1 00:00:01,348 --> 00:00:03,481 [Narrator] Previously on Women Who Rock... 2 00:00:03,611 --> 00:00:04,656 [Mavis Staples] People started saying 3 00:00:04,786 --> 00:00:07,267 the Staple Singers are singing the devil's music. 4 00:00:07,398 --> 00:00:08,790 [Merry Clayton] It was rock 'n' roll, 5 00:00:08,921 --> 00:00:10,444 and it would lead you down a path 6 00:00:10,575 --> 00:00:12,403 that was not very savory. 7 00:00:12,533 --> 00:00:13,795 [Tori Amos] Nina Simone's voice 8 00:00:13,926 --> 00:00:15,841 was a challenge to wake up. 9 00:00:15,971 --> 00:00:18,191 "Mississippi Goddamn," Wow. 10 00:00:18,322 --> 00:00:19,932 ♪ Yeah! 11 00:00:20,063 --> 00:00:22,848 [singing bass line to "I'll Take You There"] 12 00:00:22,978 --> 00:00:26,286 [Nona Hendryx] We had coiffed hair and tiaras. 13 00:00:26,417 --> 00:00:28,375 That was about a fantasy. 14 00:00:28,506 --> 00:00:30,421 [Chaka Khan] In that day, 15 00:00:30,551 --> 00:00:31,770 it wasn't unusual for a band 16 00:00:31,900 --> 00:00:33,815 to be discovered at a club, 17 00:00:33,946 --> 00:00:35,643 and to sign a record deal on the spot. 18 00:00:35,774 --> 00:00:38,429 [electric guitar strum] 19 00:00:38,559 --> 00:00:40,474 [amplifier feedback] 20 00:00:40,605 --> 00:00:43,695 [electric guitar strum] 21 00:00:47,786 --> 00:00:49,831 Growing up, when I discovered 22 00:00:49,962 --> 00:00:54,053 these incredible women making rock music, 23 00:00:54,184 --> 00:00:56,186 I mean, that's, like-- that's the dream. 24 00:00:58,623 --> 00:00:59,972 People would be like, "Whoa, 25 00:01:00,103 --> 00:01:01,582 look at that little gal with that big guitar," 26 00:01:01,713 --> 00:01:04,107 like a novelty. 27 00:01:04,237 --> 00:01:06,674 [Benatar] I wanted to break the boys' club. 28 00:01:06,805 --> 00:01:10,983 I wanted to break down that bullshit. 29 00:01:11,114 --> 00:01:12,941 [Khan] I said, "Let me tell you something. 30 00:01:13,072 --> 00:01:16,771 I'm going to be a star with or without you." 31 00:01:17,946 --> 00:01:19,296 [Jett] Growing up, I thought, 32 00:01:19,426 --> 00:01:20,384 "There's gotta be other girls 33 00:01:20,514 --> 00:01:22,516 that wanna play rock 'n' roll. 34 00:01:22,647 --> 00:01:23,952 I can't be the only one." 35 00:01:24,083 --> 00:01:25,171 [Twain] There's something very liberating 36 00:01:25,302 --> 00:01:30,524 about being able to take on a rock 'n' roll attitude 37 00:01:30,655 --> 00:01:33,614 and not have to abandon your femininity at the same time. 38 00:01:33,745 --> 00:01:36,574 [Crow] There were lots of obstacles along the way for me, 39 00:01:36,704 --> 00:01:38,532 but I knew the only person that could drive my ship 40 00:01:38,663 --> 00:01:40,708 that I felt I could trust was me. 41 00:01:40,839 --> 00:01:42,797 [Staples] I'm not a diva. 42 00:01:42,928 --> 00:01:44,669 I love people. I'm a people person. 43 00:01:44,799 --> 00:01:46,584 I'm just Mavis. 44 00:01:46,714 --> 00:01:48,281 Just Mavis. 45 00:01:48,412 --> 00:01:49,630 Yep. 46 00:01:57,072 --> 00:02:02,948 ♪♪♪ 47 00:02:28,843 --> 00:02:31,019 ["Barracuda" playing] 48 00:02:31,150 --> 00:02:32,020 [singing guitar riff from "Barracuda"] 49 00:02:32,151 --> 00:02:34,849 Dun-dun... whoop! 50 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:36,808 ["Barracuda" continues] 51 00:02:36,938 --> 00:02:38,897 ♪♪♪ 52 00:02:42,814 --> 00:02:44,032 -♪ So this ain't the end... -When I hear "Barracuda," 53 00:02:44,163 --> 00:02:45,947 I feel like a barracuda. 54 00:02:46,078 --> 00:02:48,036 Like... [laughs] 55 00:02:48,167 --> 00:02:50,691 I remember being in seventh grade 56 00:02:50,822 --> 00:02:52,040 with my best friend, 57 00:02:52,171 --> 00:02:54,782 and we would play the intro to "Barracuda." 58 00:02:54,913 --> 00:02:56,523 I mean, we played it poorly, of course. 59 00:02:56,654 --> 00:02:59,091 ♪ Back over time we were all trying for free ♪ 60 00:02:59,222 --> 00:03:02,877 Singing "Barracuda" was... [laughs] 61 00:03:03,008 --> 00:03:06,664 I would say a very liberating experience. 62 00:03:06,794 --> 00:03:08,709 [Nancy Wilson] When a voice like Ann Wilson's voice 63 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:10,581 is right out front, 64 00:03:10,711 --> 00:03:12,931 she's just got this gift 65 00:03:13,061 --> 00:03:14,759 that you have to notice it. 66 00:03:14,889 --> 00:03:19,154 ♪ You gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn to the wick ♪ 67 00:03:19,285 --> 00:03:20,417 [Natalie Merchant] They frightened me. 68 00:03:20,547 --> 00:03:21,461 It's like, "There are bad girls." 69 00:03:21,592 --> 00:03:23,463 That's what I... [laughs] 70 00:03:23,594 --> 00:03:24,638 They were powerful, 71 00:03:24,769 --> 00:03:26,336 but it was like a witches' coven. 72 00:03:26,466 --> 00:03:27,641 ♪♪♪ 73 00:03:27,772 --> 00:03:31,123 -All right! -[crowd cheering] 74 00:03:31,254 --> 00:03:34,126 There was a situation at a party 75 00:03:34,257 --> 00:03:38,130 where some sleazy record guys came up to Ann, 76 00:03:38,261 --> 00:03:40,524 and said, "Hey, how's your lover?" 77 00:03:40,654 --> 00:03:44,658 She's like, "Well, my boyfriend, Mike, he's fine." 78 00:03:44,789 --> 00:03:46,573 He said, "No, I mean your sister. 79 00:03:46,704 --> 00:03:47,748 How's your lover?" 80 00:03:47,879 --> 00:03:49,707 And so the insinuation 81 00:03:49,837 --> 00:03:52,492 was that we were sister-lovers, right? 82 00:03:52,623 --> 00:03:55,016 She was so livid about that. 83 00:03:55,147 --> 00:03:56,801 She stomped off, 84 00:03:56,931 --> 00:04:00,805 and went and wrote the words to "Barracuda" that same night. 85 00:04:03,068 --> 00:04:05,592 We knew it needed to have an angry groove 86 00:04:05,723 --> 00:04:07,855 because it's an angry song 87 00:04:07,986 --> 00:04:09,466 about slimeballs, really, 88 00:04:09,596 --> 00:04:10,771 and, uh... 89 00:04:10,902 --> 00:04:12,382 it's a good song. 90 00:04:12,512 --> 00:04:13,383 [chuckles] 91 00:04:13,513 --> 00:04:16,647 ♪♪♪ 92 00:04:16,777 --> 00:04:18,692 In the early '60s, 93 00:04:18,823 --> 00:04:21,869 I was about nine at the time, 94 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,828 the culture had shifted so much, 95 00:04:23,958 --> 00:04:25,699 mainly from the Beatles. 96 00:04:26,874 --> 00:04:30,530 There was so much rich soil 97 00:04:30,661 --> 00:04:32,967 to plant your seed in musically 98 00:04:33,098 --> 00:04:35,013 that we were so lucky to grow up with, 99 00:04:35,143 --> 00:04:39,017 but seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show 100 00:04:39,147 --> 00:04:40,627 was like the lunar landing. 101 00:04:40,758 --> 00:04:42,673 [fans screaming] 102 00:04:47,852 --> 00:04:52,117 The Beatles ignited the flame in me and my sister Ann, 103 00:04:52,247 --> 00:04:53,814 and the culture, and the world 104 00:04:53,945 --> 00:04:57,992 in just an explosive inspiration. 105 00:04:58,123 --> 00:05:00,299 We just wanted to be the Beatles. 106 00:05:00,430 --> 00:05:02,083 We didn't want to be girls trying to be the Beatles. 107 00:05:02,214 --> 00:05:03,389 We just wanted to be the Beatles... 108 00:05:04,825 --> 00:05:06,566 and being that young, 109 00:05:06,697 --> 00:05:08,176 we didn't have any concept 110 00:05:08,307 --> 00:05:11,528 that it wasn't natural just to go and get guitars 111 00:05:11,658 --> 00:05:14,618 and be kids with a band. 112 00:05:14,748 --> 00:05:16,054 [Ann Wilson] We were raised by a mother 113 00:05:16,184 --> 00:05:18,143 who never laid down the rules 114 00:05:18,273 --> 00:05:19,927 of what girls are supposed to be. 115 00:05:20,058 --> 00:05:22,756 She just said, "Be yourself." 116 00:05:24,062 --> 00:05:25,846 So it was all news to me 117 00:05:25,977 --> 00:05:28,893 that there was this dictate from the world of rock men, 118 00:05:29,023 --> 00:05:31,722 that this is what the image of a rock woman had to be. 119 00:05:31,852 --> 00:05:33,550 Ultimately... 120 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:34,768 can I say "fuckable"? 121 00:05:35,943 --> 00:05:38,163 Not necessarily in charge, 122 00:05:38,293 --> 00:05:40,034 so that came as a real shock to me. 123 00:05:41,775 --> 00:05:44,299 [Nancy Wilson] Women in popular music culture 124 00:05:44,430 --> 00:05:46,998 at the time seemed ornamental to me, 125 00:05:47,128 --> 00:05:49,217 like the front woman 126 00:05:49,348 --> 00:05:52,003 who had to be really dolled up 127 00:05:52,133 --> 00:05:54,962 and have the feminine charm 128 00:05:55,093 --> 00:05:56,660 more than any kind of aggressive 129 00:05:56,790 --> 00:05:59,706 or, you know, bold statement. 130 00:05:59,837 --> 00:06:02,535 So, demure, you know? 131 00:06:02,666 --> 00:06:03,928 It was much later 132 00:06:04,058 --> 00:06:06,931 that we already had kind of broken those rules 133 00:06:07,061 --> 00:06:09,063 about what girls are supposed to do 134 00:06:09,194 --> 00:06:11,631 or not supposed to really get away with. 135 00:06:11,762 --> 00:06:12,893 We already got away with it 136 00:06:13,024 --> 00:06:15,330 before we had the conscious decision 137 00:06:15,461 --> 00:06:17,942 of doing it against the gender lines. 138 00:06:18,072 --> 00:06:19,639 We were just kind of free with it. 139 00:06:19,770 --> 00:06:20,901 We just did it. 140 00:06:25,906 --> 00:06:27,517 In the mid-late 70s, 141 00:06:27,647 --> 00:06:29,083 the music business 142 00:06:29,214 --> 00:06:31,608 was definitely a male-dominated industry, 143 00:06:31,738 --> 00:06:35,176 a lot of real kind of slimeballs, 144 00:06:35,307 --> 00:06:38,441 more normally in the business part. 145 00:06:38,571 --> 00:06:42,619 You know, they'd be really kind of sexually inappropriate, 146 00:06:42,749 --> 00:06:45,317 but I think even more in that era, 147 00:06:45,448 --> 00:06:49,190 that it was more kind of expected in the business of it, 148 00:06:49,321 --> 00:06:52,237 and here's these, you know, 149 00:06:52,367 --> 00:06:55,109 little, vulnerable, fresh-faced, 150 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:56,981 apple-cheeked girls from Seattle. 151 00:06:58,199 --> 00:07:01,072 ♪♪♪ 152 00:07:03,378 --> 00:07:06,425 In the early 70s, we lived in Canada, 153 00:07:06,556 --> 00:07:10,864 and we cut our teeth in Vancouver. 154 00:07:10,995 --> 00:07:12,475 We were a working band. 155 00:07:12,605 --> 00:07:15,608 We really worked hard to learn the craft, 156 00:07:15,739 --> 00:07:17,654 be diligent, 157 00:07:17,784 --> 00:07:18,872 like, practice... 158 00:07:21,005 --> 00:07:22,223 And then we would get in a van, 159 00:07:22,354 --> 00:07:24,095 one van with the whole band, 160 00:07:24,225 --> 00:07:28,099 and trek across the Canadian tundra, 161 00:07:28,229 --> 00:07:30,928 you know, to some other cabaret. 162 00:07:31,058 --> 00:07:32,146 We got kicked out of one place 163 00:07:32,277 --> 00:07:36,673 because Ann commented about the dinner club food 164 00:07:36,803 --> 00:07:38,762 tasted like Sterno... 165 00:07:38,892 --> 00:07:41,068 [laughs] and so we got kicked out. 166 00:07:41,199 --> 00:07:43,288 We were fired on the spot, 167 00:07:43,418 --> 00:07:45,899 and so we set fire 168 00:07:46,030 --> 00:07:47,771 to the dressing room and left. 169 00:07:47,901 --> 00:07:49,120 [laughs] 170 00:07:51,078 --> 00:07:54,168 But then we got a call from Rod Stewart 171 00:07:54,299 --> 00:07:57,258 that his opener in Montreal had to drop out, 172 00:07:57,389 --> 00:07:59,609 so we got that job the next day. 173 00:08:01,393 --> 00:08:04,135 We went across Canada on the train, 174 00:08:04,265 --> 00:08:07,225 and played for Rod Stewart 175 00:08:07,355 --> 00:08:10,010 after being kicked out of the dinner club. [laughs] 176 00:08:11,925 --> 00:08:14,188 There were a million thrills to be had 177 00:08:14,319 --> 00:08:15,886 on those big stages. 178 00:08:17,061 --> 00:08:19,933 Like the first time we opened for Rod Stewart, 179 00:08:20,064 --> 00:08:22,283 it was like, "Wow!" 180 00:08:22,414 --> 00:08:23,763 The people lit their lighters, 181 00:08:23,894 --> 00:08:26,200 and they knew the song. 182 00:08:26,331 --> 00:08:27,506 We were like, "Wow!" 183 00:08:27,637 --> 00:08:30,509 It's like a constellation of little flames 184 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:32,946 in this huge room and this big stage, 185 00:08:33,077 --> 00:08:34,992 and it was super magical 186 00:08:35,122 --> 00:08:37,734 by way of the introduction onto the big stage. 187 00:08:37,864 --> 00:08:39,562 [crowd cheering] 188 00:08:45,393 --> 00:08:48,658 It was a much bigger deal than I anticipated. 189 00:08:50,355 --> 00:08:53,097 Suddenly were bigger and bigger stages, 190 00:08:53,227 --> 00:08:55,447 and then stadiums and festivals, 191 00:08:55,578 --> 00:08:58,319 and a sea of people as far as your eyes could see, 192 00:08:58,450 --> 00:09:00,278 with relay towers beyond that. 193 00:09:00,408 --> 00:09:04,238 It blew up pretty-- pretty big, you know. 194 00:09:04,369 --> 00:09:07,502 At this point, there's no negative nervousness, 195 00:09:07,633 --> 00:09:10,375 but there is a... there's a real anxiousness 196 00:09:10,505 --> 00:09:12,246 to get out there and do it, you know? 197 00:09:17,034 --> 00:09:18,905 [Ann Wilson] If you really want to do it up, 198 00:09:19,036 --> 00:09:21,125 and be as big as you can, 199 00:09:21,255 --> 00:09:22,953 you must tour. You must. 200 00:09:24,694 --> 00:09:27,000 You have to let them see that you're real. 201 00:09:27,131 --> 00:09:29,263 You know, you have to touch them. 202 00:09:29,394 --> 00:09:32,397 [announcer] Please welcome Heart! 203 00:09:32,527 --> 00:09:35,400 ♪♪♪ 204 00:09:35,530 --> 00:09:38,185 [Nancy Wilson] We were so unafraid 205 00:09:38,316 --> 00:09:40,840 to be brand-new and different. 206 00:09:40,971 --> 00:09:41,449 You know, into our 20s, 207 00:09:41,580 --> 00:09:43,538 we started to go, "Whoa, 208 00:09:43,669 --> 00:09:45,323 there's nothing out there like us, 209 00:09:45,453 --> 00:09:47,934 and that's a good thing." 210 00:09:48,065 --> 00:09:49,849 It set us apart, 211 00:09:49,980 --> 00:09:52,112 and we were not shy with it. 212 00:09:52,243 --> 00:09:55,899 We were just going to flex it, you know, and be loud. 213 00:09:56,029 --> 00:09:57,117 [chuckles] 214 00:09:58,249 --> 00:10:02,079 I think it's being inspired 215 00:10:02,209 --> 00:10:04,429 by all the muses that are available. 216 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:06,474 At the time, 217 00:10:06,605 --> 00:10:08,476 there weren't very many bands with girls in, 218 00:10:08,607 --> 00:10:10,957 like Heart, or Fleetwood Mac, 219 00:10:11,088 --> 00:10:13,481 and, you know, Stevie, we hung out with her a lot. 220 00:10:13,612 --> 00:10:15,179 We partied with her. [laughs] 221 00:10:15,309 --> 00:10:16,789 Maybe too much. 222 00:10:18,573 --> 00:10:20,227 [Sheila E] Stevie is incredible. 223 00:10:20,358 --> 00:10:23,317 The dynamic of how she writes 224 00:10:23,448 --> 00:10:25,276 and what she thinks about, 225 00:10:25,406 --> 00:10:27,321 and her passion for what she says, 226 00:10:27,452 --> 00:10:29,454 and who she is as an artist, 227 00:10:29,584 --> 00:10:31,674 to be true to who she is as a woman. 228 00:10:31,804 --> 00:10:34,154 Some of the things that she says and writes about 229 00:10:34,285 --> 00:10:36,374 is pretty deep. 230 00:10:36,504 --> 00:10:37,505 Man, you must have been in a place 231 00:10:37,636 --> 00:10:38,681 to really write something like this. 232 00:10:38,811 --> 00:10:41,466 I guess, in a sense, it's somewhat of a therapy. 233 00:10:41,596 --> 00:10:44,208 [Fleetwood Mac performing "Dreams"] 234 00:10:44,338 --> 00:10:46,645 ♪ It's only me 235 00:10:46,776 --> 00:10:52,129 ♪ Who wants to wrap around your dreams... ♪ 236 00:10:52,259 --> 00:10:54,000 [Sheryl Crow] Stevie Nicks, to me, 237 00:10:54,131 --> 00:10:55,436 she sort of encapsulated 238 00:10:55,567 --> 00:10:59,963 this ethereal, mystical being, 239 00:11:00,093 --> 00:11:01,486 and yet was writing this incredible poetry, 240 00:11:01,616 --> 00:11:03,096 and rocking. 241 00:11:03,227 --> 00:11:06,186 She was this sort of larger than life persona. 242 00:11:07,753 --> 00:11:09,712 Fleetwood Mac is probably, like, 243 00:11:09,842 --> 00:11:12,453 within my top three favorite bands ever of all time. 244 00:11:12,584 --> 00:11:13,933 I love Christine McVie as well. 245 00:11:14,064 --> 00:11:15,935 Like, I love Christine's songs, 246 00:11:16,066 --> 00:11:17,937 but Stevie is one of those artists 247 00:11:18,068 --> 00:11:20,548 that has the invisible energy. 248 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:22,637 It's just like she's a fucking magical witch. 249 00:11:22,768 --> 00:11:25,553 Like, that's all I can say about her, 250 00:11:25,684 --> 00:11:28,600 is she is an actual magical gold dust woman. 251 00:11:28,731 --> 00:11:30,297 ♪ ...thunder only happens when it's raining ♪ 252 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:35,520 ♪ Players only love you when they're playing... ♪ 253 00:11:35,650 --> 00:11:39,959 We had so much excitement for their songs, 254 00:11:40,090 --> 00:11:42,962 and know them inside out, 255 00:11:43,093 --> 00:11:44,529 you know, and upside down. 256 00:11:44,659 --> 00:11:47,750 ♪♪♪ 257 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:49,969 [Sheryl Crow] The Wilson Sisters of Heart, 258 00:11:50,100 --> 00:11:51,928 they were women who carved the way 259 00:11:52,058 --> 00:11:53,277 for a lot of us. 260 00:11:53,407 --> 00:11:55,496 You know, they were great poets, 261 00:11:55,627 --> 00:11:56,715 and they were great performers. 262 00:11:56,846 --> 00:11:59,413 [Nona Hendryx] Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, 263 00:11:59,544 --> 00:12:02,895 both women, they are beacons in music 264 00:12:03,026 --> 00:12:05,376 and what you can do. 265 00:12:05,506 --> 00:12:07,291 I always saw them as two women 266 00:12:07,421 --> 00:12:09,728 who just would destroy a stage. 267 00:12:09,859 --> 00:12:12,252 [Sheryl Crow] Nancy's a great musician. 268 00:12:12,383 --> 00:12:14,298 Only a few women that I can think of 269 00:12:14,428 --> 00:12:15,778 when I was a kid coming up 270 00:12:15,908 --> 00:12:17,431 stood out in front and played the guitar 271 00:12:17,562 --> 00:12:19,303 like one of the guys, 272 00:12:19,433 --> 00:12:21,871 and she was one of them. 273 00:12:22,872 --> 00:12:26,136 For us girls that were wanting to be out front, 274 00:12:26,266 --> 00:12:27,528 and who wanted to rock, 275 00:12:27,659 --> 00:12:29,704 she was an illustration of how to do that. 276 00:12:29,835 --> 00:12:31,054 How to be beautiful, how to continue 277 00:12:31,184 --> 00:12:33,360 to maintain your femininity 278 00:12:33,491 --> 00:12:37,451 and who you are, and yet, you know, 279 00:12:37,582 --> 00:12:40,498 rock 'n' roll on an electric guitar. 280 00:12:42,587 --> 00:12:43,718 [Nancy Wilson] For me, 281 00:12:43,849 --> 00:12:46,634 the guitar is kind of everything. 282 00:12:46,765 --> 00:12:49,986 I feel like I go through an array of personalities 283 00:12:50,116 --> 00:12:51,465 during a song. 284 00:12:51,596 --> 00:12:53,119 I could happy-go-lucky, 285 00:12:53,250 --> 00:12:56,035 bounce around like Paul McCartney over here, 286 00:12:56,166 --> 00:12:57,602 and then I could, like, 287 00:12:57,732 --> 00:13:02,041 dig in to the guitar like Jimmy Page 288 00:13:02,172 --> 00:13:04,087 on this other song. 289 00:13:04,217 --> 00:13:06,524 I've never felt gender-specific about playing, 290 00:13:06,654 --> 00:13:09,657 or being a rock person. 291 00:13:09,788 --> 00:13:14,662 I can be as strong as a male with my playing, 292 00:13:14,793 --> 00:13:17,578 or as delicate as someone like Joni. 293 00:13:17,709 --> 00:13:22,366 [Joni Mitchell playing guitar] 294 00:13:22,496 --> 00:13:26,326 Well, Joni Mitchell is gifted beyond explanation. 295 00:13:27,937 --> 00:13:31,070 I was a Joni fan from the very first Joni album 296 00:13:31,201 --> 00:13:32,202 when I was in high school. 297 00:13:36,249 --> 00:13:38,338 Her songs just made me cry, you know. 298 00:13:39,731 --> 00:13:42,081 I was just like [imitates sobbing], you know? 299 00:13:42,212 --> 00:13:44,344 That's just-- that's me. 300 00:13:44,475 --> 00:13:47,304 Joni made magic, 301 00:13:47,434 --> 00:13:49,219 magic places. 302 00:13:49,349 --> 00:13:50,437 I didn't have to leave 303 00:13:50,568 --> 00:13:53,136 to go to California. 304 00:13:53,266 --> 00:13:55,225 She took me to California. 305 00:13:55,355 --> 00:13:56,574 She took me everywhere, 306 00:13:56,704 --> 00:13:58,706 and it was lush and beautiful, 307 00:13:58,837 --> 00:14:02,232 and the chord structure was like from angels. 308 00:14:02,362 --> 00:14:05,365 ♪ Blue... 309 00:14:05,496 --> 00:14:07,977 [crowd applauding] 310 00:14:08,107 --> 00:14:10,022 [holding note] 311 00:14:14,635 --> 00:14:19,510 ♪ Songs are like tattoos... 312 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:21,077 Joni Mitchell was my queen. 313 00:14:21,207 --> 00:14:22,469 She wasn't loud, 314 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,037 but her voice soared through. 315 00:14:26,734 --> 00:14:29,172 Every woman has their revelation, you know, 316 00:14:29,302 --> 00:14:30,825 their epiphany when they hear Blue. 317 00:14:30,956 --> 00:14:33,132 ♪ ...or let me sail away... 318 00:14:33,263 --> 00:14:35,091 [Nancy Wilson] I saw Joni Mitchell 319 00:14:35,221 --> 00:14:36,483 at the Paramount Theater 320 00:14:36,614 --> 00:14:38,485 doing the Bluetour. 321 00:14:38,616 --> 00:14:40,096 She did the dulcimer. 322 00:14:40,226 --> 00:14:41,097 She played the piano. 323 00:14:41,227 --> 00:14:42,837 She played acoustic. 324 00:14:42,968 --> 00:14:45,710 Just her, [chuckles], only her, 325 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,409 and it was just way beyond anything I'd expected 326 00:14:49,540 --> 00:14:51,629 for a rock show to be like. 327 00:14:51,759 --> 00:14:57,417 ♪ Here is a song from me 328 00:14:59,376 --> 00:15:00,551 [Joni Mitchell] A woman came up to me in a bar 329 00:15:00,681 --> 00:15:02,248 and she said to me, 330 00:15:02,379 --> 00:15:04,207 "Before Prozac, there was Joni Mitchell." 331 00:15:04,337 --> 00:15:05,469 [laughs] 332 00:15:05,599 --> 00:15:07,297 You know, so... 333 00:15:07,427 --> 00:15:08,776 because people generally don't read that much 334 00:15:08,907 --> 00:15:10,213 in this culture, 335 00:15:10,343 --> 00:15:11,649 there was a lot of self-exploration, 336 00:15:11,779 --> 00:15:14,565 and there were some truths 337 00:15:14,695 --> 00:15:16,175 that I discovered along the way. 338 00:15:16,306 --> 00:15:17,220 Wherever I could take it 339 00:15:17,350 --> 00:15:19,483 from my own personal travail 340 00:15:19,613 --> 00:15:20,788 to the universal, 341 00:15:20,919 --> 00:15:23,313 anything good that helped me, 342 00:15:23,443 --> 00:15:26,229 I would try to slot into the song, you know, 343 00:15:26,359 --> 00:15:28,274 philisoph-- to give it some nutrition. 344 00:15:28,405 --> 00:15:30,668 ♪♪♪ 345 00:15:30,798 --> 00:15:34,193 [Aimee Mann] She had a really sophisticated approach to music, 346 00:15:34,324 --> 00:15:37,544 and her lyrics were really incredible. 347 00:15:37,675 --> 00:15:40,721 Now people realize what a genius she was, 348 00:15:40,852 --> 00:15:42,680 and, you know, a real savant, 349 00:15:42,810 --> 00:15:45,726 an absolute creative genius. 350 00:15:46,989 --> 00:15:49,469 I remember there were times when I was on a tour bus. 351 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,473 The bus is roaring through the night like a demon. 352 00:15:53,604 --> 00:15:55,562 I have all the windows open, 353 00:15:55,693 --> 00:15:57,477 Joni blasting in the back of the bus. 354 00:15:57,608 --> 00:15:59,566 ♪♪♪ 355 00:15:59,697 --> 00:16:01,525 You know, I'm pissed at the world, 356 00:16:01,655 --> 00:16:03,701 and I was, like, thinking about doing 357 00:16:03,831 --> 00:16:05,355 terrible things to myself, 358 00:16:05,485 --> 00:16:07,618 and then Joni saved me. 359 00:16:09,750 --> 00:16:11,839 Her lyrics would bring me back to square one, 360 00:16:11,970 --> 00:16:14,538 because she talks about everything so freely. 361 00:16:14,668 --> 00:16:16,931 Look, she's the first artist that sent me to a dictionary. 362 00:16:17,062 --> 00:16:20,326 I had to look up words in her lyrics. 363 00:16:20,457 --> 00:16:22,372 I love her for that, 364 00:16:22,502 --> 00:16:25,288 and we were friends because we told the truth. 365 00:16:25,418 --> 00:16:26,202 [laughs] 366 00:16:26,332 --> 00:16:27,594 You know? 367 00:16:27,725 --> 00:16:29,988 I'm thankful for that. 368 00:16:30,119 --> 00:16:33,644 She's influenced me immensely throughout my career. 369 00:16:34,862 --> 00:16:37,430 There were so few women 370 00:16:37,561 --> 00:16:40,738 who could break through 371 00:16:40,868 --> 00:16:44,481 the many cultural and psychological barriers 372 00:16:44,611 --> 00:16:48,354 that keep us from respecting women, you know. 373 00:16:48,485 --> 00:16:53,403 They were always incidental to the real thing 374 00:16:53,533 --> 00:16:55,187 that was always men. 375 00:16:56,667 --> 00:16:58,016 [Natalie Merchant] Women in the '70s 376 00:16:58,147 --> 00:17:00,845 started asserting their power through music... 377 00:17:01,802 --> 00:17:04,544 and taking more control over their careers, 378 00:17:04,675 --> 00:17:07,199 whether it was Joni Mitchell or Patti Smith. 379 00:17:09,245 --> 00:17:11,725 And that's something that so many women of my generation 380 00:17:11,856 --> 00:17:13,075 just grew up with, 381 00:17:13,205 --> 00:17:16,382 the privilege of women's voices being heard, 382 00:17:16,513 --> 00:17:18,950 and the female perspective being expressed, 383 00:17:19,081 --> 00:17:23,781 because we benefited from that second-wave feminism, 384 00:17:23,911 --> 00:17:25,696 the women's liberation movement. 385 00:17:25,826 --> 00:17:27,741 [crowd shouting and chanting] 386 00:17:32,224 --> 00:17:33,965 [Shirley Chisholm] You women better wake up 387 00:17:34,096 --> 00:17:35,793 if you want to help to change America around. 388 00:17:35,923 --> 00:17:37,099 The only thing that you have is your integrity, 389 00:17:37,229 --> 00:17:39,101 and the principles, and the convictions 390 00:17:39,231 --> 00:17:41,146 of what we are fighting for in America. 391 00:17:43,105 --> 00:17:46,543 The times reflected the music that completely followed, 392 00:17:46,673 --> 00:17:49,111 you know, the political landscape. 393 00:17:51,896 --> 00:17:53,593 [Ann Powers] We have a new generation, 394 00:17:53,724 --> 00:17:54,812 a new wave. 395 00:17:54,942 --> 00:17:57,467 It made space for women 396 00:17:57,597 --> 00:18:00,122 to directly and overtly challenge gender roles. 397 00:18:01,427 --> 00:18:02,254 No, thank you. 398 00:18:02,385 --> 00:18:02,994 [Ruth Bader Ginsberg] Some fear 399 00:18:03,125 --> 00:18:04,038 the Equal Rights Amendment, 400 00:18:04,169 --> 00:18:06,998 because no one can fully forecast 401 00:18:07,129 --> 00:18:09,522 the development of constitutional principle. 402 00:18:09,653 --> 00:18:12,525 Fear must not deter us now, 403 00:18:12,656 --> 00:18:13,961 for the Equal Rights Amendment 404 00:18:14,092 --> 00:18:16,747 represents the highest American ideal: 405 00:18:16,877 --> 00:18:20,490 recognition of the value of each individual. 406 00:18:20,620 --> 00:18:23,057 Now, in the 1970s, 407 00:18:23,188 --> 00:18:26,800 each woman as well as each man. 408 00:18:26,931 --> 00:18:28,454 [Holly George-Warren] I think a lot of women 409 00:18:28,585 --> 00:18:30,326 who were true musicians and true artists, 410 00:18:30,456 --> 00:18:32,502 also it liberated them 411 00:18:32,632 --> 00:18:35,157 to go out there and start bands, and start writing songs, 412 00:18:35,287 --> 00:18:39,422 and, you know, you get these incredible artists 413 00:18:39,552 --> 00:18:41,641 that came from this great wave. 414 00:18:41,772 --> 00:18:43,121 We're very privileged 415 00:18:43,252 --> 00:18:45,471 to have as our guest on the show today, 416 00:18:45,602 --> 00:18:47,473 and we thank Gloria and Ms.magazine 417 00:18:47,604 --> 00:18:48,866 for doing this 418 00:18:48,996 --> 00:18:51,782 to arrange for the appearance of Carole King. 419 00:18:51,912 --> 00:18:54,393 Here is Carole. It wasn't easy luring you 420 00:18:54,524 --> 00:18:55,307 from that ranch in Idaho. 421 00:18:55,438 --> 00:18:57,048 No. [laughs] 422 00:18:57,179 --> 00:18:59,529 It took something really special like this, though, 423 00:18:59,659 --> 00:19:00,921 because when I first heard 424 00:19:01,052 --> 00:19:02,793 about the women that were going to be on this show, 425 00:19:02,923 --> 00:19:04,577 all of them are women 426 00:19:04,708 --> 00:19:06,579 for whom I have a great deal of respect 427 00:19:06,710 --> 00:19:09,800 because they're committed to something they believe in, 428 00:19:09,930 --> 00:19:11,410 and have put themselves out on the line, 429 00:19:11,541 --> 00:19:13,499 standing up, voicing their opinions, 430 00:19:13,630 --> 00:19:18,112 and it hasn't always been easy, I know that. 431 00:19:18,243 --> 00:19:19,723 But I really respect them for that, 432 00:19:19,853 --> 00:19:20,985 and I wanted to be in this company 433 00:19:21,115 --> 00:19:22,595 because I try to be that myself. 434 00:19:22,726 --> 00:19:25,424 ♪♪♪ 435 00:19:25,555 --> 00:19:27,078 ♪ Looking out 436 00:19:27,209 --> 00:19:29,907 ♪ On the morning rain... 437 00:19:32,083 --> 00:19:34,738 [Sheryl Crow] I think my earliest influence 438 00:19:34,868 --> 00:19:36,043 is probably Carole King. 439 00:19:36,174 --> 00:19:38,307 When I was a really young girl, 440 00:19:38,437 --> 00:19:39,873 we had Tapestry, 441 00:19:40,004 --> 00:19:41,962 and I think that was the first time 442 00:19:42,093 --> 00:19:43,747 I kind of found my identity. 443 00:19:45,879 --> 00:19:47,794 [Norah Jones] I got really obsessed with Carole King 444 00:19:47,925 --> 00:19:50,014 and the Tapestryalbum. 445 00:19:50,144 --> 00:19:51,842 I mean, I had known "Natural Woman" 446 00:19:51,972 --> 00:19:55,280 from my childhood listening to Aretha, 447 00:19:55,411 --> 00:19:58,022 and so then when I found out that she wrote that song, 448 00:19:58,152 --> 00:19:59,545 and she wrote all these great songs, 449 00:19:59,676 --> 00:20:01,721 I was a fan. 450 00:20:01,852 --> 00:20:03,157 ♪ You make me feel... 451 00:20:03,288 --> 00:20:05,943 Carole King, one of the greatest songwriters ever, 452 00:20:06,073 --> 00:20:09,251 and a beautiful person. 453 00:20:09,381 --> 00:20:12,602 One of the greatest songwriters I can think of. 454 00:20:12,732 --> 00:20:15,909 ♪ ...natural woman 455 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:21,915 ♪ A natural woman 456 00:20:24,048 --> 00:20:25,745 [Sheryl Crow] I think one of the things about Carole King 457 00:20:25,876 --> 00:20:27,486 that I love is that you could feel 458 00:20:27,617 --> 00:20:28,922 her heart in these songs. 459 00:20:29,053 --> 00:20:31,664 She played the piano, 460 00:20:31,795 --> 00:20:36,582 and she wrote heartfelt songs, but they were still edgy, 461 00:20:36,713 --> 00:20:38,105 and of the moment, 462 00:20:38,236 --> 00:20:40,543 songs that felt very yearning to me, 463 00:20:40,673 --> 00:20:43,459 felt like she was able to sort of capture 464 00:20:43,589 --> 00:20:45,069 what it felt like to be a woman. 465 00:20:46,244 --> 00:20:48,899 You have the singer-songwriter movement 466 00:20:49,029 --> 00:20:52,294 that was Carole King and Joni Mitchell, 467 00:20:52,424 --> 00:20:55,079 among others, but definitely leading the way. 468 00:20:55,209 --> 00:20:57,908 ♪♪♪ 469 00:20:58,038 --> 00:21:00,911 [Chaka Khan] There was a time in music 470 00:21:01,041 --> 00:21:02,608 when there were barely any women at all. 471 00:21:02,739 --> 00:21:05,785 Uh, Sly and the Family Stone were out there. 472 00:21:05,916 --> 00:21:07,570 There were women like Bonnie Raitt, 473 00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:09,093 who stood there and played a guitar, 474 00:21:09,223 --> 00:21:12,270 and was a badass and paved the way. 475 00:21:12,401 --> 00:21:16,535 It was these women that were proving that idea wrong, 476 00:21:16,666 --> 00:21:19,146 that not just men could play guitar. 477 00:21:19,277 --> 00:21:20,887 They were women that gave me permission 478 00:21:21,018 --> 00:21:21,932 to do the same. 479 00:21:23,020 --> 00:21:24,587 [Susanna Hoffs] Joni, 480 00:21:24,717 --> 00:21:26,806 and Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt. 481 00:21:26,937 --> 00:21:30,723 I just basically learned singing and playing guitar 482 00:21:30,854 --> 00:21:32,638 through playing those albums over and over and over again 483 00:21:32,769 --> 00:21:34,771 to the point that it drove my family crazy, 484 00:21:34,901 --> 00:21:36,120 but I didn't care, 485 00:21:36,250 --> 00:21:37,861 because it was kind of like a drug. 486 00:21:37,991 --> 00:21:40,037 I was addicted to it. 487 00:21:40,167 --> 00:21:42,605 Women were mostly singers, 488 00:21:42,735 --> 00:21:45,129 but there had been a marvelous group 489 00:21:45,259 --> 00:21:46,086 named Fanny. 490 00:21:46,217 --> 00:21:49,046 ♪ Ooh, baby 491 00:21:49,176 --> 00:21:51,788 ♪ I can make you come 492 00:21:52,745 --> 00:21:55,357 [Tina Weymouth] Fanny was just really original, 493 00:21:55,487 --> 00:21:58,925 but they didn't have a mainstream success. 494 00:22:00,013 --> 00:22:03,060 [Kate Pierson] They were the first women band in the '70s 495 00:22:03,190 --> 00:22:03,756 that were... played their own instruments, 496 00:22:03,887 --> 00:22:04,801 wrote their own songs. 497 00:22:04,931 --> 00:22:07,020 ♪ Ooh, you're the one 498 00:22:07,151 --> 00:22:08,718 ♪ Oh, yeah, babe 499 00:22:08,848 --> 00:22:10,502 ♪ You're the one 500 00:22:10,633 --> 00:22:11,851 ♪♪♪ 501 00:22:18,075 --> 00:22:19,903 But even back in the punk days, 502 00:22:20,033 --> 00:22:20,947 there weren't a lot of women 503 00:22:21,078 --> 00:22:21,818 playing their own instruments. 504 00:22:21,948 --> 00:22:25,125 ♪♪♪ 505 00:22:25,256 --> 00:22:27,040 [Natalie Merchant] This idea of women being part of the band 506 00:22:27,171 --> 00:22:28,999 with an instrument 507 00:22:29,129 --> 00:22:33,046 on equal footing with the men in the band, 508 00:22:33,177 --> 00:22:34,787 that was Tina Weymouth, 509 00:22:34,918 --> 00:22:36,136 and that was really powerful. 510 00:22:42,055 --> 00:22:44,057 [Tina Weymouth] 19-early 70s, 511 00:22:44,188 --> 00:22:47,017 New York was broke, 512 00:22:47,147 --> 00:22:50,107 so we lived in very poor circumstances 513 00:22:50,237 --> 00:22:53,110 in a loft on Christie Street. 514 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,592 It was three and a half blocks from CBGBs. 515 00:22:56,722 --> 00:22:58,376 I had a day job. 516 00:22:58,507 --> 00:23:02,162 I worked on 57th Street at Henri Bendel. 517 00:23:02,293 --> 00:23:04,991 I walked down to 48th Street, 518 00:23:05,122 --> 00:23:07,429 put some money down on a bass guitar, 519 00:23:07,559 --> 00:23:09,387 and I brought it home, and I still have it, 520 00:23:09,518 --> 00:23:13,217 a wonderful 1963 Fender bass guitar. 521 00:23:13,347 --> 00:23:16,220 ♪♪♪ 522 00:23:16,350 --> 00:23:18,918 I was with Chris Frantz, who played drums, 523 00:23:19,049 --> 00:23:20,224 and David Byrne, 524 00:23:20,354 --> 00:23:23,096 who played guitar, and sang a little. 525 00:23:23,227 --> 00:23:26,535 We had a great time just developing. 526 00:23:28,188 --> 00:23:30,800 Our whole band was learning together. 527 00:23:30,930 --> 00:23:33,106 We would rehearse 528 00:23:33,237 --> 00:23:34,934 every single day, 529 00:23:35,065 --> 00:23:37,110 seven days a week, 530 00:23:37,241 --> 00:23:40,984 and within five and a half months 531 00:23:41,114 --> 00:23:42,855 of me getting that guitar, 532 00:23:42,986 --> 00:23:44,901 we were playing at CBGBs. 533 00:23:48,426 --> 00:23:50,689 CBGBs was this wonderful place to hang out 534 00:23:50,820 --> 00:23:52,778 and watch Television, 535 00:23:52,909 --> 00:23:54,258 Patti Smith, 536 00:23:54,388 --> 00:23:55,999 Blondie. 537 00:23:57,043 --> 00:24:00,177 It was a really interesting time in the '70s, 538 00:24:00,307 --> 00:24:03,223 because the big rock gods, you know, 539 00:24:03,354 --> 00:24:06,444 Zeppelin, and The Who, and the Rolling Stones touring, 540 00:24:06,575 --> 00:24:08,751 there was suddenly like an underground punk scene, 541 00:24:08,881 --> 00:24:11,797 and it was Television, and Blondie, and Patti. 542 00:24:11,928 --> 00:24:13,756 ♪♪♪ 543 00:24:13,886 --> 00:24:15,279 [Holly George-Warren] Patti Smith, 544 00:24:15,409 --> 00:24:19,152 I had never seen anyone like that before on stage, ever. 545 00:24:19,283 --> 00:24:21,894 She was so androgynous. 546 00:24:22,025 --> 00:24:23,722 She was a whirling dervish. 547 00:24:23,853 --> 00:24:25,724 She was a poet. 548 00:24:25,855 --> 00:24:27,639 She was rock incarnate. 549 00:24:28,553 --> 00:24:30,120 [Joan Jett] Patti Smith is considered 550 00:24:30,250 --> 00:24:32,818 that sort of subculture, 551 00:24:32,949 --> 00:24:36,692 but she was a little bit different kind of music to me. 552 00:24:36,822 --> 00:24:39,303 It was more cerebral. 553 00:24:39,433 --> 00:24:41,218 Yeah, there was something I could relate to in it. 554 00:24:41,348 --> 00:24:44,569 The androgyny of it I could really relate to. 555 00:24:44,700 --> 00:24:48,138 [Ann Powers] She wasn't conforming to anybody's idea 556 00:24:48,268 --> 00:24:51,054 of a feminine ideal. 557 00:24:51,184 --> 00:24:54,579 She went beyond gender. 558 00:24:54,710 --> 00:24:57,364 She went right through it, and changed everything. 559 00:24:57,495 --> 00:25:01,325 ♪ Come on, now Try and understand ♪ 560 00:25:01,455 --> 00:25:03,980 ♪ The way I feel when I'm in your hands ♪ 561 00:25:04,110 --> 00:25:05,372 [Debora Iyall] Listening to Patti Smith, 562 00:25:05,503 --> 00:25:07,157 live especially, 563 00:25:07,287 --> 00:25:09,507 made that poetry, 564 00:25:09,638 --> 00:25:13,380 and that part of me that was just loving words, 565 00:25:13,511 --> 00:25:16,035 and it was very transporting, 566 00:25:16,166 --> 00:25:17,863 transcendental. 567 00:25:17,994 --> 00:25:21,824 ♪ Because the night belongs to love ♪ 568 00:25:21,954 --> 00:25:25,305 ♪ Because the night belongs to lovers ♪ 569 00:25:25,436 --> 00:25:26,742 ♪ Because the night... 570 00:25:26,872 --> 00:25:28,265 Patti Smith, just-- 571 00:25:28,395 --> 00:25:33,226 she is like a sorceress when she performs. 572 00:25:33,357 --> 00:25:35,402 Oh, my God, it was just so mind-blowing. 573 00:25:35,533 --> 00:25:37,361 We went backstage, and she was still on. 574 00:25:37,491 --> 00:25:40,233 She was still, like, doing poetry. 575 00:25:41,974 --> 00:25:44,455 Patti Smith threw up on me one night 576 00:25:44,586 --> 00:25:46,718 in the back room at CBGBs. 577 00:25:48,502 --> 00:25:50,809 That's my fondest memory of Patti. 578 00:25:50,940 --> 00:25:53,203 She was just in the doorway, and she saw me, 579 00:25:53,333 --> 00:25:54,900 and there was nobody else in the room 580 00:25:55,031 --> 00:25:56,380 she recognized, I guess, 581 00:25:56,510 --> 00:26:00,297 and she came over to me and went, "Wayne! Argh!" 582 00:26:00,427 --> 00:26:03,300 and just threw up all over me, 583 00:26:03,430 --> 00:26:06,999 and I am so sorry 584 00:26:07,130 --> 00:26:10,133 that I threw away her puke, 585 00:26:10,263 --> 00:26:14,180 because I could have kept those puke-stained clothes, 586 00:26:14,311 --> 00:26:17,183 and they could have been put in some kind of Hall of Fame. 587 00:26:17,314 --> 00:26:19,185 "Clothes Patti Smith puked on." 588 00:26:21,361 --> 00:26:22,275 [Aimee Mann] That was still the time 589 00:26:22,406 --> 00:26:24,451 where kind of as a woman, 590 00:26:24,582 --> 00:26:27,019 you were expected to be ladylike, 591 00:26:27,150 --> 00:26:29,369 and so she just really had, 592 00:26:29,500 --> 00:26:32,068 like, a straight-out kind of rock presence 593 00:26:32,198 --> 00:26:34,636 that was very androgynous, 594 00:26:34,766 --> 00:26:37,813 and that was very appealing to, like, you know, 595 00:26:37,943 --> 00:26:38,944 "Oh, here's somebody who is not 596 00:26:39,075 --> 00:26:41,120 in the same box as everybody else." 597 00:26:42,165 --> 00:26:43,253 [Kate Pierson] You know, 598 00:26:43,383 --> 00:26:45,255 we thought Patti was the punk priestess, 599 00:26:45,385 --> 00:26:46,386 and Debbie, 600 00:26:46,517 --> 00:26:49,172 she's just, like, so beautiful, 601 00:26:49,302 --> 00:26:50,652 so she was the punk princess, 602 00:26:51,827 --> 00:26:53,002 'Cause she added this glamour to punk. 603 00:26:53,132 --> 00:26:54,133 ♪♪♪ 604 00:26:54,264 --> 00:26:57,267 ♪ Face to face 605 00:26:57,397 --> 00:27:00,531 ♪ Sadly solitude 606 00:27:00,662 --> 00:27:02,446 [Aimee Mann] Blondie was one of those bands 607 00:27:02,576 --> 00:27:03,969 that I first started listening to 608 00:27:04,100 --> 00:27:06,885 when I was first discovering punk and New Wave. 609 00:27:07,016 --> 00:27:11,411 Deborah Harry had a real "fuck you" confidence 610 00:27:11,542 --> 00:27:12,891 that I was very inspired by. 611 00:27:13,022 --> 00:27:15,546 ♪ Rapture 612 00:27:15,677 --> 00:27:18,114 [St. Vincent] Blondie is that, like, perfect example 613 00:27:18,244 --> 00:27:22,205 that I truly don't think has come around again. 614 00:27:22,335 --> 00:27:23,423 As far as I'm concerned, like, 615 00:27:23,554 --> 00:27:26,600 Debbie Harry invented cool. 616 00:27:26,731 --> 00:27:29,212 ♪ Go out to the parking lot 617 00:27:29,342 --> 00:27:32,389 She had that very unique look 618 00:27:32,519 --> 00:27:33,477 that matched the vocal, 619 00:27:33,607 --> 00:27:35,566 kind of quirky, kind of offbeat. 620 00:27:35,697 --> 00:27:36,915 ♪ And you don't stop 621 00:27:37,046 --> 00:27:39,526 ♪ You keep on eating cars 622 00:27:39,657 --> 00:27:41,311 ♪ Then when there's no more cars ♪ 623 00:27:41,441 --> 00:27:42,355 [Ann Powers] Debbie Harry of Blondie, 624 00:27:42,486 --> 00:27:44,706 such a revolutionary, 625 00:27:44,836 --> 00:27:47,317 completely playing the beauty queen to the hilt, 626 00:27:47,447 --> 00:27:50,581 and then ripping her dress, ripping her stockings, 627 00:27:50,712 --> 00:27:52,583 ripping that whole image apart. 628 00:27:52,714 --> 00:27:54,628 [Joan Jett] I was lucky enough 629 00:27:54,759 --> 00:27:56,413 to be good friends with the band, 630 00:27:56,543 --> 00:27:58,284 and they would come to L.A., 631 00:27:58,415 --> 00:28:00,025 and they'd stay for a while. 632 00:28:00,156 --> 00:28:01,984 They'd stay for a couple of weeks or a month, 633 00:28:02,114 --> 00:28:03,768 and so we'd get to really hang out. 634 00:28:05,030 --> 00:28:06,118 Debbie Harry, 635 00:28:06,249 --> 00:28:08,294 she had been doing it longer than I had, 636 00:28:08,425 --> 00:28:09,339 and it was just, like, 637 00:28:09,469 --> 00:28:11,558 I looked up to her in that way 638 00:28:11,689 --> 00:28:14,126 that you could talk about what you go through. 639 00:28:14,257 --> 00:28:15,475 ♪♪♪ 640 00:28:15,606 --> 00:28:17,042 [Jayne County] I mean, Blondie, I think 641 00:28:17,173 --> 00:28:19,566 out of all the New York bands, Blondie made it 642 00:28:19,697 --> 00:28:21,264 the most commercial of any of them. 643 00:28:21,394 --> 00:28:22,613 From Blondie, would you welcome 644 00:28:22,744 --> 00:28:24,310 Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. 645 00:28:24,441 --> 00:28:26,965 [audience applauding] 646 00:28:27,096 --> 00:28:29,272 But your hits, Debbie, 647 00:28:29,402 --> 00:28:33,406 seem to give permission for all girls to have hits. 648 00:28:33,537 --> 00:28:35,408 You must have had a struggle to get going. 649 00:28:35,539 --> 00:28:37,367 Well, yeah, of course, 650 00:28:37,497 --> 00:28:38,716 you know, it's always a struggle. 651 00:28:38,847 --> 00:28:40,196 - [Merv Griffin] Yeah. - It was also 652 00:28:40,326 --> 00:28:41,588 a timely thing for me, too, 653 00:28:41,719 --> 00:28:45,157 because with all the sort of acceptance, 654 00:28:45,288 --> 00:28:47,203 and, you know, sort of the ERA, 655 00:28:47,333 --> 00:28:49,074 and all those things were sort of happening at once, 656 00:28:49,205 --> 00:28:51,511 and I was just doing it simultaneously, 657 00:28:51,642 --> 00:28:53,818 so I guess it's very logical. 658 00:28:56,299 --> 00:28:58,214 [Kate Pierson] During that time, you know, 659 00:28:58,344 --> 00:29:00,129 all other bands were going to see other bands, 660 00:29:00,259 --> 00:29:04,394 so Talking Heads and Blondie came to see us, 661 00:29:04,524 --> 00:29:07,614 and then we got to see Patti Smith. 662 00:29:07,745 --> 00:29:10,748 Talking Heads is not that much like Television, 663 00:29:10,879 --> 00:29:13,272 and Television isn't that much like Patti Smith, 664 00:29:13,403 --> 00:29:16,536 or Siouxsie and the Banshees, or The Pretenders. 665 00:29:18,321 --> 00:29:19,583 [Macy Gray] I remember The Pretenders. 666 00:29:19,713 --> 00:29:22,107 I remember I was a big Chrissie Hynde fan, 667 00:29:22,238 --> 00:29:24,283 because she was like Billie Holiday, 668 00:29:24,414 --> 00:29:27,199 like, she didn't have this big, you know, church voice, 669 00:29:27,330 --> 00:29:29,332 but she had a style, you know, 670 00:29:29,462 --> 00:29:31,116 that was super cool. 671 00:29:31,247 --> 00:29:33,466 And I could always understand what she was saying. 672 00:29:35,294 --> 00:29:36,121 [Ann Powers] Chrissie Hynde, 673 00:29:36,252 --> 00:29:37,122 I remember very well 674 00:29:37,253 --> 00:29:38,689 when I saw the cover 675 00:29:38,820 --> 00:29:40,822 of the first Pretenders album, 676 00:29:40,952 --> 00:29:45,565 and here was this woman in girl-group eyeliner, 677 00:29:45,696 --> 00:29:48,525 and a rock 'n' roll rooster haircut 678 00:29:48,655 --> 00:29:50,483 like the guys in the Stones had, 679 00:29:50,614 --> 00:29:52,181 wearing a leather jacket, 680 00:29:52,311 --> 00:29:54,400 and just looking so tough, 681 00:29:54,531 --> 00:29:56,315 and then I heard her voice, 682 00:29:56,446 --> 00:29:57,969 and the tenderness, 683 00:29:58,100 --> 00:29:59,710 the compassion, 684 00:29:59,841 --> 00:30:01,799 the vulnerability in that voice 685 00:30:01,930 --> 00:30:05,020 that then would switch over to absolute ballsiness, 686 00:30:05,150 --> 00:30:07,109 but that's Chrissie, you know. 687 00:30:07,239 --> 00:30:09,241 Chrissie was everything at once. 688 00:30:10,112 --> 00:30:11,461 [Kate Pierson] Everyone was unique, 689 00:30:11,591 --> 00:30:13,376 that's what was great about that scene. 690 00:30:15,247 --> 00:30:16,770 [Tina Weymouth] It was a fabulous thing for us 691 00:30:16,901 --> 00:30:19,469 to open up this whole new little culture... 692 00:30:21,601 --> 00:30:23,342 this diverse mix 693 00:30:23,473 --> 00:30:26,084 of women working with men. 694 00:30:26,215 --> 00:30:28,478 It was good and positive, 695 00:30:28,608 --> 00:30:30,741 not just for music and the arts, 696 00:30:30,872 --> 00:30:32,699 but it was good for everybody. 697 00:30:32,830 --> 00:30:37,269 [The B-52s performing intro to "Rock Lobster"] 698 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,619 ♪ Bah-loo-bah-lah 699 00:30:39,750 --> 00:30:40,533 Aah! 700 00:30:40,664 --> 00:30:42,187 ♪ Bah-loo-bah-lah 701 00:30:42,318 --> 00:30:43,275 ♪ Aah! 702 00:30:43,406 --> 00:30:45,060 ♪ We were at a party 703 00:30:45,190 --> 00:30:46,061 ♪ Aah! 704 00:30:46,191 --> 00:30:47,323 ♪ His earlobe fell in the deep 705 00:30:47,453 --> 00:30:48,890 ♪ Aah! 706 00:30:49,020 --> 00:30:50,369 ♪ Someone reached in and grabbed it ♪ 707 00:30:50,500 --> 00:30:51,631 ♪ Aah! 708 00:30:51,762 --> 00:30:53,590 ♪ It was a rock lobster 709 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:58,725 ♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah! 710 00:30:58,856 --> 00:31:00,597 ♪ Rock lobster! 711 00:31:00,727 --> 00:31:02,294 ♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah! 712 00:31:02,425 --> 00:31:04,122 [Tina Weymouth] I loved it that Kate could just sing, 713 00:31:04,253 --> 00:31:07,430 and create these amazingly wonderful 714 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:08,561 driving bass riffs 715 00:31:08,692 --> 00:31:10,563 all on a keyboard, 716 00:31:10,694 --> 00:31:13,218 and all while dancing 717 00:31:13,349 --> 00:31:16,395 with hair piled up to here. 718 00:31:16,526 --> 00:31:18,223 It was so brilliant. 719 00:31:18,354 --> 00:31:22,314 ♪♪♪ 720 00:31:22,445 --> 00:31:24,926 Our image is something people talk about all the time, 721 00:31:25,056 --> 00:31:26,666 like, "How did you get your image? Who does your look?" 722 00:31:26,797 --> 00:31:30,018 and it's formed in a natural way. 723 00:31:30,148 --> 00:31:32,498 ♪♪♪ 724 00:31:32,629 --> 00:31:35,458 We just went to thrift stores and found crazy stuff, 725 00:31:35,588 --> 00:31:39,723 but we were very influenced by Fellini movies, 726 00:31:39,853 --> 00:31:41,638 and we had these old Voguemagazines, 727 00:31:41,768 --> 00:31:43,335 and they were so surreal, 728 00:31:43,466 --> 00:31:45,207 like, the fashion was so... 729 00:31:45,337 --> 00:31:49,124 really, just bold and out there. 730 00:31:50,473 --> 00:31:51,953 That image, 731 00:31:52,083 --> 00:31:54,912 we kind of wanted to turn it on its wig head in a way, 732 00:31:55,043 --> 00:31:58,611 you know, just kind of reveal the artifice of it all. 733 00:31:58,742 --> 00:32:00,787 Like the Fellini, it's just so over-the-top 734 00:32:00,918 --> 00:32:03,877 that it's kind of not sexy, 735 00:32:04,008 --> 00:32:06,532 but we didn't really try to be-- 736 00:32:06,663 --> 00:32:08,752 look punk, particularly. 737 00:32:08,882 --> 00:32:10,362 We just sort of formed this look 738 00:32:10,493 --> 00:32:12,321 by grabbing stuff in the thrift store 739 00:32:12,451 --> 00:32:13,322 and putting it together. 740 00:32:13,452 --> 00:32:15,106 It was not a glamour thing at all. 741 00:32:16,542 --> 00:32:18,240 The women of punk, 742 00:32:18,370 --> 00:32:20,546 they all had a real impact on me. 743 00:32:20,677 --> 00:32:22,287 It was such a great scene 744 00:32:22,418 --> 00:32:26,335 to see women unleashing this power. 745 00:32:27,162 --> 00:32:30,339 Now you had someone like Poly Styrene 746 00:32:30,469 --> 00:32:31,601 of X-ray Spex, you know, 747 00:32:31,731 --> 00:32:34,386 who's saying, "I am not an object. 748 00:32:34,517 --> 00:32:35,518 You cannot reduce me," 749 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:39,478 And that to me was the glory of punk. 750 00:32:39,609 --> 00:32:41,306 [playing note on saxophone] 751 00:32:41,437 --> 00:32:44,179 The X-Ray Spex played a very important part 752 00:32:44,309 --> 00:32:47,269 in the UK punk scene. 753 00:32:47,399 --> 00:32:50,837 [Joan Jett] Oh, my God, Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex, 754 00:32:50,968 --> 00:32:54,232 they were definitely really aggressive, you know. 755 00:32:54,363 --> 00:32:57,453 They were taking it in a political direction, 756 00:32:57,583 --> 00:32:59,107 and I really appreciated that. 757 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,372 [Debora Iyall] Poly Styrene was amazing. 758 00:33:03,502 --> 00:33:06,027 I remember just staring at the test tubes on their records, 759 00:33:06,157 --> 00:33:09,030 with their outfits, very sort of '60s mod, 760 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:12,381 you know, fashion, and yet her voice was piercing, 761 00:33:12,511 --> 00:33:14,992 and strong, and angry, 762 00:33:15,123 --> 00:33:17,647 and the message, "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!" 763 00:33:17,777 --> 00:33:20,041 Oh, I needed to hear that. 764 00:33:20,171 --> 00:33:25,350 [flatly] Little girls should be seen and not heard. 765 00:33:25,481 --> 00:33:26,830 [screams] Oh, Bondage! 766 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:28,397 Up yours! 767 00:33:28,527 --> 00:33:29,659 One, two, three, four! 768 00:33:29,789 --> 00:33:31,443 ♪♪♪ 769 00:33:31,574 --> 00:33:33,532 The fact that Poly Styrene was biracial, 770 00:33:33,663 --> 00:33:36,405 in punk in the '70s, 771 00:33:36,535 --> 00:33:41,627 Poly Styrene has been kind of like this patron saint 772 00:33:41,758 --> 00:33:44,891 for a lot of women of color in punk. 773 00:33:45,022 --> 00:33:46,850 [Kathleen Hanna] Poly Styrene, she was doing, 774 00:33:46,980 --> 00:33:50,462 like, feminist anti-capitalism in punk 775 00:33:50,593 --> 00:33:54,727 in such an interesting, funny, nuanced way 776 00:33:54,858 --> 00:33:57,861 before anyone, really. 777 00:33:57,991 --> 00:33:59,732 ♪♪♪ 778 00:34:00,907 --> 00:34:03,084 [Poly Styrene] Things I write most about 779 00:34:03,214 --> 00:34:05,738 are plastic things and artificial things. 780 00:34:05,869 --> 00:34:07,653 You could say that they're social comments, 781 00:34:07,784 --> 00:34:08,785 but they're slightly different 782 00:34:08,915 --> 00:34:11,179 to what anybody else is writing. 783 00:34:11,309 --> 00:34:12,441 ♪♪♪ 784 00:34:12,571 --> 00:34:13,790 [Alice Bag] When punk came around, 785 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,053 it was like somebody just decided 786 00:34:16,184 --> 00:34:17,576 they were going to strip it all down, 787 00:34:17,707 --> 00:34:20,971 and it was all about the energy, the message, 788 00:34:21,102 --> 00:34:23,147 the connection to the audience. 789 00:34:24,453 --> 00:34:25,976 [Susanna Hoffs] You didn't even need a record company. 790 00:34:26,107 --> 00:34:28,457 You didn't even need anything 791 00:34:28,587 --> 00:34:31,068 but the passion, 792 00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:32,939 and the commitment, and the drive, 793 00:34:33,070 --> 00:34:36,552 and the vision of what you wanted to say. 794 00:34:36,682 --> 00:34:38,380 It was kind of idea-based. 795 00:34:39,990 --> 00:34:43,254 I felt like the punk community was very open to everybody. 796 00:34:45,256 --> 00:34:47,606 I realized I can redefine what it means to be a Chicana. 797 00:34:47,737 --> 00:34:49,086 I can be a Chicana punk. 798 00:34:49,217 --> 00:34:52,307 You didn't have to wait for anybody to lead. 799 00:34:52,437 --> 00:34:53,743 You could lead, 800 00:34:53,873 --> 00:34:57,268 and there were women doing every possible role. 801 00:34:57,399 --> 00:34:58,791 Like, "Yeah! 802 00:34:58,922 --> 00:34:59,923 Listen to me, have something to say." 803 00:35:02,055 --> 00:35:03,927 [Kira Roessler] It was very underground, 804 00:35:04,057 --> 00:35:05,885 and anything that's underground 805 00:35:06,016 --> 00:35:10,412 sort of is rebelling against, you know, these structures. 806 00:35:10,542 --> 00:35:12,022 [Alice Bag] If you didn't come in 807 00:35:12,153 --> 00:35:13,806 with the attitude of, like, 808 00:35:13,937 --> 00:35:16,635 "I'm a trained musician, and you're not," 809 00:35:16,766 --> 00:35:20,813 or you didn't try to, like, dictate what we should be doing, 810 00:35:20,944 --> 00:35:22,772 then you were going to be accepted, 811 00:35:22,902 --> 00:35:24,817 especially if you were pushing the boundaries. 812 00:35:25,862 --> 00:35:27,429 [crowd applauds] 813 00:35:28,691 --> 00:35:31,781 I did decide to try to have my own band, 814 00:35:31,911 --> 00:35:34,566 so I started practicing bass guitar. 815 00:35:34,697 --> 00:35:36,612 There were several female bass players-- 816 00:35:36,742 --> 00:35:39,005 Alley Cats, Eyes-- 817 00:35:39,136 --> 00:35:42,444 so you would see these girls actually doing it, 818 00:35:42,574 --> 00:35:43,923 and it seemed like in early punk rock, 819 00:35:44,054 --> 00:35:46,448 there just wasn't the reaction to the women. 820 00:35:46,578 --> 00:35:47,840 There wasn't one. 821 00:35:47,971 --> 00:35:50,626 It was not like, "Wow, that girl can play bass." 822 00:35:50,756 --> 00:35:51,931 It was just like, "Oh, I like that band," 823 00:35:52,062 --> 00:35:53,194 or, "I don't like that band." 824 00:35:54,586 --> 00:35:55,935 Black Flag had many incarnations. 825 00:35:56,066 --> 00:36:00,201 They started very early, and so we all knew each other, 826 00:36:00,331 --> 00:36:03,029 and so Henry Rollins calls me, and he says, 827 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,423 "Do you want to play with Black Flag? 828 00:36:05,554 --> 00:36:06,859 You should jam with Bill and Greg." 829 00:36:06,990 --> 00:36:08,861 So we jammed, 830 00:36:08,992 --> 00:36:11,168 and at the end of that jam, they said, 831 00:36:11,299 --> 00:36:13,605 "Do you want to play in Black Flag?" 832 00:36:13,736 --> 00:36:16,478 and I just joined my favorite band, literally. 833 00:36:16,608 --> 00:36:19,959 They taught me a level of commitment and effort 834 00:36:20,090 --> 00:36:22,179 that was going to be, you know, 835 00:36:22,310 --> 00:36:26,575 more than you can physically do every day, 836 00:36:26,705 --> 00:36:27,967 and it's going to, like, 837 00:36:28,098 --> 00:36:31,406 literally pull your whole soul along. 838 00:36:31,536 --> 00:36:32,798 There's no downtime. 839 00:36:32,929 --> 00:36:35,236 There's no, you know, vacation. 840 00:36:35,366 --> 00:36:38,804 We slept on people's floors, or in the van. 841 00:36:38,935 --> 00:36:41,198 There was no hotels on tour, ever. 842 00:36:41,329 --> 00:36:43,766 After I was sure we were done playing, 843 00:36:43,896 --> 00:36:46,986 I would often have to ice my hand in the ice bucket, 844 00:36:47,117 --> 00:36:47,900 and you'd often see, you know, 845 00:36:48,031 --> 00:36:50,642 I'm just in pain, 846 00:36:50,773 --> 00:36:52,644 and that's part of this idea 847 00:36:52,775 --> 00:36:54,603 of having to give up everything. 848 00:36:54,733 --> 00:36:56,126 All I do is Black Flag, 849 00:36:56,257 --> 00:36:57,867 because that's all you can do 850 00:36:57,997 --> 00:36:59,608 when you're in Black Flag. 851 00:36:59,738 --> 00:37:01,784 What Black Flag wants to do 852 00:37:01,914 --> 00:37:03,568 is we're just going to shove you up against the wall 853 00:37:03,699 --> 00:37:05,875 with the music, 854 00:37:06,005 --> 00:37:08,747 so I feel invincible during the show. 855 00:37:08,878 --> 00:37:09,879 Like, during the show, 856 00:37:10,009 --> 00:37:11,881 we're just going, "Argh!" to you. 857 00:37:12,969 --> 00:37:17,669 The music is insanely, you know, loud, and big, and strong. 858 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,933 Nothing can take us during that time. 859 00:37:22,108 --> 00:37:24,285 The great thing about being on stage 860 00:37:24,415 --> 00:37:28,767 is the feeling that you have really lost yourself, 861 00:37:28,898 --> 00:37:32,162 and that it doesn't matter. 862 00:37:32,293 --> 00:37:35,165 You know, that you're just completely confident, 863 00:37:35,296 --> 00:37:37,559 and you can feel you're being held 864 00:37:37,689 --> 00:37:41,389 by the audience that's listening to you. 865 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:44,653 [Kira Roessler] Music before, the women were pretty, 866 00:37:44,783 --> 00:37:46,263 and they sang pretty, 867 00:37:46,394 --> 00:37:49,266 and so the girls that were very girly-girl 868 00:37:49,397 --> 00:37:51,181 were very hard for me to identify with. 869 00:37:51,312 --> 00:37:54,576 In music, you didn't see that many tough girls, 870 00:37:54,706 --> 00:37:56,665 and when you started to see that, 871 00:37:56,795 --> 00:37:59,145 someone like Suzi Quatro or Joan Jett, and these people 872 00:37:59,276 --> 00:38:02,758 who are, you know, encompassing a different kind of woman, 873 00:38:02,888 --> 00:38:05,021 I think that's when it connected to me. 874 00:38:07,284 --> 00:38:09,286 Well, I got an electric guitar for Christmas. 875 00:38:09,417 --> 00:38:11,767 I asked my parents for a guitar for Christmas, 876 00:38:11,897 --> 00:38:14,378 and they got it for me. They actually got it for me. 877 00:38:14,509 --> 00:38:17,686 I just remember making a lot of noise the first day, 878 00:38:17,816 --> 00:38:19,165 bending the E-string-- 879 00:38:19,296 --> 00:38:23,039 "Arr! Arr! Arr!" driving my father crazy. 880 00:38:23,169 --> 00:38:25,258 I had a guitar teacher, 881 00:38:25,389 --> 00:38:29,175 and I was this exuberant 13-year old, 882 00:38:29,306 --> 00:38:30,873 going, "Teach me how to play rock 'n' roll! 883 00:38:31,003 --> 00:38:32,918 Teach me how to play rock 'n' roll, like, now!" 884 00:38:33,049 --> 00:38:35,268 And then he said, 885 00:38:35,399 --> 00:38:37,314 "Girls don't play rock 'n' roll," 886 00:38:37,445 --> 00:38:39,969 and then tried to teach me "On Top of Old Smokey." 887 00:38:40,099 --> 00:38:41,840 Now, all these years later, 888 00:38:41,971 --> 00:38:44,190 I'm hoping he meant, "You need to learn the basics," 889 00:38:44,321 --> 00:38:46,932 but that wasn't what I wanted to hear. 890 00:38:47,063 --> 00:38:49,848 I wanted to be holding a guitar, 891 00:38:49,979 --> 00:38:52,677 and owning it the way the Rolling Stones do, 892 00:38:52,808 --> 00:38:54,897 and Mick Jagger sitting on the big inflated dick. 893 00:38:56,246 --> 00:38:58,074 Then I thought, 894 00:38:58,204 --> 00:39:01,120 "Well, there's got to be other girls in L.A. 895 00:39:01,251 --> 00:39:03,601 that, you know, think like me, 896 00:39:03,732 --> 00:39:05,734 and want to play rock 'n' roll. 897 00:39:05,864 --> 00:39:07,779 I can't be the only one." 898 00:39:07,910 --> 00:39:11,087 So I started going to this club, 899 00:39:11,217 --> 00:39:12,828 Rodney's English Disco, 900 00:39:12,958 --> 00:39:15,439 and it was a place 901 00:39:15,570 --> 00:39:18,268 where they played all, like, the English glitter-glam music 902 00:39:18,399 --> 00:39:20,226 that American kids never heard. 903 00:39:20,357 --> 00:39:24,970 So, yeah, I started to find like-minded people, 904 00:39:25,101 --> 00:39:28,626 and eventually I met Sandy West, 905 00:39:28,757 --> 00:39:30,715 who was our-- The Runaways' drummer. 906 00:39:30,846 --> 00:39:33,849 I was 16 at that time, 907 00:39:33,979 --> 00:39:35,720 and Sandy was 15, 908 00:39:35,851 --> 00:39:37,200 but we hit it off. 909 00:39:37,330 --> 00:39:40,246 I took four buses to her house. 910 00:39:40,377 --> 00:39:43,293 I set up in her rec room with her drums, 911 00:39:43,424 --> 00:39:45,687 and we were deadly serious. 912 00:39:45,817 --> 00:39:48,820 [The Runaways performing "Cherry Bomb"] 913 00:39:48,951 --> 00:39:50,909 ♪♪♪ 914 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:52,041 ♪ Can't stay at home Can't stay at school ♪ 915 00:39:52,171 --> 00:39:53,999 [Fefe Dobson] I love Joan Jett. 916 00:39:54,130 --> 00:39:55,305 She's just so ballsy. 917 00:39:55,436 --> 00:39:57,481 It's kind of like that energy 918 00:39:57,612 --> 00:40:01,137 where you just want to jump on a table and get crazy. 919 00:40:01,267 --> 00:40:04,401 ♪ I'm the fox you've been waiting for! ♪ 920 00:40:04,532 --> 00:40:07,752 ♪ Hello, Daddy Hello, Mom ♪ 921 00:40:07,883 --> 00:40:11,060 ♪ I'm your ch-ch-ch cherry bomb! ♪ 922 00:40:11,190 --> 00:40:12,278 [Joan Jett] "Cherry Bomb," 923 00:40:12,409 --> 00:40:14,716 that was a song that was written for Cherie Currie. 924 00:40:14,846 --> 00:40:16,761 For her audition, she came, I think, 925 00:40:16,892 --> 00:40:18,981 with a Barry Manilow song or something, 926 00:40:19,111 --> 00:40:21,897 and it was, like... [chuckles] 927 00:40:22,027 --> 00:40:23,986 The look on Lita's face was priceless. 928 00:40:24,116 --> 00:40:25,944 And I had my pad out, 929 00:40:26,075 --> 00:40:26,989 and I had my guitar, 930 00:40:27,119 --> 00:40:28,947 and I was playing a riff, 931 00:40:29,078 --> 00:40:30,122 and it just, you know, 932 00:40:30,253 --> 00:40:32,473 kind of came out stream of consciousness. 933 00:40:32,603 --> 00:40:34,126 And then we went back and said, "Sing this," 934 00:40:34,257 --> 00:40:36,302 and we taught it to her, 935 00:40:36,433 --> 00:40:38,740 and it became a song, and she became the singer. 936 00:40:38,870 --> 00:40:40,437 ♪ Cherry bomb! 937 00:40:40,568 --> 00:40:43,571 [voice echoing] ♪ Cherry bomb! 938 00:40:45,964 --> 00:40:47,052 The Runaways' success, 939 00:40:47,183 --> 00:40:49,011 we didn't seem to have much in the States. 940 00:40:52,014 --> 00:40:55,147 A lot of things that I thought would be pretty easy... 941 00:40:56,409 --> 00:40:57,628 wasn't, 942 00:40:57,759 --> 00:40:59,151 and it wasn't because we weren't talented. 943 00:40:59,282 --> 00:41:00,501 It was just... 944 00:41:02,807 --> 00:41:04,330 "No, you can't. 945 00:41:04,461 --> 00:41:06,245 You're not allowed," 946 00:41:06,376 --> 00:41:09,814 and that just... killed me. 947 00:41:09,945 --> 00:41:11,424 It really killed me. 948 00:41:11,555 --> 00:41:14,210 And it was very, very frustrating, 949 00:41:14,340 --> 00:41:16,168 very emotional, 950 00:41:18,214 --> 00:41:19,650 still to this day. 951 00:41:19,781 --> 00:41:22,044 ♪♪♪ 952 00:41:29,268 --> 00:41:33,969 I was a girl that loved playing rock 'n' roll. 953 00:41:34,099 --> 00:41:37,929 I wanted to put into some kind of words 954 00:41:38,060 --> 00:41:41,498 that, you know, teenage girls aren't all sugar and spice, 955 00:41:41,629 --> 00:41:46,024 but I wanted people to notice that we were girls 956 00:41:46,155 --> 00:41:47,939 and doing this. 957 00:41:48,070 --> 00:41:51,116 But I wanted to be a musician who happened to be a girl, 958 00:41:51,247 --> 00:41:53,031 not girl musicians. 959 00:41:53,162 --> 00:41:56,687 [The Go-Go's performing "Our Lips Are Sealed"] 960 00:41:56,818 --> 00:41:58,559 ♪♪♪ 961 00:42:01,300 --> 00:42:03,433 ♪ Can you hear them? 962 00:42:03,564 --> 00:42:05,217 ♪ They talk about us 963 00:42:05,348 --> 00:42:07,132 ♪ Telling lies 964 00:42:07,263 --> 00:42:08,569 ♪ Well, that's no surprise 965 00:42:08,699 --> 00:42:09,265 [Susanna Hoffs] For other women who might 966 00:42:09,395 --> 00:42:10,875 want to make a band together, 967 00:42:11,006 --> 00:42:12,442 the Go-Go's were front and center to that. 968 00:42:12,573 --> 00:42:15,227 I found them inspirational. 969 00:42:15,358 --> 00:42:16,794 [Kate Pierson] I just loved The Go-Go's, 970 00:42:16,925 --> 00:42:18,796 that they all, you know, were this girl group. 971 00:42:18,927 --> 00:42:20,102 wrote their own songs, 972 00:42:20,232 --> 00:42:21,407 played their own instruments. 973 00:42:21,538 --> 00:42:23,322 ♪ In the jealous games people play ♪ 974 00:42:23,453 --> 00:42:25,368 I remember seeing The Go-Go's for the very first time 975 00:42:25,498 --> 00:42:27,065 when they played in San Francisco. 976 00:42:27,196 --> 00:42:29,241 Everyone just wanted to be a part of, you know, 977 00:42:29,372 --> 00:42:30,939 having that much fun, 978 00:42:31,069 --> 00:42:34,116 having, you know, that kind of a sing-along quality 979 00:42:34,246 --> 00:42:36,031 to so many of the lyrics 980 00:42:36,161 --> 00:42:39,643 just seemed like an idea whose time had come. 981 00:42:40,644 --> 00:42:44,169 ♪ It doesn't matter what they say ♪ 982 00:42:44,300 --> 00:42:50,306 ♪ In the jealous games people play ♪ 983 00:42:50,436 --> 00:42:52,482 ♪ Our lips are sealed! 984 00:42:52,613 --> 00:42:53,483 I mean, The Go-Go's started out 985 00:42:53,614 --> 00:42:54,876 in the punk scene in L.A. 986 00:42:56,225 --> 00:42:58,009 Just wearing combat boots, 987 00:42:58,140 --> 00:42:59,663 and, you know, they wore some short skirts and stuff, 988 00:42:59,794 --> 00:43:03,058 but they weren't trying to be glamour dolls or anything. 989 00:43:03,188 --> 00:43:05,234 When I first started buying records, 990 00:43:05,364 --> 00:43:07,802 I bought Beauty and the Beat, and I was like, 991 00:43:07,932 --> 00:43:09,455 "This is the coolest record. 992 00:43:09,586 --> 00:43:11,457 I love all of these songs," 993 00:43:11,588 --> 00:43:13,242 because it was just that classic, like, 994 00:43:13,372 --> 00:43:15,244 simple, straight to the point, 995 00:43:15,374 --> 00:43:18,595 power-chordy pop punk songs, 996 00:43:18,726 --> 00:43:20,815 like, these, like, melodic pop melodies 997 00:43:20,945 --> 00:43:21,859 that are earworms 998 00:43:21,990 --> 00:43:22,773 that you can't get out of your head. 999 00:43:22,904 --> 00:43:25,602 [Jane Wiedlin] After 20 years or so 1000 00:43:25,733 --> 00:43:26,951 of listening to music constantly, 1001 00:43:27,082 --> 00:43:29,301 I mean, ever since I was four years old 1002 00:43:29,432 --> 00:43:31,042 and I fell in love with the Beatles, 1003 00:43:31,173 --> 00:43:33,349 I think it was just ingrained in me. 1004 00:43:33,479 --> 00:43:35,090 So I was lucky that way 1005 00:43:35,220 --> 00:43:37,222 that I didn't have to have formal training 1006 00:43:37,353 --> 00:43:38,920 to learn how to write. 1007 00:43:39,050 --> 00:43:40,051 [Ann Powers] We forget maybe now 1008 00:43:40,182 --> 00:43:42,619 just how rare all-women bands were, 1009 00:43:42,750 --> 00:43:46,144 even in the late '70s, early '80s. 1010 00:43:47,058 --> 00:43:48,886 [Aimee Mann] There was finally women out there 1011 00:43:49,017 --> 00:43:51,149 who were being super creative, 1012 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:53,151 who were really interesting, 1013 00:43:53,282 --> 00:43:55,458 I don't know, were willing to try different things, 1014 00:43:55,588 --> 00:43:57,068 and seemed to be accepted by the scene. 1015 00:43:57,199 --> 00:44:01,464 ♪♪♪ 1016 00:44:01,594 --> 00:44:03,118 [interviewer] In your current album, 1017 00:44:03,248 --> 00:44:05,337 you are the writer, the vocalist, 1018 00:44:05,468 --> 00:44:07,035 the keyboard player, the producer, and the arranger. 1019 00:44:07,165 --> 00:44:09,385 [makes explosion sound] Yeah. 1020 00:44:09,515 --> 00:44:11,169 [interviewer] Now, this is very much a personal vision. 1021 00:44:11,300 --> 00:44:12,693 Are you afraid 1022 00:44:12,823 --> 00:44:14,956 that by not bouncing off too many other people, 1023 00:44:15,086 --> 00:44:17,045 you might lose touch with the audience? 1024 00:44:17,175 --> 00:44:19,090 Yes, I think that does scare me, 1025 00:44:19,221 --> 00:44:21,136 but it doesn't worry me at the moment 1026 00:44:21,266 --> 00:44:22,528 because although 1027 00:44:22,659 --> 00:44:24,487 I'm taking control of a lot of things, 1028 00:44:24,617 --> 00:44:26,707 I'm still working with other people. 1029 00:44:26,837 --> 00:44:29,535 You always depend on the other people in the team 1030 00:44:29,666 --> 00:44:31,494 that are very much part of what you're doing. 1031 00:44:32,843 --> 00:44:34,715 [Sheryl Crow] Kate Bush was the first woman 1032 00:44:34,845 --> 00:44:38,153 that I ever witnessed as being a performance artist. 1033 00:44:38,283 --> 00:44:39,371 She took music 1034 00:44:39,502 --> 00:44:41,373 and almost made it, 1035 00:44:41,504 --> 00:44:43,724 not a musical, but something theatrical. 1036 00:44:45,508 --> 00:44:48,163 Not just performed, but it was lived 1037 00:44:48,293 --> 00:44:52,384 and rendered for the audience to witness. 1038 00:44:52,515 --> 00:44:55,387 She was really projecting the whole story. 1039 00:44:57,912 --> 00:45:00,784 [Ann Powers] So she's out there presenting herself 1040 00:45:00,915 --> 00:45:05,397 as this child of, like, David Bowie and Lewis Carroll, 1041 00:45:05,528 --> 00:45:07,356 and surrealist art, 1042 00:45:07,486 --> 00:45:08,400 and all these things together, 1043 00:45:08,531 --> 00:45:10,446 and she's a unicorn. 1044 00:45:11,839 --> 00:45:15,364 [St. Vincent] She came in late '70s, early '80s, 1045 00:45:15,494 --> 00:45:18,976 making this incredibly out music 1046 00:45:19,107 --> 00:45:21,196 that just somehow, 1047 00:45:21,326 --> 00:45:24,155 even though it was, like, really bizarre 1048 00:45:24,286 --> 00:45:26,418 in the best way possible, 1049 00:45:26,549 --> 00:45:28,420 reached the masses. 1050 00:45:28,551 --> 00:45:30,422 I mean, that's like-- 1051 00:45:30,553 --> 00:45:33,164 That's the dream. 1052 00:45:34,296 --> 00:45:36,733 What I think people don't really know about Kate Bush 1053 00:45:36,864 --> 00:45:40,215 is that she was an absolute tech nerd, 1054 00:45:40,345 --> 00:45:43,566 and the first major pop star 1055 00:45:43,696 --> 00:45:45,524 to use the Fairlight synthesizer 1056 00:45:45,655 --> 00:45:47,222 and have huge hits with that. 1057 00:45:47,352 --> 00:45:49,093 ♪♪♪ 1058 00:45:49,224 --> 00:45:50,616 [Ramona Gonzalez] The thing about synthesizers, 1059 00:45:50,747 --> 00:45:52,793 there was this whole history of women 1060 00:45:52,923 --> 00:45:53,663 who had actually been on the forefront of that, 1061 00:45:53,794 --> 00:45:56,100 and Wendy Carlos particularly 1062 00:45:56,231 --> 00:45:58,450 ushered in the synthesizer to popular music 1063 00:45:58,581 --> 00:46:00,322 with "Switched-On Bach." 1064 00:46:00,452 --> 00:46:01,323 [BBC presenter] Wendy Carlos, 1065 00:46:01,453 --> 00:46:02,803 in her studio in Greenwich Village, 1066 00:46:02,933 --> 00:46:06,023 is one of the pioneers of synthesized sound. 1067 00:46:06,154 --> 00:46:08,199 Her controversial versions of the classics, 1068 00:46:08,330 --> 00:46:09,461 created entirely electronically, 1069 00:46:09,592 --> 00:46:11,942 put machine-made music on the map. 1070 00:46:12,073 --> 00:46:13,726 ♪♪♪ 1071 00:46:13,857 --> 00:46:15,946 I think it needs a little more echo. 1072 00:46:16,077 --> 00:46:17,556 ♪♪♪ 1073 00:46:21,430 --> 00:46:22,083 Yeah, that's good. 1074 00:46:23,736 --> 00:46:25,129 [presenter] When it was first introduced, 1075 00:46:25,260 --> 00:46:28,132 it opened the door to a world of music synthesis. 1076 00:46:28,263 --> 00:46:31,832 [synthesizer emulating violins, then marimba] 1077 00:46:31,962 --> 00:46:34,138 Most of the time, people in the music industry, 1078 00:46:34,269 --> 00:46:37,707 such as managers, record label people, 1079 00:46:37,838 --> 00:46:39,665 who were predominantly male, 1080 00:46:39,796 --> 00:46:41,493 would encourage women to sing, 1081 00:46:41,624 --> 00:46:43,582 become a front person, 1082 00:46:43,713 --> 00:46:45,628 get a band to play their instruments, 1083 00:46:45,758 --> 00:46:48,065 and just become a front person alone. 1084 00:46:48,196 --> 00:46:50,851 Women were not seen as technicians. 1085 00:46:50,981 --> 00:46:54,767 [Nona Hendryx] The idea of a young woman, 1086 00:46:54,898 --> 00:46:56,639 and especially a young woman of color, 1087 00:46:56,769 --> 00:46:59,729 telling the guy engineers 1088 00:46:59,860 --> 00:47:03,037 or the guy producer what to do, 1089 00:47:03,167 --> 00:47:04,560 you didn't come across that. 1090 00:47:04,690 --> 00:47:07,302 [Sheila E] Any money that I got, 1091 00:47:07,432 --> 00:47:08,738 I would reinvest in myself, 1092 00:47:08,869 --> 00:47:12,176 so I would purchase different recording equipment, 1093 00:47:12,307 --> 00:47:15,658 and I taught myself how to run a studio, 1094 00:47:15,788 --> 00:47:18,182 how to cut tape, [laughs] 1095 00:47:18,313 --> 00:47:19,401 how to record, 1096 00:47:19,531 --> 00:47:20,750 even when it wasn't even reel-to-reel tape, 1097 00:47:20,881 --> 00:47:22,795 it was like cassette tapes. 1098 00:47:22,926 --> 00:47:24,623 [Nona Hendryx] I became obsessed 1099 00:47:24,754 --> 00:47:26,451 with recording technology, 1100 00:47:26,582 --> 00:47:27,757 and learning about electronics, 1101 00:47:27,888 --> 00:47:30,629 and how to make a record, 1102 00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:34,111 and making music from soup to nuts, 1103 00:47:34,242 --> 00:47:36,897 from writing the song to recording the song. 1104 00:47:37,027 --> 00:47:40,596 That is something that I had to push for. 1105 00:47:40,726 --> 00:47:44,252 It was a new day for a lot of people. 1106 00:47:44,382 --> 00:47:48,865 The '70s were such a crazy time for women in music 1107 00:47:48,996 --> 00:47:51,650 because there were so many new kinds of music 1108 00:47:51,781 --> 00:47:53,217 that were becoming popular, 1109 00:47:53,348 --> 00:47:56,264 and pretty much all of them were led by women. 1110 00:47:56,394 --> 00:47:57,482 ♪♪♪ 1111 00:47:57,613 --> 00:47:59,615 ♪ How come he don't come 1112 00:47:59,745 --> 00:48:03,184 ♪ And PLP with me 1113 00:48:03,314 --> 00:48:06,404 ♪ Down at the meter no more? 1114 00:48:06,535 --> 00:48:09,538 [Sheryl Crow] Rickie Lee Jones was kind of a mess, 1115 00:48:09,668 --> 00:48:11,627 and a beautiful mess to me. 1116 00:48:11,757 --> 00:48:13,716 Like, she could play guitar, she could play piano, 1117 00:48:13,846 --> 00:48:17,589 and she wrote these very quirky songs, 1118 00:48:17,720 --> 00:48:20,418 and she didn't act or look like everybody else, 1119 00:48:20,549 --> 00:48:22,768 but you could not take your eyes off of her, 1120 00:48:22,899 --> 00:48:24,292 and her voice was unique, 1121 00:48:24,422 --> 00:48:26,294 and when she would sing, 1122 00:48:26,424 --> 00:48:28,731 you'd want to hear it again, and again, and again, 1123 00:48:28,861 --> 00:48:30,820 and she was so unique, 1124 00:48:30,951 --> 00:48:32,909 and that was the thing I loved about her most. 1125 00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:37,392 Rickie Lee, I never heard somebody tell a story 1126 00:48:37,522 --> 00:48:38,567 quite like that. 1127 00:48:38,697 --> 00:48:40,656 She knew who she was. 1128 00:48:40,786 --> 00:48:44,268 Rickie Lee Jones. [chuckles] 1129 00:48:44,399 --> 00:48:46,314 [singing along] ♪ "Chuck E.'s in love" 1130 00:48:46,444 --> 00:48:48,142 ♪ Yeah, yeah 1131 00:48:48,272 --> 00:48:52,407 ♪ Chuck E.'s in love 1132 00:48:52,537 --> 00:48:54,365 [voice fades] ♪ Chuck E's in love... 1133 00:48:54,496 --> 00:48:56,933 I had just been homeless, 1134 00:48:57,064 --> 00:48:59,762 and was finally getting enough money 1135 00:48:59,892 --> 00:49:03,418 to rent a place of my own. 1136 00:49:03,548 --> 00:49:05,637 So I worked for this gangster. 1137 00:49:05,768 --> 00:49:08,771 Rocky was his name. 1138 00:49:08,901 --> 00:49:11,774 "Come over here and sit on my lap." 1139 00:49:11,904 --> 00:49:13,819 "I don't want to sit on your lap." 1140 00:49:13,950 --> 00:49:15,212 "You want your job, 1141 00:49:15,343 --> 00:49:16,518 come over here and sit on my lap." 1142 00:49:16,648 --> 00:49:18,520 [groans] 1143 00:49:20,565 --> 00:49:22,219 Okay. 1144 00:49:22,350 --> 00:49:25,962 So I'd sit on his lap at the desk. 1145 00:49:26,093 --> 00:49:28,660 Well, he didn't fondle me or anything. 1146 00:49:28,791 --> 00:49:29,879 I know he wanted to, 1147 00:49:30,010 --> 00:49:32,925 but he stopped at that point, 1148 00:49:33,056 --> 00:49:35,798 and I had to suffer the humiliation 1149 00:49:35,928 --> 00:49:38,670 of sitting on this guy's lap. 1150 00:49:38,801 --> 00:49:40,629 Well, I'm supposed to be there to type. 1151 00:49:40,759 --> 00:49:42,761 That was my job, 1152 00:49:42,892 --> 00:49:45,286 so I had all the hours of the day 1153 00:49:45,416 --> 00:49:48,506 to use this beautiful typewriter 1154 00:49:48,637 --> 00:49:50,465 and write lyrics, 1155 00:49:50,595 --> 00:49:52,641 and the feeling of writing the lyric 1156 00:49:52,771 --> 00:49:54,556 with a typewriter instead of a pen 1157 00:49:54,686 --> 00:49:56,862 was so thrilling. 1158 00:49:56,993 --> 00:50:01,345 An immense amount of words could take place. 1159 00:50:01,476 --> 00:50:04,870 That kind of humiliation happened all the time, 1160 00:50:05,001 --> 00:50:07,873 and so I endured it 1161 00:50:08,004 --> 00:50:10,398 because I was getting a paycheck, 1162 00:50:10,528 --> 00:50:13,749 and had that IBM typewriter to write my lyrics on. 1163 00:50:15,403 --> 00:50:16,752 Well, luckily, I lived in L.A., 1164 00:50:16,882 --> 00:50:19,450 where the industry was. 1165 00:50:19,581 --> 00:50:23,063 There were plenty of women who were never going to make it 1166 00:50:23,193 --> 00:50:26,414 because they'd slept with somebody already. 1167 00:50:26,544 --> 00:50:28,677 Just, you know, that casting couch 1168 00:50:28,807 --> 00:50:31,245 exists everywhere in Hollywood, 1169 00:50:31,375 --> 00:50:34,813 and if you're willing to pay that, 1170 00:50:34,944 --> 00:50:36,946 if you're willing to exchange that, 1171 00:50:37,077 --> 00:50:39,862 you're probably doomed, 1172 00:50:39,992 --> 00:50:42,430 because the people who want that from you 1173 00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:44,345 are low-level people. 1174 00:50:44,475 --> 00:50:48,479 The high-level people are busy doing their job. 1175 00:50:48,610 --> 00:50:50,351 Dr. John said to me, 1176 00:50:50,481 --> 00:50:54,442 "You're about to enter a pit of vipers." Right? 1177 00:50:54,572 --> 00:50:57,532 You have to resolve what you're willing to do, 1178 00:50:57,662 --> 00:51:00,404 and if you believe in your music, 1179 00:51:00,535 --> 00:51:02,841 you're not going to have to do that with anybody, 1180 00:51:02,972 --> 00:51:05,888 but when the test actually came 1181 00:51:06,018 --> 00:51:06,976 of meeting people and negotiating, 1182 00:51:07,107 --> 00:51:08,978 I knew exactly the way to go, 1183 00:51:09,109 --> 00:51:12,764 which was never to compromise 1184 00:51:12,895 --> 00:51:15,115 on the picture I had 1185 00:51:15,245 --> 00:51:17,900 of who I was and how I wanted to do things. 1186 00:51:18,030 --> 00:51:21,599 I knew that I was creating the picture 1187 00:51:21,730 --> 00:51:23,427 I would live with always, 1188 00:51:23,558 --> 00:51:28,432 and I had to be sure and absolute in it. 1189 00:51:28,563 --> 00:51:33,394 And I felt totally... [laughs] positive about it, 1190 00:51:33,524 --> 00:51:35,657 but that didn't mean I would get signed. 1191 00:51:35,787 --> 00:51:38,660 This is a time of disco. 1192 00:51:38,790 --> 00:51:40,662 Everybody, including Blondie, 1193 00:51:40,792 --> 00:51:42,794 everybody going to disco. 1194 00:51:52,761 --> 00:51:56,721 ["I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan begins] 1195 00:51:56,852 --> 00:51:57,940 ♪♪♪ 1196 00:51:58,070 --> 00:52:00,551 [Jody Watley] "I'm Every Woman" 1197 00:52:00,682 --> 00:52:02,336 is one of the great women empowerment songs 1198 00:52:02,466 --> 00:52:04,555 of all time. 1199 00:52:04,686 --> 00:52:06,514 [Susanna Hoffs] This is music that you just, 1200 00:52:06,644 --> 00:52:07,993 you have to dance to it. 1201 00:52:08,124 --> 00:52:09,865 [Macy Gray] When I was coming up, 1202 00:52:09,995 --> 00:52:11,083 all the big stars, 1203 00:52:11,214 --> 00:52:12,911 they wore, like, sequined dresses, 1204 00:52:13,042 --> 00:52:13,912 and they were all glamorous, 1205 00:52:14,043 --> 00:52:15,740 and the voices were perfect, 1206 00:52:15,871 --> 00:52:17,960 and Chaka Khan, 1207 00:52:18,090 --> 00:52:20,136 she was, like, a little grimy. 1208 00:52:20,267 --> 00:52:22,834 Like, she got up there in her halter top. 1209 00:52:22,965 --> 00:52:27,187 I don't know anyone who can sing like she does, 1210 00:52:27,317 --> 00:52:28,927 and hit these notes the way that she does, 1211 00:52:29,058 --> 00:52:31,495 even as of today. 1212 00:52:31,626 --> 00:52:35,760 Chaka Khan's voice is the voice you hear 1213 00:52:35,891 --> 00:52:38,894 when a baby first cries after being born. 1214 00:52:39,024 --> 00:52:41,853 ♪ Baby, I've got it! 1215 00:52:41,984 --> 00:52:44,726 ♪ I'm every woman 1216 00:52:44,856 --> 00:52:47,859 ♪ It's all in me 1217 00:52:47,990 --> 00:52:49,948 That is just so primal. 1218 00:52:50,079 --> 00:52:53,387 ♪♪♪ 1219 00:52:53,517 --> 00:52:54,866 This idea that, "I'm every woman, 1220 00:52:54,997 --> 00:52:57,434 and this is a point of strength," 1221 00:52:57,565 --> 00:52:59,349 was really particularly powerful. 1222 00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:02,047 She gave people the belief 1223 00:53:02,178 --> 00:53:05,355 that they could be that carefree Black girl 1224 00:53:05,486 --> 00:53:06,356 before that was a term. 1225 00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:11,796 I was not ready at that time, 1226 00:53:11,927 --> 00:53:13,102 to be the bringer of that truth. 1227 00:53:13,233 --> 00:53:17,106 I wasn't ready for a long time. 1228 00:53:17,237 --> 00:53:21,023 Chaka Khan is really singular in this idea 1229 00:53:21,153 --> 00:53:23,634 that she sort of seamlessly made it 1230 00:53:23,765 --> 00:53:26,637 from funk to disco. 1231 00:53:26,768 --> 00:53:28,465 [Kate Pierson] When punk came along, 1232 00:53:28,596 --> 00:53:30,902 disco was waning, but still happening, 1233 00:53:31,033 --> 00:53:32,600 and we loved disco, 1234 00:53:32,730 --> 00:53:34,645 and Sister Sledge, 1235 00:53:34,776 --> 00:53:37,779 and, you know, all the powerful female disco singers. 1236 00:53:37,909 --> 00:53:39,041 It was dance music, 1237 00:53:39,171 --> 00:53:40,085 and punk was like, "We hate disco," 1238 00:53:40,216 --> 00:53:41,391 but we loved disco. 1239 00:53:41,522 --> 00:53:43,698 ♪♪♪ 1240 00:53:43,828 --> 00:53:47,658 In the late '70s, it was, you know, disco mania. 1241 00:53:47,789 --> 00:53:50,400 The music scene was just exploding. 1242 00:53:52,228 --> 00:53:55,405 You had disco, and dance music, 1243 00:53:55,536 --> 00:53:57,799 you know, Donna Summer. 1244 00:53:57,929 --> 00:54:01,063 Disco relied so much 1245 00:54:01,193 --> 00:54:03,108 on the voices of women, 1246 00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:05,633 and particularly of Black women, 1247 00:54:05,763 --> 00:54:09,593 often in partnership with male managers or producers. 1248 00:54:11,421 --> 00:54:12,466 This is the first time we worked together. 1249 00:54:12,596 --> 00:54:14,337 We worked at together for 10 years after that, 1250 00:54:14,468 --> 00:54:18,689 and Arif and I used to argue a lot about the notes. 1251 00:54:18,820 --> 00:54:20,561 And I would say, "I'm going to sing this, 1252 00:54:20,691 --> 00:54:21,997 and this one here, and this one here, 1253 00:54:22,127 --> 00:54:23,041 and I'm going to add a third note, 1254 00:54:23,172 --> 00:54:23,999 and it's going to be this." 1255 00:54:24,129 --> 00:54:26,175 He'd say, "Wait a minute," 1256 00:54:26,306 --> 00:54:29,352 and he'd go and get his music pad and say, 1257 00:54:29,483 --> 00:54:30,875 [imitating Arif] "But those three notes do not work." 1258 00:54:31,006 --> 00:54:31,920 He was Turkish. 1259 00:54:32,050 --> 00:54:33,704 He didn't understand 1260 00:54:33,835 --> 00:54:35,619 why the harmonies worked, 1261 00:54:35,750 --> 00:54:37,882 because they were wrong when you wrote it on paper, 1262 00:54:38,013 --> 00:54:40,711 and he--he--he really got upset about it. 1263 00:54:40,842 --> 00:54:41,973 He was like, "Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. 1264 00:54:42,104 --> 00:54:43,584 Let me work this out." 1265 00:54:43,714 --> 00:54:45,673 I said, "It's done. I just sang it, 1266 00:54:45,803 --> 00:54:47,892 so can we move on to the next one?" 1267 00:54:48,023 --> 00:54:50,373 ♪♪♪ 1268 00:54:52,201 --> 00:54:53,594 I love that man. 1269 00:54:53,724 --> 00:54:56,553 He... 1270 00:54:56,684 --> 00:55:00,078 He did so much for me as a human being. 1271 00:55:03,865 --> 00:55:07,042 I got more power doing my solo career 1272 00:55:07,172 --> 00:55:08,391 because it was just me. 1273 00:55:10,915 --> 00:55:13,048 I went to the meeting with Bob Ellis, 1274 00:55:13,178 --> 00:55:17,008 with the guy that was going to put MTV out there. 1275 00:55:17,139 --> 00:55:18,575 We went out to lunch. 1276 00:55:18,706 --> 00:55:19,881 [Robert Pittman] What we've introduced with MTV 1277 00:55:20,011 --> 00:55:21,578 is a non-narrative form. 1278 00:55:21,709 --> 00:55:23,624 As opposed to conventional television, 1279 00:55:23,754 --> 00:55:25,147 where you rely on plot and continuity, 1280 00:55:25,277 --> 00:55:27,105 we rely on mood and emotion. 1281 00:55:27,236 --> 00:55:29,064 We make you feel a certain way. 1282 00:55:29,194 --> 00:55:30,935 [Chaka Khan] I said, "I think it's a great idea. 1283 00:55:31,066 --> 00:55:33,764 I think that's the future." 1284 00:55:33,895 --> 00:55:36,201 [TV static hisses] 1285 00:55:36,332 --> 00:55:40,684 [Pat Benatar] MTV was a massive culture shift. 1286 00:55:40,815 --> 00:55:42,991 We had no idea what was about to happen. 1287 00:55:44,035 --> 00:55:45,689 When they came to us 1288 00:55:45,820 --> 00:55:48,039 with this idea of this music television station, 1289 00:55:48,170 --> 00:55:52,783 the entire band was like, "Abso-fuckin'-lutely not! 1290 00:55:52,914 --> 00:55:54,045 We are not doing that," 1291 00:55:54,176 --> 00:55:55,656 and I said, "Okay, wait, 1292 00:55:55,786 --> 00:55:57,135 I know we can find a way to do this 1293 00:55:57,266 --> 00:55:59,790 that will, you know, just like make everything explode." 1294 00:55:59,921 --> 00:56:02,314 ♪♪♪ 1295 00:56:02,445 --> 00:56:06,884 And after 10 days of MTV being on the air, 1296 00:56:07,015 --> 00:56:08,625 I couldn't go anywhere. 1297 00:56:08,756 --> 00:56:11,367 [crowd cheering and screaming] 1298 00:56:11,498 --> 00:56:13,804 I mean, people, they were watching you sing now, 1299 00:56:13,935 --> 00:56:15,980 like, on television all the time. 1300 00:56:16,111 --> 00:56:19,636 They knew you by your lips, and your teeth. 1301 00:56:19,767 --> 00:56:21,159 You couldn't do stuff anymore, 1302 00:56:21,290 --> 00:56:24,162 not in any way, shape, or form, 1303 00:56:24,293 --> 00:56:26,034 ever again. It changed everything. 1304 00:56:27,339 --> 00:56:29,429 ♪♪♪ 1305 00:56:31,692 --> 00:56:33,563 ♪♪♪