Do guys listen to female singers?

[Wesley]

Do any guys listen to female singers? I like listening to Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry, Shakira, etc.

[Gunpowder]

Only female singers I listen to on a somewhat regular basis are Amy Lee (Evanescence), Hayley Williams (Paramore), Gwen Stefani (only when she's with No Doubt), and Avril Lavigne. Female pop singers infect the radio so often and have become so ubiquitous that I don't even really need to put forth an effort to hear them. I just go out somewhere, and somewhere along the way, I'll hear a song of theirs. (That doesn't necessarily mean I don't like them, though.)

[Leo656]

Why wouldn't they? Good music is good music. Although, I prefer chicks who rock a little harder. I'm a huge fan of L7 and Veruca Salt. Even The Donnas were pretty good. X with Exene Cervenka was great back in the day. More recently, this newer band called Dead Sara is f***ing AMAZING. The singer, Emily Armstrong, is like a mix of Grace Slick and Kurt Cobain. That band is amazing beyond words.

All that said, like every other kind of music I like, I'm still a sucker for p*ssy sh*t sometimes. Like, I love all of Madonna's 80s stuff, especially "Cherish"; That's my jaaaaaaaam. I actually own "The Immaculate Collection". And I like the Go-Gos and Belinda Carlisle, especially "Heaven Is A Place On Earth".

There's a lot of 'em, I'unno. Why wouldn't guys listen to chicks sing? Chicks listen to guys sing. I think maybe some guys don't wanna be caught singing along with a chick song, but that's some silly insecure sh*t anyways. I will karaoke the f*ck out of "Cherish" like a boss, son, I ain't scared.

Oh, yeah, I liked No Doubt too before they sucked. "Underneath It All" was the last song of theirs I liked.

[pennydreadful]

There are plenty of female singers outside of the pop genre. Women can rock just as hard as the guys. Stevie Nicks, Shirley Manson, Joan Jett, Pattie Smith, Heart, Otep, Arch Enemy, Genitorturers, Wendy O Williams, Eths, My Ruin, L7, Bikini Kill, Juliette and the Licks, Pat Benetar, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Tori Amos, Pussy Riot, Seven Year Bitch, Debbie Harry, Karen Carpenter, Annie Lennox, kd lang, Melissa Etheridge, PJ Harvey, Skunk Anansie, - there are thousands of women in rock, metal, jazz, blues and metal.

Tina Turner and Cher could sing (and rock) the balls off half the current crop of male-fronted bands, and were just as good as the male rock singers of their time. Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Ma Rainey Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Marlene Dietrich, Sarah Vaughan - all of them do blues, jazz and soul just as well as BB King, Ray Charles or Barry White.

Being a woman in the music industry isn't synonymous with writing "weak" commercialized music.

[CyberCubed]

I don't listen to music in general.

[pennydreadful]

Of course you don't.

[Powder]

Sure, though most of them aren't solo artists but rather bands with female lead vocalists. Lily Allen, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Phantogram, Little Dragon, The Bird & The Bee, Propaganda, Peaches, Chromatics, Vice Squad, a bunch of j-pop groups, all kinds of stuff.

[Gunpowder]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

Being a woman in the music industry isn't synonymous with writing "weak" commercialized music.

I feel like that was directed at me... I was just addressing the artists mentioned in the OP.

I listen pretty much exclusively to bands - hardly ever solo artists, and that includes bands with female singers. Evanescene, No Doubt, Paramore (which I mentioned before), as well as The Material, Meg & Dia, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Pat Benatar, Tonight Alive....most rock bands with female singers sound pretty amazing, actually. Maybe my examples are a bit mainstream, but oh well.

As for solo singers, I've grown to like P!nk a lot more lately.

[pennydreadful]

No no, don't worry, I wasn't taking a shot at anyone - I just thought all the thread title itself sort of leant towards the idea that the only music women sing is the sort of stuff that a red-blooded male would be embarrassed to listen to.

Honestly, as far as pop singers on the radio go, I tend to agree with you - they all sound the same to me and I seriously can't tell the difference between them.

[shuriken]

I love me some Cranberries, Cindy Lauper, No Doubt and Madonna. I don't hate. Only very narrow minded people listen to music based on the gender of the singer. Adele and the Eurhythmics are also pretty fantastic, those ladies can sing.

[DarkFell]

No mention of Berlin yet?
Lots of great mentions in this thread so far.

[shuriken]

Originally Posted by Wesley

Do any guys listen to female singers? I like listening to Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry, Shakira, etc.

I cannot stand Avril personally. The rest are good in my book (Katy is hit or miss for me). I also really like Shakira's older stuff (which to fair is mostly in Spanish). I like Awesome hip shaking as much as the next guy but I feel that over time she's lost some of her edge.

[pennydreadful]

And hell, to be fair, it's easy to sneer at modern pop music (lord knows I do), but there was some damn good stuff back in the day. Pop in and of itself doesn't have to be crappy - lately it just seems like it is.

- Salt 'n' Pepa - Push It
- Black Box - Ride on Time
- Everything But the Girl - Missing
- 4 Non Blondes - What's Up
- Queen of the Night - Whitney Houston
- Black Cat - Janet Jackson
- Mother - Tracy Chapman
- You're So Vain - Carly Simon
- Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carne
- Black Velvet - Alanna Myles
- Strawberry Wine - Deana Carter
- One of Us - Joan Osbourne
- These Boots are Made for Walkin' - Nancy Sinatra
- The Black Sorrows
- Anastascia
- The Bangles
- Belinda Carlisle
- The Cardigans
- Alanis Morissette
- Cat Power
- Dusty Springfield
- Natalie Imbruglia
- Fiona Apple
- Kate Bush
- Sinead
- Bjork
- Cyndi Lauper
- Portishead
- Kidneythieves

These gals featured heavily on the pop charts through the 90s (and a little into the 00s) and I'm sure most people, regardless of gender, enjoy songs by several (or most of) these artists.

[Netkeeper]

I don't usually listen to single artists. I do like Tarja Turunen, though.

So have some bands that feature female vocalists [including Nightwish, when Tarja Turunen was their vocalist and after she left]:

Within Temptation [x] [x] [x] [x]; Sharon den Adel is probably my favourite female vocalist ever, she has an absolutely beautiful voice and I couldn't pick just one example
Nightwish [x] [x] [x]; first song with Tarja as their vocalist for comparison to the other two
Amaranthe [x]; I just really love this song okay
Halestorm [x] [x]
Arch Enemy [x]
Epica [x]
Lacuna Coil [x]
The Birthday Massacre [x]
Leaves' Eyes [x]
Edenbridge [x]

Also Within Temptation covered Radioactive and did the song way better than Imagine Dragons did

And for a genre completely different, I also enjoy Celtic Woman, Lady Gaga, Cher, and Aqua. Evanescence and Paramore are also just fine with me, but I hear them way too much to go listening to them when I'm by myself, you know?

[tmnt transformer]

I mostly listen to video game music...

[plastroncafe]

I kind of feel like for every one of these threads that gets started I should add a corresponding male version.

Having said that, I've been listening to a whole lot more Nicki Minaj recently.

[pingclang]

Doro/Warlock. One awesome lady.

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

No no, don't worry, I wasn't taking a shot at anyone - I just thought all the thread title itself sort of leant towards the idea that the only music women sing is the sort of stuff that a red-blooded male would be embarrassed to listen to.

Honestly, as far as pop singers on the radio go, I tend to agree with you - they all sound the same to me and I seriously can't tell the difference between them.

I'm not embarrassed to listen to female singers. I was just curious to find out if other guys listen to them, as a lot of my friends don't. I agree that most pop singers sound the same. Too bad they're the ones that are on the radio most of the time.

I also like listening to bands that have female singers such as the Corrs and Girls Aloud.

[pennydreadful]

That's cool, man - the question just read a bit weird to me; likewise, it wasn't my intent to come off sounding aggressive. Tone doesn't always translate well online - I need to use more smileys.

FWIW, I'd say your guy friends are missing out on a lot of ass-kickingly great bands.

The Corrs are good; if you like them you'd probably really like The Cranberries. Enya is always great (as is her family band, Clannad).

Some more good female singers/bands in my collection I'd put forward who are in the heavier/alt/not pop category:
Jack Off Jill (who later spun off into Scarling)
Tura Santana and Manhole, who were both earlier bands of the vocalist for My Ruin
Kittie
Straight Line Stitch
Porcelain and the Tramps
Ego Likeness
Infected Rain
Animal Alpha
B*tch Alert
Betty Blowtorch
Madder Mortem
Switchblade Symphony
The Horrorpops
Zombie Girl
Lacuna Coil
Stolen Babies

Walls of Jericho, Exilia, iwrestledabearonce, Cadaveria and The Agonist are also very heavy, though I don't favor them personally. There's Emilie Autumn, Tribe 8, The Lunachicks, Le Tigre, Ayria, Halestorm, Flyleaf, The Butcher Babies, In this Moment, Huntress, K's Choice, The Dresden Dolls, The Sneaker Pimps...

And Gin Wigmore is absolutely fantastic.

I... listen to a lot of female artists, in case that wasn't abundantly clear by this stage.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

I kind of feel like for every one of these threads that gets started I should add a corresponding male version.

You totally should.