Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power
Girl groups of the sixties, the material girl, riot grrrls, and more.
-
Original Runaways member Joat Jett and band manager Kim Fowley penned the lyrics to "Cherry Bomb," which would later be performed by lead singer Cherie Currie. Ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs, "Cherry Bomb" appeared as the first track on the group's 1976 debut album The Runaways.
The Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" Lyrics, 1976.
Photo courtesy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
-
Launched in support of Madonna's fourth album, Like a Prayer, the Blond Ambition World Tour was deemed highly controversial for its mix of provocative sexual and religious themes. It was history in the making. The tour grossed over $60 million, influenced the world of fashion by popularizing underwear as outerwear, and was named the Greatest Concert of the 1990s by Rolling Stone.
Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour Bustier, 1990.
Photo courtesy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
-
The 1966 debut album cover of The Mama's and The Papa's, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, features the four band members huddled in a bathroom with Michelle Phillips' boot-clad feet poking out of a bathtub. The album photo was later pulled after a toilet, seen to the right of the tub, was declared indecent.
Michelle Phillips of the Mama's and the Papa's If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears cover boots, circa 1966.
Photo courtesy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
-
In 2008 Rihanna hit the American Music Awards ceremony looking like a victorious warrior in a leather bustier adorned with sharp spikes and lengths of silver chain. And why not? Following the release of her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), the Barbadian singer received a GRAMMY Award along with a slew of nominations throughout 2008 and 2009.
Rihanna: American Music Awards performance outfit, 2008.
Photo courtesy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
1
/4
Opens June 15, 2013
Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power shines a spotlight on the astounding women who propelled rock ‘n’ roll into uncharted territories. Key artifacts, videos, exclusive interviews, and listening stations underscore the defining role that women have played in popular music, from the foremothers at the roots of rock, to Grace Slick, Madonna, and musicians of the new millennium.
Featuring more than 70 artists, the exhibit celebrates women as engines of creation and change in popular music, with iconic artifacts and nonconformist costumes such as Lady Gaga’s meat dress worn at the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards show.
The first museum exhibit to honor nearly a century of iconic female musicians, Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power covers the vast terrain of female singers with eight specific exhibit areas:
- Suffragettes to Juke-Joint Mamas: The Foremothers / Roots of Rock
- Get Outta that Kitchen, Rattle Those Pots and Pans: Rock and Roll Emerges
- Will You Love Me Tomorrow: The Early 1960s / Girl Groups
- Revolution, the Counterculture and the Pill: The Late 1960s
- I Will Survive: The 1970s – Rockers to Disco Divas
- Dance this Mess Around: Punk and Post Punk
- Causing a Commotion: Madonna and the Pop Explosion
- Ladies First: The ‘90s and the New Millennium
This exhibit was organized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland, Ohio.
Blow Out: Women Who Rock Opening Concert
Friday, June 14
Don’t miss an all-star band performing five decades of music by the legendary female forerunners that influenced them, along with some songs of their own that they played to fame.
EMP would like to acknowledge the following for their generous support of Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power:
