The girls are alright

Rock & Roll, especially hard rock and metal, has never been flushed with women vocalists, let alone bands. The stereotype that rock and roll is a boys club perpetuates well.

With the recent hoopla at Sundance over "The Runaways" movie, I thought that I would pay a some respects to other women rockers that have done it well and those who are doing it well. I don't want to sit here and give shout outs to women who I think have stellar rock vocals like, Lacey Mosley (Flyleaf), or Hayley Williams (Paramore), or Amy Lee; but rather I would like to talk about the way that women rock vocalists are viewed different that your prototypical pop princess.

Don't get me wrong, women in rock bands are still drooled over by the boys in the band and in the audience, however there seems to be less pressure on them to keep up a certain image. There seems to be more and more worry over women in pop music whom started their careers before their 18th birthday and how they transition into being an adult singer. Christina Aguilera probably did it the most abruptly in the pop community, with her DIRTY phase. Not a day goes by where there is not an article about some Mickey Mouse Club Alum taking pictures, that don't put her in lets just say; the most holiest of ways. They are under constant scrutiny from the public eye about their image; and part of me feels a little bad.

Why do the women of rock not feel this pressure? Is it because they are less attractive, or not as in the spotlight? This is a rhetorical question. No one, especially me can provide an accurate answer. My opinion is simply that leading women of rock and metal bands have a different on-stage persona, which translates us to thinking that their off-stage persona is the same. Simply stated: DON'T MESS WITH THEM.

This leads me back to my original thought on why I wanted to write this piece tonight; The Runaways. These girls were tough. They ate up men and spit them out; partied like hardened rock stars; and yet when they formed back in 1975, all of them were under the age of 18. They were left to their own devices, and handled themselves with less than admirable grace of that of young ladies. They all grew into adulthood while in a public light; granted this was many years ago; however I do credit them for setting the standards of women in rock. Simply stated again: DON'T MESS WITH THEM.

It seems to be working for Hayley Williams, who was only 15 when she took the stage, and has not had to deal with the pressuring of what her image should be.