Stevie Nicks - “Stand Back”
As I’m sure everyone else did, I loved that article on Riot Grrrls - and this part in particular:
“It shouldn’t be sacrilege to say that a guitar player who happens to be female sounds like, say, J Mascis,” she says. “And people should feel comfortable complimenting a 15-year-old guy, saying, ‘Your playing sounds like Marnie Stern.’ Women should be heroes for everybody, not just for other women.”
It reminded me of this guest list from Holy Ghost! in Pitchfork:
Favorite Older Songs at the Moment
Nick Millhiser of Holy Ghost!: The first thing that came to mind was Carly Simon’s “Why”, which is definitely one of our favorite songs. It’s both huge and chic, and it’s a very weird song, with some of the most incredible bass playing in recorded history.
Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back” is a song Alex and I probably reference more often than is healthy. I was also listening to Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love a lot, and anything on Side A of that record is about as good as anything else I can think of.
Two dude musicians admit that they are musically influenced by not one, but three female artists - two of them primary songwriters of their songs. And Nicks’ song is a riff on Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.” There’s plenty of cross-gender musical influencing in pop music, if only we actually listen hard enough.
