Sirens...

So for those of you unfortunate enough to know me well, you may have realised that my once-great (though terribly one-sided) love affair with the Finnish band Nightwish is coming to an end.  I have to reiterate this has absolutely nothing to do with the arrival of Anette Olzon, who replaced former front-woman Tarja Turunen in 2005; I think Anette has a beautiful voice and could do great things in music.  There are three songs on the new album – Turn Loose the Mermaids, Slow Love Slow and The Crow, the Owl and the Dove – where Anette simply shines; if she was given the opportunity to do this more often, I wouldn’t be screaming obscenities in their general direction.  It’s not Anette.  No, the problem I have with Nightwish is the ridiculous, overblown, ‘chuck-the-kitchen-sink-at-it’ mentality Tuomas Holopainen seems to have been working towards since about, oh I don’t know, the ‘Once’ album, maybe?  There were times listening to the new album ‘Imaginaerum’ when I struggled to hear Anette above the massive orchestral and choir noise, never mind hear the bass or guitars.  Occasionally Tuomas seems to remember he’s, y’know, in a band not an orchestra and chucked us a bone with a mini-guitar-solo here and there, but frankly Emppu could have stayed home watching the Moomins and I don’t think Tuomas would have noticed.  Not.  Good.

Coupled with the end of this once-beautiful friendship is the terribly sad news that Nicole Bogner, who was once the singer with the Austrian band Visions of Atlantis, passed away earlier this month at the ridiculously-young age of 27 after a long illness.  I got into VoA because of Nightwish – discovering I liked this whole ‘symphonic metal with female vocals’ genre I ate up as many bands of this type as I possibly could – and although I’d never class them as my favourites I do own the first two albums, which Nicole sang on and which I occasionally still listen to.  They might be cheesy, but Nicole had a great voice and when she sings ‘Winternight’ (from the second album) I get goosebumps even now.  And of course Amy Winehouse, another of my favourite singers, also passed away at the age of 27 last year.  Amy’s death was perhaps not as shocking as Nicole’s but it was tragic nonetheless, and listening to her albums now only reminds me what a shocking waste of talent her death meant.

It was while I was adding Amy’s posthumous album ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’ to my trusty mp3 player that I realised how many of the albums on there feature female singers.  This isn’t some intentionally-feministic statement (“I won’t listen to bloody men singing about things!” etc) – I love Motley Crue, ffs; no self-respecting ‘Feminazi’ would be caught dead listening to ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ whereas I know all the words and sing it proudly – but it did get me thinking about the female singers I love, the ones I’ve recently discovered, and the huge difference in musical genres they come from.  Quite how I go from the death-growls of Angela Gossow to the pop-princess vocals of Christina Perri via a bewildering array of symphonic-metal-sopranos and the likes of Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, with a quick detour to the frankly unclassifiable voice of Katie-Jane Garside, is beyond me; I fully appreciate that my musical taste can best be classified as “weird”, but jumping from one to the other is definitely strange.  That said, however, I refuse to hear a word said against any of them.  I’m all for everyone having disparate tastes, but just try rubbishing Sarah Jezebel Deva to me – I’ll turn into a vicious harpy before your very eyes.  (Actually, now that I think about it…I’m quite even-tempered about most of my favourite singers, even if people mock me for liking them, but no one slags off Sarah in my hearing and gets away with it).

So here are some of the female singers currently making me dance like a lunatic around my bedroom/on the way to work: Alicia Keys; Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls); Amy Studt; Amy Winehouse; Anette Olzon (Nightwish); Angela Gossow; Annie Lennox (solo and Eurythmics); Annlouice Loegdlund (Diablo Swing Orchestra); Aretha Franklin; Beth Ditto (Gossip); Beth Rowley; Billie Holiday; Birdy; Candia (Inkubus Sukkubus); Carly Simon; Caro Emerald; Cerys Matthews (Catatonia/solo career); Charlene Soraia; Christina Aguilera; Christina Perri; Claire Maguire; Debbie Harry (Blondie); Emily Ovenden (Celtic Legend/Pythia); Etta James; Floor Jansen (After Forever/ReVamp); Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine); Imelda May; Isobel Campbell; Janis Joplin; Jessie J; Joan Baez; Joni Mitchell; Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeah's); Kate Bush; Katie-Jane Garside (Queen Adreena/Ruby Throat); Keedie; KT Tunstall; Kylie (shuddup - Kylie's bloody brilliant!); Lady Ellen (Abney Park); Lisa Johansson (Draconian); Liv Kristine Krull (Leaves Eyes); Lykke Li; Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes); Nicola Roberts; Nina Hagen; Paloma Faith; PJ Harvey; Plumb; Regina Spektor; Rumer; Ruslana; Sarah Jezebel Deva (Angtoria as well as her solo stuff); Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation); Shirley Manson (Garbage); Simone Simons (Epica); Stevie Nicks; Tarja Turunen (Nightish/solo, although her NW stuff is better); Tori Amos; and Vibeke Stene (ex-Tristania).

Phew!  Ladies, I salute you for your talent, your longevity (in several cases) and your, erm, 'oddness' (in several others).  Some of you I salute for being so inspiring, others for creating bloody good pop songs for dancing round handbags to.  Mostly I salute you for making music which inspires and moves me; music which will live on long after you yourselves have passed away.  Some of you already have, some of you are still with us and, I hope, have a good few years rocking still left to do.  But whatever happens, as the tragic death of Nicole Bogner has proved, the music will always live on...