Girls are scary.
At least that's what I thought growing up. Specifically, growing up listening to my sister's record collection. My sister is ten years older than I am and had one of the most bitchin' record collections I've ever seen. Or heard.
Heavy into rock, she was part of that generation that came up just after the prime hippy movement and well before disco; those dark, earthy, dirty, wild, confusing and mostly glorious days of the early to mid 1970s. Heavy guitars and heavy vibes, all the weight of the world without all the flower-power marketing nonsense.
In The Doors's 1971 classic jam "L.A. Woman", Jim Morrison famously sang, "Let's change the mood from glad to sadness." There's no better description of that transition from the 60s to the 70s.
My sister's musical tastes were heavy on The Pretenders and early Heart (before the music video directions got a hold of them and totally ruined them). Early Pat Benetar, even the women in Fleetwood Mac I was pretty sure could have kicked my ass. No wilting flowers were these, these artists were all about stand up and rock out and screw you if you can't take it. Or if you can't keep up.
All these women scared the bejeesus out of me as a kid. And I'm all the better for it.
