Playlist – Top 10 Lady Rock Songs to Enable Sexy Confidence!

I know I originally said this was an ‘Austin Edition’ of Ladies of Rock, but I think props need to be given out to all women of rock—not just the amazing ones of Austin.

One thing that I think women have in common is that we all love to feel beautiful, special, and, dare I say it, sexy! Sometimes I think we as women can find a lot of empowerment within a sexy confidence (notice my emphasis on confidence as opposed to empowerment from sex—completely different ideas) and sometimes we don’t take ourselves up on just being sexy and feeling good. There is a glow to a woman who feels empowered and strong, and sometimes it stems from something as simple as dancing in your underwear to sexy music. This mix has a flow, so it will go from slower songs to more rock, then back again.

So, here is a list to help enable that glow. I call it:

My Top 10 Lady Rock Songs to Enable Sexy Confidence!



1. #1 Crush – Garbage

I gotta say: I am a huge Shirley Manson fan. She is one of the reasons I dyed my hair red. (Wait, it’s not real?!) This is not only the opening track to the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack of the late nineties, but also one of the most memorable. When it came out, it was beyond sexy, with Manson’s initial sexual groaning and slinky bass heavy movement, it gives the listener a little bit of sexy. Work it!

2. Strict Machine - Goldfrapp

Happy Easter, from Alison Goldfrapp!

Goldfrapp—either a great sexy soundtrack or a great drug soundtrack. Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory make up ‘Goldfrapp’ and create a completely new soundsphere that is iconic in its sound—even only after 10 years together! This song, while being one of the most played by Goldfrapp, is very hot. It has a slower dance beat, heavy, heavy bass, and the iconic Alison vocals that make it very fun to dance in your undies to. Plus, it seems to be about ‘machines, sex and control’ according to Ms. Goldfrapp, but I believe it is about her vibrator. Nice.

3. Body and Soul – Tori Amos

Another awesome red-head. Gotta love Tori.

I gotta include Tori. She writes some incredible and memorable songs, and I like her. This song, though, when talking about sexuality and feeling sexy is probably top on the list. Off her concept album, American Doll Posse, it is sung by two of her alter-egos, Pip and Santa. Without divulging into the various characters of the album, simply extracting this song from the album is perfectly fine to me. It’s got great ‘body throw’ break downs in the song, instrumentation drop out that adds depth to the song, and really, just a great song about being sexy.

4. My Moon, My Man – Feist

Feist is a fabulous singer/songwriter. I like her a lot. This song is particularly great as she slows it down a bit (in comparison to say, ‘1234’) and makes the bass from the piano a little heavy and driving the melody. Her soft, sweet voice becomes almost whispery when the heavier chorus kicks in, which sounds incredibly hot. This song makes you proud to be a woman!

5. TIE: Barracuda / Straight On - Heart

Rock icons. Love them with all my...Heart.

Heart is an awesome band consisting of lady members, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. In 1978, the band released the album Dog and Butterfly which featured this song, “Straight On” and was a top 20 hit, peaking at number 15. I like it because although Heart has some really rockin’ songs, this one seems to hit a little more on the sexy side. You are certainly welcome, and encouraged, to grab yourself a glass of wine and dance around your living room to this song. Heart also rocks because they were one of the forerunners of women in a hard rock category. Because of this, they were the center of many nasty rumors, like they were lesbian sisters (which angered Ann so much she wrote “Barracuda”), which was actually fueled by their own record label. Wow, guys, awesome. They weren’t/aren’t. They are simple women who love to rock. And that doesn’t make you weird or even gay. It makes you awesome. I included Barracuda because it is probably one of my favorite songs by Heart, really gets your heart goin’, and just plain rocks. Either one, and you win!

6. Brass In Pocket – The Pretenders

Chrissie Hynde! Badass rocker at any age!

Chrissie Hynde is most definitely a leader of women in rock. With her band The Pretenders she made women guitarist-front women look so natural. She also helped usher in the 1980s punk/new wave movement by combining the two genres so seamlessly. She was a serious punker back in the 1970s – coming from Akron, Ohio then moving to London and working at the infamous punk store of Malcom McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, SEX, then befriending a young Sid Vicious. Wicked. Yada yada yada, Hynde, being a badass and all, started the band The Pretenders and wrote some rockin’ songs, including this one. The video is particularly weird as she is a waitress wanting to be special, but instead is not treated as such (contrary to the song). In fact, she gets ignored. But the song, when used appropriately can be very hot. Plus, it was used excellently in Lost in Translation, as sung Japanese karaoke-style by Scarlet Johannsen. By the way, Hynde is almost 60. Wow! Enjoy!

7. Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah) – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Lady rocker badass. I kinda DO wanna touch you there...

Joan Jett. What can you say? The Godmother of Punk, the original RiotGrrl, total badass. This woman totally embodies the rock icon status. She plays a mean guitar, sings with that signature rock scream, and isn’t afraid to be herself. Even today! So this song I believe is totally sexy. Put on a pair of heels in a short skirt and see what you feel. This is actually a cover of a song by the UK band, Glitter, which was a big hit, but ‘Glitter’ was actually convicted child molestation. Oops. Apparently this was a biopic song. But when Joan sings it, I hear a much more women empowerment song rather than a theme song for pedophilia. Most currently, the song was used in the show ‘Glee’ sung by Gwyneth Paltrow about sex education. And it was hot. So, this is a hot song and does make a woman feel empowered and sexy.

8. Take It Off – The Donnas

Super awesome (and really nice) women.

A new generation of rocking women is upon us (even if this song came out 10 years ago), but The Donnas are already a classic example of women in rock, well, rocking. They play with a force similar to AC/DC, and a song style to The Ramones or The Runaways. They are skilled musicians who seem to be like the rock band at a rock n’ roll party, just there to have fun and rock out. They aren’t angry, like some rock bands (particularly female rock bands trying to win the approval of the male dominated industry…i.e. Kitty) but that fun and force is refreshing and empowering, not flighty and light.

Might I also add, a couple years ago at SXSW I was filming The Donnas and I took the time to let them know that we had discussed them in our gender and rock culture class and what a huge positive influence they have had on girls, and they were absolutely and totally shocked and grateful, and incredibly nice. It was so refreshing to meet such nice women in rock who weren’t assholes, though women in rock typically aren’t anyway.

This song, most definitely their biggest hit, is still a classic and can make any room light up with rock electricity…including the women in the room. This song rocks!

9. One Way Or Another – Blondie

Of course, Blondie! What better band to give off the sexy, feminist empowering vibes? Front woman, Debbie Harry, was a playboy bunny, you know? While I mentioned earlier that The Pretenders helped usher in New wave and punk, Blondie was the real deal. They were part of the original punk scene of New York in the mid-70s, being one of the original bands at CBGB along with Talking Heads and Television and played regularly at Max’s Kansas City. They were totally punk, and absolutely rocked it. Their album Parallel Lines was a huge success (heck, my dad even had it on vinyl back from the 1970s) and one the of the many hits off the album was this song, ‘One Way or Another’. Many have covered this song, but the original is what made it a big hit. Turn it up loud and sing along!

10. Fiona Apple – Criminal