12 iconic all- female rock bands that have become legendary

Just looking at the numbers, there is a male dominance among male rock bands. Of course, women were always present in rock and pop, either as solo artists or as band members often fronting them, and these days solo female artists like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, to name just two, are at the forefront of music.

Yet, the number of all-female rock bands seems to have been too far in between, but only in numbers, not in the quality of their music. The reasons are probably numerous, but Joan Jett put it quite succinctly telling Billboard:

"We couldn’t forget that we were girls — we had to defend it all the time. [All-female bands] are out there, they just don’t get the notice the pop girls do. Go to any city and there’s an all-girl rock band — it’s just a matter of society wanting to hear that kind of music.”

It might be high time to re-assess and note some such bands that deserve recognition. Here are a dozen iconic all-female rock bands that have gotten recognition they deserved.

The Shaggs

The Shaggs were one of the earliest exponents of all-girl bands in the sixties formed by the Wiggin sisters in 1965,  with their music often contested as both shabby (or shaggy if you will) or brilliant in a ramshackle way.

Whatever the case, and with all the criticism, it turned out that The Shaggs were quite influential on all later post-punk bands, male or female.

Fanny

Jean and June Millington and bassist Brie Howard were key in this early to mid-sixties all-female rock band that had a knack for a great melody as well as for some good, hard rock.

They had two Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles, “Charity Ball” and “Butter Boy,” and their five albums released between 1971 and 1975 created a very solid fan base, and they seem to be in a deserved revival these days.

The Runaways

Starting out in mid-seventies as a Kim Fowley studio creation, The Runaways ran away from his embrace and became real stars for all the good reasons, as their hard rocking ways produced some excellent singles and albums.

After the band disbanded, Joan Jett became a full-fledged rock legend in her own right and both Lita Ford and Cherrie Currie coming up with some good music to this day.

The Go-Go’s

To this day, The Go-Go’s have one of the best-selling debut albums (Beauty and the Beat, 1980) to their name, which got them a deserved induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with “our Lips Are Sealed,” one of their biggest selling singles still hitting the airwaves (and streams even more) to this day.

Their initial stay was relatively brief, but occasional reunions later on bring back the old flame.

The Bangles

Another all-girl band that earned its legendary status with three excellent eighties albums, two new-century ones that didn’t disappoint and a number of hit singles that still get their deserved plays.

The initial members Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson and Micki Steele (coming over from The Runaways), all had their contribution in songwriting and singing duties, with Hoffs and Vicki Peterson, having excellent runs both as solo artists (Hoffs) and members of other bands (Peterson).

The Donnas

The Donnas became a sort of a nineties sensation with some comparing them to The Runaways, even though their sound was more power pop oriented, with accent on power.

They had  (and still have) solid hits in "New Kid in School” and “Take It Off,” and continue having a commitment to empowering young women.

Shonen Knife

These girls from Osaka Japan formed in the early eighties made their mark on a very solid fan base across the world with their quirky combination of everything from The Beatles to bubblegum and straight-ahead punk akin to The Ramones.

And some forty years or so, the band is still on the run, with their fan base not diminishing.

L7

With all the grunge heavyweights from Nirvana to Mudhoney and elsewhere, the name of L& always comes up, particularly with the high-energy music (particularly live) produced by the band’s classic lineup of singer Donita Sparks, guitarist Suzi Gardner, bassist Jennifer Finch and drummer Demetra Plakas.

The band went on a hiatus until 2015 and is still considered as one of the landmark feminist acts.

Babes In Toyland

Another all-female band that came on the scene with the nineties grunge wave, and often connected with Courtney Love (who was actually drummer Lori Barbero’s roommate at one point). Their second album Fontanelle is by many considered as one of grunge landmarks.

The band broke up once in 2001, and later on in 2014 the second time.

The Breeders

After a brilliant stint with The Pixies, Kim Deal formed The Breeders in 1989, a band hailed as the first all-female super group, with the band including Tanya Donelly of The Throwing Muses, Josephine Wiggs of the Perfect Disaster, Britt Walford of Slint, and Carrie Bradley of Ed's Redeeming Qualities.

“Cannonball” single taken of the band’s debut album Pod is now considered as an all-time classic.

Pussy Riot

Russian band Pussy Riot became known both as rock musicians and political activists, making them a big bone of contention in their homeland, again, both for the band’s music, provocative performances, all-over punk attitude and political activism, which even earned band members prison sentences in Russia.

Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney, started out in the mid-nineties as part of the Riot Grrl movement, but the band, which is still going strong to this day has diversified its sound.  The band was on hiatus from 2006 until 2014, but since then it became one of the more sophisticated rockers on the scene today.