Countdown: Women Who Rock - #2, PJ Harvey

#2 - PJ Harvey

Narrowly missing out on the (in my mind) highly coveted number one spot on the countdown is Britain's leading lady of rock and or roll, Polly Jean Harvey. I'm not going to lie, it was tough not putting PJ at numero uno. A strong enough case could be made as to why she's the number one woman in rock's storied history and it wouldn't be the first time she would have topped such a list. Fans voted her as the greatest woman in rock in Q magazine in 2001; she's a former (and first female) winner of the prestigious Mercury Music Prize for the amazing album Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea and Kurt Cobain was such a huge fan of her work that he listed her debut, Dry, as one of his top 50 albums of all time. If only he had been around to see just how amazing the rest of her work would be.

Musically, Harvey is practically unbeatable. She can play the guitar, piano, bass, violin, cello, bass, saxophone, drums and harmonica. Polly has written and composed her entire solo catalogue, which is like poetry being added over classical music with heavy rock thrown on top of that. Her work has inspired countless imitatators to pick up a guitar and rock out (but Kate Nash, please don't ever try to be like PJ Harvey again. I mean, I love you, but seriously, don't). Tori Amos and Bjork are her peers, graduating from the same class of interesting and engrossing 90s music, an era that hasn't been beaten with anything that has come from the 2000s.

What of PJ Harvey the performer? Step back in time with me to 2001. It's the Sydney leg of the Big Day Out festival and I'm sitting at home minding my own business watching the TV. I switch over to Channel [V] and there's this kind of hot lady in a low cut top with an orange guitar standing on stage. I have no idea who she is but I decide to watch anyway, it's not like I have anything else to do with my life. The fans are cheering a little bit and I've just noticed she doesn't have a band behind her. Oh, she's just started playing the guitar and now she's singing and she's doing this alone. In front of 50, 000 people. And she ROCKS! Did she just sing, "lick my legs, I'm on fire, lick my legs, I'm desire?" I think I'm in love and so is the crowd, listen to that ovation at the end! For your viewing pleasure, I've posted this video of PJ Harvey performing 'Rid of Me' above. I hope you fall in love too.

Her coolness is driven further into the stratosphere when you look at the amazing collaborations she's done over the years. Polly dueted with Bjork at the 1994 Brit Awards, performing an insanely cool cover of the Rolling Stone's 'Satisfaction;' she's frequently recorded with Nick Cave; she's guested with Queens of the Stone Age and she's released two critically acclaimed albums with British musician and producer John Parish, including 2009s A Woman A Man Walked By. PJ has proven an inspiration for many current rock acts, including The Kills, Placebo, Peaches, Metric, Florence + The Machine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Melissa Auf Der Maur. For those keeping score at home, four of the other women on this list were just mentioned.

Harvey's own solo work has become increasingly more mellow as she gets a little bit older, with her last release White Chalk (2007) showing a more melodic soft-rock sound. It won't be too long before she's back in the studio and I'm hoping that she makes one last run at the heavy rock sound that defined her throughout the 1990s. At the end of the day though, she could release a massive pop-trash album and I'd still think it was the coolest thing I had ever heard. I can hardly wait.

Key Tracks: 'Sheela-Na-Gig,' 'Water' and 'Hair' (Dry), 'Rid of Me,' 'Man-Size Sextet,' 'Man-Size,' 'Highway '61 Revisited' and 'Dry' (Rid of Me), 'To Bring You My Love,' 'Maniac,' 'Down By the Water,' 'C'mon Billy' and 'The Dancer' (To Bring You My Love), 'Is This Desire,' 'The Wind,' 'A Perfect Day Elise' and 'Angelene' (Is This Desire?), 'Good Fortune,' 'A Place Called Home,' 'The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore,' 'You Said Something' and 'Big Exit' (Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea), 'The Letter,' 'Shame,' 'The End' and 'Who the Fuck?' (Uh Huh Her), 'The Devil,' 'When Under Ether,' 'White Chalk,' 'The Piano' and 'Before Departure' (White Chalk), 'Hardly Wait.'

Countdown: Women Who Rock - #3, Shirley Manson

#3 - Shirley Manson

of Garbage

Nothing that I write here can truly express how much love and respect I have for Garbage's enigmatic and amazing front woman, Shirley Manson. As the chief songwriter during the decade Garbage was releasing albums, Shirley was producing lyrics that were out of this world, yet insanely honest and somewhat relatable. The self-titled album Garbage came out of nowhere in 1996 with the lead single 'Vow' opening with the unforgettable line, "I can't use what I can't abuse; and I can't stop when it comes to you." In one line, the world was hooked.

Her unique voice can contain more emotion than any other woman on this list. It's in no way the strongest and she doesn't have an incredibly high range, but when it comes to emotion Manson wins hands down. Shirley's vocals can make you feel the highest of highs or the lowest of lows. And then there's the sex factor. No one can sound oh so sexy as Shirley Manson. "This is the noise that keeps me awake, my head explodes and my body aches. PUSH IT!" The woman SCREAMS sex appeal. Although she has her own opinion on why she's considered a sex symbol. "I am not a sexy woman, I'm not beautiful, I'm not a sex kitten, I don't flirt with people, yet I've been tagged more of a sex symbol than women who truly are, and that's solely because I don't reveal too much; people are curious."

Manson hasn't courted the same levels of controversy like some of her contemporaries over the years and is more prone to defend other female music stars like Courtney Love, Lady Gaga and, more recently, Taylor Swift after T-Sweezy's MTV VMA scandal with Kanye West. She's kept most of her private life away from the prying eyes of the media and we love her for it. We know her for her music, nothing else should matter. What we do know, is that she's a staunch campaigner for cancer, AIDS and animal protection charities. Manson's pretty much amazing.

She's established one of the most diverse catalogues in alternative rock music with the albums Garbage (1995), Version 2.0 (1998), Beautiful Garbage (2001) and Bleed Like Me (2005). Version 2.0 would become Garbage's most critically acclaimed album, with it notably being nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album at the 1999 Grammys. Just in case you care (I don't see why you would), Version 2.0 is my favourite album of all time. Manson's 'cool' factor would win Garbage a slot on the outstanding soundtrack for Romeo + Juliet, with '#1 Crush.' The band also recorded the title theme for the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, one of the best Bond themes of all time.

Lately she's tried out the whole actor slash rock star thing, with her first big role as a part of now cancelled TV series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. For those that are curious, yes, she played a terminator. Rumours of a solo album where going around for a couple of years, with studio execs apparently none too impressed with the dark nature of her demos. Shirley would do the right thing by refusing to release the album any way other than originally intended. What we can look forward to is the possibility of a new Garbage album sometime this year. Any year that a new Garbage album is dropped is a winning year for me. Bring it on.

Key Tracks: 'Vow,' 'Supervixen,' 'Queer,' 'Only Happy When It Rains,' 'As Heaven Is Wide,' 'A Stroke of Luck,' 'Milk,' 'Stupid Girl' and 'Dog New Tricks' (Garbage), 'Push It,' 'I Think I'm Paranoid,' 'Special,' 'Temptation Waits,' 'You Look So Fine,' 'The Trick Is To Keep Breathing,' 'When I Grow Up,' 'Medication' and 'Dumb' (Version 2.0), 'Shut Your Mouth,' 'Androgyny,' 'Breaking Up the Girl,' 'Cherry Lips' and 'Silence is Golden' (Beautiful Garbage), 'Bad Boyfriend,' 'Why Do You Love Me,' 'Metal Heart,' 'It's All Over But the Crying,' 'Boys Wanna Fight,' 'Right Between the Eyes' and 'Sex Is Not The Enemy' (Bleed Like Me), '#1 Crush,' 'The World Is Not Enough.'

...seriously, there are way too many awesome songs to find all the YouTube links for. Enjoy finding them yourselves!

Top 20 - 25 May, 2010

1. Angus & Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane (Re-Entry)

2. M.I.A - XXXO

3. Klaxons - Flashover (NEW)

4. B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams - Airplanes

5. Crystal Castles - Baptism

6. Operator Please - Back and Forth

7. The Drums - Forever and Ever Amen (NEW)

8. Robyn - Dancing On My Own

9. Goldfrapp - Shiny and Warm (NEW)

10. The Dead Weather - Die By The Drop

11. Eminem - Not Afraid

12. N.E.R.D ft. Nelly Furtado - Hot & Fun (NEW)

13. Marina & The Diamonds - Obsessions (NEW)

14. Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg - California Gurls

15. Lady Gaga - Future Love

16. Slow Club - Our Most Brilliant Friends

17. Sia - The Fight (NEW)

18. Rihanna ft. Slash - Rockstar 101 (NEW)

19. Marching Band - Another Day

20. Kelly Rowland - On & On (NEW)

Song of the Day: If I Know You

The Presets - If I Know You

I haven't heard any news about a new Presets album. This upsets me. After the massive win that was Apocalypso you would think they'd be back in the studio A.S.A.P to capitalize on their commercial success. 'If I Know You' wasn't the biggest single released off the album, but it's a personal favourite and it was accompanied by a really fun music video. Enjoy!

Countdown: Women Who Rock - #4, Courtney Love

#4 - Courtney Love

of Hole

Courtney Love claimed today that she had sex with Kate Moss sometime in the 90s. Two weeks ago she told Howard Stern that she had an affair with former Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, husband of Gwen Stefani. She's lost and regained custody of daughter Frances Bean enough times that most people have stopped counting. At one time she was the most hated woman in music since Yoko Ono. These days it would appear that she's the most pitied, as the world watches her desperately try to cling to whatever lingering threads of fame she has left. Public feuds have dominated her life in the past decade, notably with Billy Corgan, Dave Grohl, Fred Durst and current enemy numero uno, Twitter.

Pissing all over Kurt Cobain's legacy would appear to be one of her favourite hobbies. Love made a neat $50 million in 2006 when she carelessly sold a quarter of Nirvana's publishing catalogue, much to the disgust of Dave Grohl. She allowed her daughter to have a suicide themed party for her 16th birthday. I will repeat that, she allowed her daughter, KURT COBAIN'S DAUGHTER, to have a suicide themed party for her 16th birthday. Apparently one of the games at the party was who can look the most dead. You stay classy Frances Bean. Stints in rehab are almost like a yearly vacation for Love, oops sorry Michelle, that's Courtney Michelle. Because that Courtney Love part of her life is just over. No, wait. She wants to be called Courtney Love again.

I could go on for quite some time about everything that's wrong with Courtney's life but that's not the point of this countdown is it. This countdown is celebrating 20 of the most amazing women who rock. Women who captivate us with their attitude, style, music and passion for it. Take away all of the crap that Courtney Love has become associated with other than her music and it should be quite easy to see that she belongs here. A talented songwriter and musician with kick ass vocals made her one of the most amazing women to ever front a band. That band of course, was Hole.

Hole released three studio album throughout the 90s, Pretty on the Inside, Live Through This and Celebrity Skin. Last month, Nobody's Daughter was released with Love the last original member still standing. All four albums offer a different sound and have been received positively, with only Nobody's Daughter attracting some major critical reviews. Live Through This, released only days after Cobain's suicide, is the standout album of the bunch. It's pure 90s rock, combining elements of grunge with pop. Celebrity Skin contained more of a pop rock sound and went on the become the bands most commercially successful album. Love would release a solo, America's Sweetheart, a commercial and critical failure. Lead single 'Mono' was pretty amazing though.

Love won a legion of fans with her crazy onstage antics and don't give a flying f*** attitude. She spent most of the 1999 Big Day Out flashing the crowd and taunting co-headliner Marilyn Manson and everyone loved her for it. 'Celebrity Skin' would place at #4 on the 1999 JJJ Hottest 100. Courtney was even a critically acclaimed actress for awhile, with her role in The People vs. Larry Flynt garnering her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In the late 90s everything seemed so promising for Courtney Love. The first decade of the 2000s saw her undo everything and her reputation now lies in tatters. Let's hope she spends the next decade rebuilding it to its former glory.

Fun Fact: Rolling Stone named her the most controversial women in the history of music.

Key Tracks: 'Teenage Whore' (Pretty on the Inside), 'Violet,' 'Miss World,' 'Doll Parts,' 'Jennifer's Body' and 'I Think That I Would Die' (Live Through This), 'Celebrity Skin,' 'Malibu,' 'Awful,' 'Hit So Hard' and 'Playing Your Song' (Celebrity Skin), 'Mono,' 'Hold On To Me' and 'Never Gonna Be the Same' (America's Sweetheart), 'Skinny Little Bitch' and 'Samantha' (Nobody's Daughter).

Song of the Day: Can't Stop

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop

Awesome song accompanied by an amazing music video. Where have the RHCPs been? It's about time we heard something new from them.