex in the Morning", and "Cheerleaders on Drugs", these folks are a hoot!

• Circe's Vendetta - An all female lineup from Brampton, Ontario, these four just plain kick ass. They don't subscribe to childish mottos like "girl power", and they have a unique, hard rock/punk sound.
  
  'I used to fall for fairy tales Accepted everything as absolute truth I've woken up, I clearly see All this bullshit you've presented to me"--Deciet Personified

• Edith Piaf - one of the most famous French singers. She sung herself up from the street to the Champs-Elysees. Way before the hippie movement & sexual revolution, she was not afraid to sing a song about a prostitute catching a man. A list of strong female singers will never be complete without La Piaf.

• Don Henley/The Eagles - Song:"Get Over It" (off "Hell Freezes Over") - Should be one of the Heartless Bitches anthems:

  "A whole lotta people Cryin' Don't blame me;
  They point their Crooked little fingers
  At everybody else
  Spend all of their time
  Feeling Sorry for themselves
  Victim of this
  Victim of that
  Your momma's too thin and Your daddy's too fat!
  Get over it
  ..."
  

• KD Lang - Heartless music that kicks Country Ass. And she's damn good with other genres of music too!

• Mellissa Etheridge - album:"Yes I am" - the queen of modern day rock, she had the guts to come out at the height of her popularity.. and she kept on going. She plays a great bluesy rock, with very intense guitar. Great HB music, cutting, honest lyrics.

• Blondie - Blondie is a paragon of "cool." She's sexy, and her music is smart. I particularly like the song "Rip Her to Shreds." Sorry, I'm terribly bad with lyrics, but the song is all about tearing apart a wannabe woman. "She thinks she's Brenda Starr" is one of the lines, I think. Always give Blondie a second look. "One Way or Another" is always a lot of fun to listen to on girl-power road trips. Is it just me or is the phrase "girl-power" now a bit trite and cliche? Stupid Spice Twits.

• Wendy O. Williams - one of the original super bitches of all time. She was a bitch when being a bitch was unheard of. She never drank nor did drugs and did not allow the men in her industry to chase her off. She was an advocate of animal rights and was all in all The #1 bitch of all times.

• Bazooka - Album:"Third skin, second floor"
  Bazooka plays the kind of music that Modesty Blaise would play if she was a rock star instead of a comic strip character.

• Voodoo Queens- Loud punkish asian bitches with attitude. Very fond of chocolate. Check out their wonderful: "Supermodel.. do you mean superficial?"

• Joni Mitchell - the "godmother" of lillith-fair-type artists, having blazed a trail in folk, rock, and jazz not previously possible for women... her fight against sexism in the music industry is an epic tale spanning three decades.

• Etta James - song: "The Right Time"
  This is a bluesy dialogue about a man who bragged about his "lovin" skills. Etta tells him in no uncertain terms that he needs to step back and shut up, because "you can't light a fire with a wet match", and he couldn't even get her "to put a wrinkle in my sheet". There are other pithier comments, but you get the idea.

• Babes In Toyland - Talk about bitches! Kat Bjelland, lead singer of this early 90's all-girl punk band, rips the truth from the lies and screams it through the lyrics of every song the band has done. "Fontanelle" and "Nemesisters" are probably the Babe's best albums. The band did a lot of work for the 1998 release of "Songs Of The Witchblade" (soundtrack to the comic book The Witchblade).

• Leah Andreone - Album:"Unveiled" - This Heartless Bitch kicks so much ass she needs special shoes. Sample lyrics:

  "try and change me, what a fucked up waste."
  "Are you so flawless, or is it gutless, that you can't accept me?"
  "If there were no hell to pay, I wonder, would you still need a god?"
  

  Particularly Heartless songs include "Who are They to Say", "Hell to Pay" and "Will you Still Love Me?"

• Aimee Mann - if there was ever a debate over whether aimee mann belongs on this list, the lyrics from the album "Whatever", "put me on top for a change!" certainly cinch it.

• SCAB! - Album:"April Fools" ( roir cassette 1983/4?)
  The BADDEST and FIRST all-girl Hardcore band in NYC. Played with Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags et al. Played Rikers Island too (heh heh) Lee Marie (songwriter-singer) went on to form Blood Sister and the popular NYCore band "Fall From Grace". Unfortunately she passed away just as their first cd "Arisen from Hell-elevated to Heaven" came out. Why were SCAB deserving of Heartless bitches stature? Well, since some of them are still alive, I cannot repeat the stories... but ANYONE who was into the early 80's hardcore scene in NYC remembers them!

• Carly Simon - songs like "Dishonesty Modesty", and "You're so Vain" certainly qualify as Heartless Bitch material.

• Jann Arden - the song "Insensitive" (off her debut album) is biting, bitter and sarcastic. She has a deep throaty voice that seems out of l

• The Slits, album: "peelsessions"
  If you like bitchy music, check this one out first! These girls are comparable to the sex pistols W/slits!" "peelsessions" is the best, but their other CD's are cool too, if somewhat hard to find...

• Mindy McCreedy, album: "Ten Thousand Angels"

  The song is "Guys do it all the time"
  Refrain:
  "Guys do it all the time,
  and you expect us to understand,
  when the shoes on the other foot
  know this when it hits the fan:
  Get over it honey life's a two way street or you won't be a man of mine!
  So I had some beers with the girls last night, Guys do it all the time."
  

• Janet Jackson, album: "The Velvet Rope"
  I have never had a song hit my soul so hard as much as Janet Jackson's song "What about..." on her latest album "The Velvet Rope" did. I am impressed with the brazen appeal of it's message that identifies the variables of female apprehensiveness to commit to a relationship with a man of compromised integrity and lack of accountability just for the sake of being in a relationship.
  
  Understanding that men are conditioned to be misogynistic in order to secure their male identities I honor the strength it took this influential artist to put the words to music that defiantly sound off: "It's unexcusable".

• Astrid Munday She has released a brilliant self titled album which takes you on an atmospheric journey through a whole lot of emotions that women can relate to.

• Lili Haydn - Lili is short of stature yet scrapes the sky in the absolute hugeness of her performances. She is currently on tour with her band, opening for Page & Plant. Her vocals are incredible. Her violin playing is unbelievable.

• Lilith Fair - Various Artists (lead by Sarah McLachlan),
  The musicians of the Lilith Fair know what they want. They want women to take pride in their own feminine power, and they want men to respect that. Organized by Sarah McLachlan when she was told (by an idiot) that having more than one or two women on the lineup for a tour would be a disaster, Sarah found her sister musicians (Heartless-Bitches like Heather Nova, Fionna Apple, Luscious Jackson, Natalie Merchant and others) and put together one of the greatest concert tours in recent history.

• Janet Jackson - What could be bitchier than "Control" and "Nasty Boys"? No, my name ain't "Baby." It's Janet - Miss Jackson if you're nasty. She also seemed to rise above all that bullshit her family got dragged into. She didn't fall into drugs, depression, or pedophilia and then blame it on her family woes. She did her own thing, and did it with style.

• Barbara Manning - album "12/12,a perfect green blanket"
  Barbara is what liz phair wished she was. They are both "matador chicks", with natural singing styles, but Barbara's lyrical content is brilliantly bitter. She was in the SF Seals too, and wrote a great song called "epic" which she still plays. She also does a great cover of the richard and linda thompson song "end of the rainbow", which is just brutal. Real songs of a real girls' troubles.

• Kicking Giant - a girl/guy duo from Olympia, WA, with lyrics which cut through the crap of society, like "Town Idiot":
  "do you date a freak boy?
  do you date a nice boy?
  then you must be oppressed.
  oppression means repression.
  then you understand the need for feminism
  

• Tairrie B - She's an old skool rapstress from the late 80's. The whole album is about her being a strong independent bad-ass female. A few lines from her song "Ruthless Bitch":
  "Bitch means Being In Total Control of Herself,
  I'm not your baby-doll, you're juiceless
  The Bitch is back and this bitch is ruthless!
  
  
  And there you have it..a ruthless bitch.
  Now ask yourself...are you that Ignorant, punk-ass,
  over-weight wannabe gangster? Or maybe that psycho-Cybil,
  jockin Jerry Heller,pushin 50, rap star tippin',ugly wack demo,
  never gonna be nothin'..hooka.
  Yup...you probably are. *giggle*
  I told you not to fuck with me.
  

• Divisia - Albums, "What's left of us" and "Wifebeater". Very noisy punk rock with one pissed off grrl singing! Many of the songs deal with women's issues such as rape, domestic violence and stupid macho attitudes. Many of the songs are heartless, including Depro-Vera which is about about chemically castrating a man for raping women. Wifebeater is about a woman who decides to blow out the brains of her abuser.

• Imani Coppola -- (No relation to Francis-Ford.) Self-titled debut drips with attitude and inspiration for all the heartless bitches of the world! From "Legends of a Cowgirl":

  Pack my bags and mount my horse I'm gonna ride on into the next town/Spend my money on absolutely nothing/Need no man to pay for anything!

  >From "One of these days":

  One of these days I'm gonna be happy/ One of these days I'm gonna piss all over myself laughing/One of these days, I'm gonna get the punchline/ One of these days I'm gonna be happy/Until that day I'm gonna bitch and moan and groan and ... hold the phone/I'm not done/Where's everybody going?

  The music on the disc is quirky, folk-inspired rap. She grew up playing the violin (synthesizing it all over her debut) and learned to rap a mere six months before recording though she doesn't sound like a novice.

• Luscious Jackson
  A NY City born female trio that delves into funk, punk, hip hop and rap influences. Their "bitchiest" records were their first release, an EP titled "In Search Of Manny" and first full-length "Natural Ingredients". Though they've become tamer in recent years (with a more organic approach on "Fever In Fever Out"), one cannot forget the energy of their early chants, such as:

  "He can stop trying to get even
  He will know he's here for a reason
  To stand beside his woman in peace
  She's got the way to release him
  It takes a strong man to stand by a strong woman." (Strong Man)

  and

  "Hey energy sucker, I'm a goddess not your mother." (Energy Sucker)

• Katie Webster -- "Two Fisted Mama," "Swamp Boogie Queen," "No Foolin'"
  A Chicago Blues artist. Lyrics from the song "Two Fisted Mama":

  "Playin' that blues piano wasn't proper for a girl.
  But these two fists of mine took me all around the world...
  ....I've messed up the best. I'm a two fisted mama.
  I ain't like all the rest"

• Jonatha Brooke -- "10cent Wings," "Plumb," "Grace in Gravity"
  As a musician, as a poet, as a songwriter, and as a vocalist, Jonatha is in her own class, scathingly truthful and numbingly witty. An example would be Fatso on "Grace in Gravity":

  Because someone will adore me when my ribs show clearly, and I'm thin even when I sit down. Someone will admire my gorgeous arms and legs when I'm only 100 lbs.... yeah right.

  The sarcasm is a bit obvious but the harmonies she wrote for it are brilliant. Recently, she and Ani DiFranco did the harmonies for Bruce Cockburn’s newest album together.

• Freakwater
  A fine, bluegrass band, fronted by Catherine Irwin and Janet Bean, with witty, cutting lyrics and beautiful harmonies is the exception that makes the rule. If you *like* country music (and you're an HB) you will *love* Freakwater -- if you don't like country music, you should give it a listen anyway. All of their songs give you the idea that these are women who are totally sick of men's boring shit, and aren't going to put up with it any fucking more.
  
  They also do lots of fun covers -- including a really nauseating, patronizing Conway Twitty song called "I Can Tell You've Never Been This Far Before," which as originally written is about some pompous ass who thinks he's going to show some "poor little thang" the ways of "love" (ie, fucking) -- 'course it has a deliciously different connotation when sung by Catherine.

• Dar Williams, folk singer
  Lyrics from "You're Aging Well":

  Why is it as we grow older and stronger, The road signs point us adrift and make us afraid, Saying "You never can win," "Watch your back," "Where's your husband?" Oh I don't like the signs that the signmakers made. So I'm going to steal out with my paint and my brushes I'll change the directions, I hit every street...

• Ella Fitzgerald
  

  [Male Voice:] "Last night I went out drinking
  And when I came home I gave her a beating
  Then she catch up the rolling pin
  And go to work on my head 'til she bash it in..."
  
  
  [female voice:] "I tell you one thing for sure,
  He ain't going to beat me no more
  So I tell you that I doesn't care
  If I was to die in the electric chair"

• Bessie Smith -- Early 1900s. The blues are known for their male artists, but we can't forget Bessie. All them men are singin' about that good woman, so what'd she do? Sang about the man, sang about what she expected from him and sang about herself. This woman even battled the Ku Klux Klan, they were raisin' hell outside of a club she was performing in, she was told about it and she ran outside and told them they better drop their sheets and run....and they did.

• Bonnie Raitt -- sure it's country but who can dispute the talent of this woman? She writes, scores and plays her own numbers with a soulful guitar. A success in a male-dominated profession.

• Stevie Nicks -- instrospective, creative, sassy and strong.

• Screw You & The Go-Go Girls -- three swedish, punkrock girls who perform songs like "Baseballbat Baby" and "Payback's A Bitch." Lyrics from "666 Riot Ave": "We're badass bitches always up for a fight, so come on pretty baby let's make a riot tonight!"

• Maggie Estep -- Has two albums out, "No More Mister Nice Girl" and "Master of Lunacy." Song titles include: I'm an Emotional Idiot, Scab Maids on Speed and Stalk Me.

• "Life's Too Good" by The Sugarcubes -- Featuring the wildly independent and fiesty Björk (who got press for beating the sh*t out of one reporter who got a little too close for comfort), The Sugarcubes display her screaming yet melodic vocals, the old school New Wave 80's punk-band guitars and catchy, grating tunes. Songs like "Traitor", "Delicious Demon", "Sick for Toys" and "F***ing in Rhythm and Sorrow" get your blood boiling, your pulse racing, and your timidity running its sorry little a** out the door before you can say "GRRRR!" Take The Sugarcubes advice: "You should use the pain and sorrow to fill you up with POWER, life's both sweet and sour." Lyrics from "Army of Me" off of the Post album:

  "Stand up, you've got to manage I won't sympathize anymore
  And If you complain once more, you'll meet an army of me...
  You're alright, there's nothing wrong, Self-sufficience, please!
  And get to work.
  You're on your own now, we won't save you
  Your rescue squad is too exhausted
  And If you complain once more, you'll meet an army of me..."
  

• Burn Berlin, Burn by Atari Teenage Riot -- Loud! Loud, loud, loud, and agressive! Ms. Elias of the German industrial-punk outfit ATR builds on some strong beats, and a fondness for screaming the word "fuck." She also has a tendency to come across as someone who'd beat your head in with a pipe wrench if you looked at her sideways. Check out "Sick to Death," and if you get a chance "Hunt the Nazis."

• Diamanda Galas -- She's a poet, a dancer, a channeller, a singer (strange vocal effects/techniques). She has audiotapes out and a great book called "The Shit of God." She defies genre--but could be described as industrial. Not some wet-behind-the-ears punk-ass performance artiste. This bitch is serious.

• Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Album - The title track of this album (One Hour Mama) is mind-blowing in it's innate bitchiness. Originally sang by Ida Cox sometime in the thirties, Lavay rocks with her version of it. The nice gentle swing tune with delicate piano notes introducing the song is deceiving if you don't stop to listen to the lyrics:

  "I'm a one hour mama,
  so no one hour papa
  ain't the kinda man for me.
  I like love for one hour, try to make it two.
  It takes an hour before I'm started
  and maybe three before I'm through.
  I don't want no greenhorn lover,
  like a rookie going to war,
  with a load of nice artillery
  and he don't know what it's for."
  

• Dance Hall Crashers - a female-led ska band. They're song, "He Wants Me Back," includes lyrics like:

  "The grass is greener without you,
  So many things for me to do,
  Living my life for me and on my own,
  It is so great to be alone,
  And now you're knocking at my door,
  You've realized you love me more,
  Well I've no time to hear apologies,
  I've got the world to see."

• Shirley Manson - from "Garbage"
  Songs: "supervixen," "queer," "stupid girl," "only happy when it rains," "dog new tricks," "not my idea."

  "you thought you'd take me by suprise, now i am burning down your house."

• Lillian - two mean girls, one evil bass- line and a very wicked drum machine - form one gloriously glum lo-fi slacker band. Punk-pop adventures in cutting lyricism include:

  "I'll break your fucking ego like your neck, so come on pretty boy."

• Natalie Merchant - Especially the album, "Tigerlily". The poetry of this former leader of the 10,000 maniacs is still cut-throat and visciously beautiful.
  From "Seven Years":
  I've got my sight now
  I've seen everything you did
  So don't you try to right now
  all the wrong you did
  I might forget you
  but not forgive
  

• Eartha Kitt - "I wanna be Evil". All of her songs are about using what she has to get what she wants, need we say more?

• Artificial Joy Club - "Melt" - The lead singer, Sal, sounds like a true Heartless Bitch with her bizarre and witty lyrics in songs like "Sick and Beautiful" and "I Say":
  "I say what I feel,
  it gets me into trouble.
  I feel what I say,
  I don't care anyway.
  I do what I like,
  it doesn't make me humble.
  I like what I do,
  it's just my attitude.
  

• The Genitorturers (led by Gen, resident piercer) - Album: "120 Days Of Genitorture". This is simply one of the hardest underground bands based on stage performance and music alone. This is music not for the faint of heart but definitely for the curious, open minded, and lifestylers. You can find out for yourself what they are about at their official site located at: http://www.genitorturers.com or at an alternative (but just as good) site located at: http://www.aa.net/~ricknkc/genitorturers/index.htm

• Catatonia: Cerys Matthews - especially the album, "International Velvet". This is a Kick-ass celtic queen who sounds like a female Rod Stewart in a screaming match with Bjork. She writes songs with titles like 'Why I can't stand one night stands', (mainly because they do her head in). She never shies from representing a Heartless Bitch's point of view, especially with songs like 'I am the mob':
  'I put horses heads in peoples beds
  Cause I am the mob
  When duty calls gonna bust some balls
  Cause i am the mob...
  I try my level best my best to please
  but I'm gonna put a bullet between your knees.'
  

• The Dyvinals - with Chrissie Amphlett. Sure the song "I'm jealous" is about her losing a boyfriend to another girl, but the lyrics in it "I'm liable to do anything, I might smash her face in!", are definitely hard-assed raucous.

• Kinnie Starr - Edgy bass guitar and strong slappin beats, with a loud powerful voice -- a woman not scared to talk about licking cunt.
  >From the Album, "Tidy":
  "I will hold my hands up, raised fists to the air
  I will hold my chin up, steer clear through dispair."
  

• Sarah McLachlan - Especially the album, "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy"/Touch. Sarah started the Feminist "Lilith Fair" concert series to give more exposure to women in music and while most wouldn't consider her music "heartless", it is exceptionally powerful.
  
  Other Album titles include, "Touch","Surfacing", and "Solace".

• Ruby - Album Titles: Salt Peter, Stroking the Full Length.
  Lyrics like:

  "If I could write my name in the snow, would it mean that I know anything"

  and

  "You know I hate it when you cry. It makes me want to burn your eyes out with a poker every time and chase my tail to make you smile"

  I think make her qualify.. plus she r0x..

• Betty Davis (not the movie star) - a kick-ass woman of the 70's. Known as the female James Brown, she dressed wildly and wrote fabulous songs on being A Kick ass Female! She was once married to Miles Davis, who wrote a song about her called "Back Seat Betty" as she was known to like the backseat of the car! Lyrics on her album are well worth a look at..

• Madonna - It seems to me, that she has been forgotten thus far, but Madonna's "Human Nature" Is hugely heartless. "Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex, what was I thinking?...It's human Nature, and I'm not sorry."

• The Murmurs - primarily for the song, "you suck"
  It's all about dissing those that have brought them down. Their new album has an especially bitchy song about a one night stand with (gasp) another girl: "You're going back to boston tomorow/are you going to tell your boyfriend about me?" Plus the lead singer, Leshia Hailey, played a kick-ass riot grrl in the movie "All Over Me". Most definately worth checking out, especially live.

• "Pet" - a Tori Amos project on iglo records. Loud, screaming and definitely bitchy.

• The "rrriot girl" bands - "team dresch", "huggy bear", "7 year bitch" (name says it all), "tinker", and "kill sybil"

• "Concrete Blonde" - The album "Blood Letting" is a classic. Also, on "Mexican Moon", the song "Jesus please forgive me(for the things I'm about to say.)" starts with: "I killed you in my mind today, I cut you up, I watched you bleed..."
  
  She's singing about a relationship she left, and how she buried him. Johnette's vocals are powerful, she has soul, she has intensity, "she is WOMAN, hear her roar" - corny, I know, but once you hear the song, you'll get the picture. The song has a life of its own - you hear it and feel a need to move. Anyone who has been in an abusive relationship and pulled themselves up and out of it, have gone on to better things, and become healthy knows what she sings about. It is a classic Heartless Bitch song if I've ever heard one.

• "Fluffy" - though many spin readers called them a "poor excuse for a band", saying they were "too fashionable" (or whatever), most of their songs are very much "bitchy-themed" & their song "Black Eye" is a great song about losing that asshole that beats up women-. truly among the elite in bitchy music.

• "ThE ReaL JaNeLLe - Bratmobile" -on the label "Kill Rock Stars".... the same label as "Bikini Kill" - and a totally riot grrrl band.

• Tracy Bonham - former classical violinist, now rocks. Love the lyrics "You'll burn with what you've done". Debut cd called "The burdens of being upright"

• Saffron from "Republica" - great dance-type music with an edge. A lot of kick ass songs,although you probably won't like the lyrics in "drop dead gorgeous-"Ya, my ex-boyfriend lies, ya ya he does it all the time, it's just a natural disguise, ya ya but he's drop dead gorgeous" but the other songs are great. Something tells me this song is satire anyway.

• Lisa Loeb - Sings beautiful coffee house style folk. Some great lyrics on "Do you sleep?" (like "I don't know, and I don't care, if I ever will see you again") Two cds-"Tails" and the new "Firecracker".

• Juliana Hatfield - has a great song called "Bitch" about her sister, who is a bitch but she loves her. Lots of other great stuff too. Has a new EP.

• "Alisha's Attic" - Sisters Shellie and Karen Poole from england can kick any guy's ass, anyday, with their awesome lyrics! From "I am, I feel":

  "i am i feel like i wanna bite his head off
  yeah that'd be fun, cause i sure got an appetite,
  i click my heels together 3 times
  they sparked a little but nothing happened
  and the big bad wolf is still in my bed"

• "Golden Palominos" - especially the album "Dead Inside". Nicole drudges through unspeakable horrors, personal hells, abusive relationships, even love (it's mixed in thier somewere right around track 5). She weaves it together with a crassly bitter elegance that throws it all in your face but has a strangely calming effect. The music makes an eerie undertone that really gives one a feel for the warped sense of reality that the characters live in. It's mostly spoken word, done to ambiant music

• "The Geraldine Fibbers" - an Incredible band with the female lead singer Carla Bozulich. Here's a taste from their latest album Butch:

  "I stand here naked at attention. Is this my only skill? I fucked my first fruit today, lousy lay"

• "Heavens to Betsy" - (who have now merged into Sleater-Kinney). One listen to "Terrorist" (on their "Calculated" cd under the "Kill Rock Stars" label) or "My Red Self" (Kill Rock Stars KRS-201) and there is no need to explain why these women rule. Corin Tucker is not shy about getting her point across by either screaming at the top of her lungs or singing in a straightforward manner.

• "Rasputina" - For a Ladies Cello Society, these babes really rock. While two of them look like they just crawled out of some Pre-Raphelite painting, the goth look of the third lets you know you are in for something different. Citing influences from Bach to Bowie and covering such topics as Howard Hughes, Ophelia, and similarities between The Donner Party and the Pilgrims, their witty and quirky lyrics leave you wanting more.

• Catie Curtis - Another artist that falls into that whole acoustic/folk/rock genre, Catie Curtis tells it like she feels. She lays her perspective out there in a way that makes you feel that she does not give a damn if you agree or not.

• "Skunk Anansie" - in particular, the lead singer, a black Londoner who goes by the name Skin. This woman rocks! She has a great voice, and the songs she sings are just so Heartless. Some of her hit singles include 'Hedonism', 'Selling Jesus', 'Intellectualise My Blackness', 'All In The Name Of Pity', 'Charity', 'Weak', and 'Rise Up'. She doesn't take shit from anyone. A real MUST is Skunk Anasie's two albums, 'Paranoid & Sunburnt' and 'Stoosh'.

• "Huggy Bear" - check out their song "HerJazz".

• "The Lords of Acid" - Butt-kicking, dance-techno-rock with lyrics which remove the polite veneer of innuendo and holds the listener as sexual hostage. Lords of Acid features strong, vulgar, female-delivered lyrics which make you ask: Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

• "Rock Bitches" - The controversial Ultra-outrageous punk-rock sexually-charged mostly-female band.

• "Consolidated" is an all male band, but they have a song on their album "Play more music" which is called "You suck". This is a song which is played with "The Yeastie Girls" and concerns women demanding oral sex from uncooperative males. It rocks.

• "Baby Animals" -Suzie De Marche heads the band, and this is a group that really rocks. When they were touring with the Black Crows in Australia, the lead singer of the Crows went up to Suzie after Baby Animals had finished playing and told her 'If you want to sing like a bloke, get some balls' so Suzie turned around and decked him....layed him flat on the floor. So with songs like "Stoopid", "Don't Tell Me What To Do" and "Because I Can"..... she rates "up there" on the HB list.

• Patti Rothberg - musician/rocker/songwriter. She seems to exhibit all the characteristics of an Heartless Bitch - she's strong-willed as hell, tells it like it is with a 100% bullshit-free style, and takes no shit from anyone. Oh, and let us not forget that she rocks like a punctured can of pressurized whup-ass, combining striking, honest lyrics with a guitar style that ranges from soft and melodic to fast, distorted and loud with balls enough to equal or exceed any testosterone-saturated guitar-boy. As far as I know, she's only released one album - "Between the 1 and the 9" - on the now-defunct EMI Records label.

• Shawn Colvin

• Jill Tracy - local to San Francisco, a pianist and "bitch au jus". She is like a demonic Tori Amos. Check out her only CD, "Quintissentially Unreal". Though she doesn't "rock" her music scratches, bites, and bleeds.

• Suzi Quatro - "I'm a blue-eyed bitch... Get outta my way 'cause I'm here to stay..."

• Terri Clark - For those into Country and Western music, her song "Better Things To Do" certainly qualifies as Heartlessly Bitchy:
  "Well I'd love to talk to you,
  but then I'd miss Donahue.
  Got better things to do
  like Check the air in my tires
  Straighen my stereo wires..."

• Casey Scott - an eclectic mix of punk and rock, she is a wonderful HB, but has only one album out, "Creep City"...

• "Bjork" - Icelandic pop/alternative/dance sensation - combines strength and sensuality in a winning combination.

• "Gilette" - Especially the song, "Mr. Personality"! The entire CD is full of her "Don't fuck with me" attitude. My favorite is a song about revenge on an asshole who lied about sleeping with her. She invited him to a party and fixed him up with "Juanita" who turned out to be a "Juan"!.

• Chrissie Hynde of the "Pretenders" - she sang about bad boys getting spanked and somehow I don't think it would have been fun for them.

• D'arcy of the "Smashing Pumpkins" - one of the best bass players in modern alternative music.

• "Paula Cole" - I listen to her whenever I need a little extra strength, one of my favorite lyrics being "... I'm not that straight A anymore, now I wanna sit with my legs wide open and laugh so loud that the whole damn restaurant will turn and look at me..." Check her out, she's incredible live.

• "Manhole" - The lead singer, Tairrie B., sounds like a cross between Zach Delarocha (of Rage Against the Machine) and Tori Amos on crack. She's pissed at the world and ready to take revenge (if she hasn't already started). She has tons of energy on stage and is a great person to meet... and she doesn't have to look like a slut to get your attention. Shit! That girl can scream! When I saw them open for Type-O Negative they closed with a cover of Nirvana's "Negative Creep"...her voice echoing over and over in my head... "Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more..daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more...she's a WHORE!!"
  
  Update: Manhole has changed its name to "Tura Satana".

• "Tuscadero" - 2 guys, 2 girls, but the ladies have all the action. Their song "Dime A Dozen" contains the great line "Your daddy must have married your first cousin, and guys like you are a dime a dozen!" Good stuff.

• Tracy Chapman, Janis Joplin, Phoebe Snow, Carole King and Grace Slick - all excellent HBs in the music industry and deserving of wider mention. If you have album reviews please send them in!

• "Lil Kim" - She calls herself the "Queen Bee" and hell yea she is! Her freaky lyrics show she doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks. This sista is a true bitch, she's not scared to flaunt what shes got, and she ain't scared to say what she thinks!

• "The Lunachicks" - They definitely rank with Lydia Lunch and Joan Jett as top of the heartless bitch set.

• "Scratching Post" - A group from London Ontario. Nicole Hughes is the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist. She's got this kitteny-sweet voice that relaxes everyone and then she LETS LOOSE!!! She may LOOK like a push over, but beware - she REALLY rawks hard. The band has a cool metal sound.

• Heather Nova - "pretend i'm crazy, pretend i'm dead, he's too scared to hit me now, he'll bring flowers instead"

• Tanya Donelly - fantastic work with Throwing Muses, Breeders, Belly, and now solo with lines like "i don't know what you expected, you're barely homo erectus"

• Maria McKee - please don't hold "show me heaven" against her, she hadn't yet escaped the strong male influences around her to show her true colours.... "tied my tongue off with a wire, now my head is full of liars... i'm not listening any more"

• Fiona Apple - "won't do no good to throw no fist babe, you can't intimidate me back into your arms"

• Kenickie - they're young, they have attitude, they're all-girl-'cept-for-the-drummer, they're very funny and they write lines like "so watch your back/ cuz i might crack/ and i'm licensed to kill/ your bloodless face/ your silent mouth/ would give me such a thrill"

• Veruca Salt - Not so much HBs as strong women, but they rock in a way that very few bands do. And it's tough to argue with a song titled "All Hail Me". Their newest album (Eight Arms to Hold You) does obsess about men a bit, but hopefully that won't disqualify them.

• 3 1/2 Girls - a *wicked* punk band based in Boston, has a song that starts, "You fucked with the wrong bitch." Be very, very afraid.

• MeShell NdegoCello - the woman plays multiple instruments including her "main" instrument: a funky, wildly undulating bass. She sings with a kick-ass husky contralto. Her "sound" defies genres, blending old R&B with Jazz and Hip Hop. She writes most of her own music, too. And then there's the lyrics. . .poetic, homo- and hetero-erotic and more than a little iconoclast: "Maybe Judas was a better man/And Mary made a virgin just to save face."

• Jenn Vix - She's pissed at sexist assholes in a major way and does not take any shit.

• Throwing Muses/Kristin Hersh - She's not a Heartless Bitch herself, but her lyrics make you proud to be one -- especially the earlier stuff. Throwing Muses were a band that you could most likely call rock, but they transcended musical barriers that no one of any gender had previously or since equalled. They were simply entirely ORIGINAL. Kristin has a brand new solo acoustic album out in Feb called "Strange Angels"...not as original as previous work with the band, but equally as gifted.

• Lydia Lunch - Bio Brief: Identifying herself as "the average, all-American girl-next-door gone bad", Lydia excavates her own sustained damage as a product of this emotionally ravaging environment. She embodies the conviction that self-exploration and awareness are crucial to any deep recognition of the uglier truths of society. Her powerful voice resounds with a fierce clarity as she attacks, not only the cycles of abuse in America, but the chronic state of individual apathy that allows abuse to perpetuate. THE GUN IS LOADED seeks to penetrate the home viewing culture with its fiery personal testimony as an incentive to alter this increasingly lethal state. Her biting tongue rails against such issues as violence against women, toxic destruction of the Earth and economic subjugation.

• Saffire, The Uppity Blues Women - check out the Interview w/Ann Rabson.

• Joan Jett - Activist, musician and woman who did it her own way, despite constant pressure (from record companies) to do it THEIR way. The songs "Spinster" (from the album Pure and Simple) and the song "Machismo" (from Notorious) are two that could be HB anthems. That and the fact that "Don't Surrender" (also from Notorious) could be an anthem for almost anyone --- even one of us of the chest-hair-and-testacles set.

• Bif Naked

• Cyndi Lauper - (by popular demand)

• Drain - An all-girl band that really kicks ass.. makes me feel like one empowered Bitch!

• Sincola - Yet another band with a song titled "bitch"

• Uncle Bonsai - no longer together, but remembered for their immortal song "Penis Envy":

    If I had a penis, I'd wear it outside
    In cafes and car lots, with pomp and with pride.
    If I had a penis, I'd pamper it proper,
    I'd stay in the tub and use me as the stopper,
    I'd take it to pet shows and teach it to stay....
    I'd stuff it in turkeys on Thanksgiving day.
  
    A penis to plunder, a penis to push,
    'cause one in the hand is worth one in the bush
    ....
  

  
  
  Also, their liposuction song is to die for ("as you roto-root your way to slenderness"), and "Cheerleaders on Drugs" is a hoot.

• Maow - "The Unforgiving Sounds of Maow" - An all-girl HB Band from Canada. (check out the first track "Wank").

• Cub -- Another Canadian girl-band. Their latest "Box of Hair" is much harsher than their earlier sound. In the Liner notes on the CD they compaired themselves to "The Three Tenors", noting that the tenors need help picking up girls while they on the other hand...

• Courtney Love & Hole - What can we say?

• Kim Deal - of the Pixies, the Breeders, and the Amps. Her songs rarely involve anything to do with men or failed relationships. She merely sings about what interests her. If you're not interested, tough shit, don't listen. She is femininity and strength without a hint of girlishness. A woman to truly admire.

• Kim Gordon - of Sonic Youth

• Kim Shattuck - of The Muffs - (check out "Blonder and Blonder")

• Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees

• Lita Ford

• Deborah Harry

• Pat Benatar

• Annie Lennox - this sister rocks!

• L7 and 7 Year Bitch - two of the most hardcore, grunge-punk bands out there. They are pissed off and unapologetic about it. It's awesome.

• Aimee Mann - She was in the band "Til Tuesday" prior to releasing her two solo albums, "Whatever" and "I'm With Stupid". Debates as to her HB status - some think she's too obsessive about relationships, but she's definitely a strong woman and her music can provide plenty of catharsis.

• Silverfish - featuring lead singer now known as Ruby - has the infamous lyrics "Are you afraid of me? Hips, tits, lips, power!"

• Patti Smith Group - Patti Smith is an absolutely awesome performer, a gender transcender who kicks ass, and is hardcore serious about her art. She broke new ground fearlessly - helping those who followed, is a Nirvana fan (Kurt liked wearing dresses, Patti likes wearing army pants) and has never taken any crap ever without hitting back.

• Tribe 8 - the epitome of Heartless Bitches

• Sleater-Kinney, and "Babes In Toyland"

• SlingBacks - 2 albums out in the UK, on the Virgin label, and one due to be released in the US soon... Lyrics like, "Everybody knows that you're looking through her records while she's taking off her clothes".

• Tori Amos - While some might believe she spends too much energy bemoaning real or imagined past agonies (particularily at the hands of men), her album "Little Earthquakes" is not to be missed for its great songs dealing with sardonic rememberances of rape, bad relationships, and maturing. Contains the immortal lines "...Those Christian boys/ Just 'cause you can make me cum doesn't make you Jesus," and "Yes I wore a slinky red thing/ Does that mean that I should spread?"

• Elastica - especially the song "Stutter", with singer/songwriters Justine Frischmann and Donna Mathews

• Garbage - Definitely a Heartless Bitch band, with lead singer/songwriter Shirley Manson (formerly with Angelfish) giving her own brand of amazon justice to the words.

• Poe - rather sweet in person, but her song lyrics make the misogynists bang their heads against walls.

• Amy Arena

• Lush - with singer/songwriters Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson

• Ani Difranco - Ani Difranco is a neo-folk singer/songwriter/rocker, often refered to as the 90's Bob Dylan (but female!) She stands only 5 ft 2 in. tall but sings, speaks and lives with more hutzpah than the tallest man ever could. She was an empamcipated minor, started performing in her late teens, and now has produced over 10 albums on her own label, Righteous Babe.
  
  Particularly noteable albums are Dialte, Not a Pretty Girl, and Little Plastic Castle. Some Lyrics:
  
  "Fuck you and your untouchable face, fuck you, for existing in the first place, and who am I, that I should be vying for your touch, yes who am I, somebody just tell me that much" --Untouchable Face

• PJ Harvey - PJ (Polly Jean) Harvey plays (or once did, anyway) bluesy rock and roll. Her most Heartlessly Bitchy albums are: "Rid Of Me", (particularly the song "50 Ft. Queenie"), and "Dry", (particularly song "Shelia Na Gig"). Harvey takes the cake when it comes to depicting herself in her songs as so damn in control and confident that she is just plain gloriously BEYOND the bullshit. Not only that, but she did it in a musical style that no other female that I've heard has tackled.

• Liz Phair - There are lots of indie music chyxs, but "Exile in Guyville" is a *classic*. and Whip-smart rocks. "Fuck and Run",(Fuck and run, even when I was 17, Fuck and run, even when I was 12), is a classic, and Liz is the Heartless Bitch who said that there was no such thing as sensitive guys, only ones that are trying the sensitive schtick because crushing beer cans on their heads didn't get them laid.

• Indigo Girls--very smart, sassy lyrics. Kind of folk rock stuff, great harmony, literate, brutal, and honest. Currently have 6 albums:
  • Indigo Girls

  • Strange Fire

  • Nomads, Indians, Saints

  • Rites of Passage

  • Swamp Ophelia

  • Live album: 12,000

• Mellissa Etheridge - album:"Yes I am" - the queen of modern day rock, she had the guts to come out at the height of her popularity.. and she kept on going. She plays a great bluesy rock, with very intense guitar. Great HB music, cutting, honest lyrics.

Tell us about more music we should add to this list. Be sure to add some kind of short review or commentary about the band or artist including what qualifies them as Heartlessly Bitchy!

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