Today, we celebrate International Women’s Day and remember that EVERY day women deserve equal rights and the same amount of support their male counterparts receive. The BANDED staff shares personal stories on how 6 ICONIC female artists shaped their love for music. At the end, enjoy our Women Rock playlist featuring 18 hours showcasing female artists.

I’ll never forget the day I discovered Florence Welch. I was waking up one morning, and her music video for Dogs Days Are Over began to play. I was supposed to start getting ready for school, but I stayed in my room utterly captivated. Her angelic voice, her swift movements, her artistry, and her lyrics made me feel something I had never felt before. From that moment on, I wanted to know everything about Florence and I desperately needed her music in my life.

You know when you come across someone and you can just sense that they’ve “been here before”? That’s exactly how I feel about Florence. I’m fully convinced that she has lived a million lifetimes. She’s a lyrical mastermind and a natural-born storyteller. I’ve had moments where she’s made me audibly gasp and I've had to catch my breath.

There’s another reason why her music is near and dear to my heart. Florence Welch’s music instilled hope in me during my darkest moments. “It’s always darkest before the dawn” is a line that carries great significance in my life. It’ll always be a reminder to me to keep on persevering. I’ve danced around my room to Shake It Out about one million times. It’s a song that’s nourishing to the soul. It pains me to say that I haven’t had the opportunity to see her live yet. However, I'm more than ready to witness her ethereal presence in person. Just from watching videos online, I can tangibly feel her vibrations through the screen. I daydream about the momentous day where I'm jumping around along with her, hearing her voice and feeling it shake my bones.

The one word that keeps coming to mind when I think of her is “euphoria.” I believe that’s what she feels every time she’s on stage. The atmosphere at all of her shows must feel euphoric. Her shining spirit bursts through her body and her love for music cascades into the crowd. She gives of herself and the crowd sends their undying passion back to her. The crowd feels at home and she looks like she's having the time of her life.

It was written in the cosmos that Florence Welch was meant to be a musician.

She’s one of my heroes.

Channelling their passions for the guitar and singing early on in their childhood, it was clear that sisters, Ann and Nancy Wilson, would make their mark in the world of music. In 1974, they formally became HEART intertwining the sounds of rock, heavy metal, and folk.

Over the years, the band has sold over 35 million records, landed ten Top 10 albums, received 4 GRAMMY® Award nominations, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame®, and has “the longest span of top-10 albums on the Billboard charts be a female-led band.” Pretty bad ass, if you ask me.

While I grew up around a lot of great music, it’s hard to pin point which female artist first made an impact on me but the songs of Heart certainly live in my memory. I remember playing Guitar Hero, trying to nail hit songs, ‘Barracuda’ and ‘Crazy on You’. I picked those songs not only because of their driving force but because they were “girls like me”. It was a moment where I realized I could be in a band if I wanted to. I could play the guitar if I wanted. And quite frankly, it made me feel like I could conquer the world listening to those songs knowing two women were behind them.

As I’ve grown up, I’ve learned more about Heart and grown appreciation for much of their discography, their style, and their incredible performance abilities. An incredible example of the power of music and Heart’s incendiary talents, is their performance of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. A performance I truly cannot shake but in the best way.

I discovered Larkin Poe completely by chance while listening to Steve Ferrone’s show on Tom Petty Radio, The New Guy Show. The track was “Freedom,” and the obsession was immediate. I couldn’t get over the combination of the modern electric drum beats and the banjo, and those vocals – Rebecca’s lead is mind-blowing and when Megan’s harmonies join the mix, you’ll get chills. I was hooked instantly and have been ever since that day in my car that I found myself tuned in to the right place at just the right time.

Some of music’s biggest stars get it. In addition to the killer studio records they’ve released as a group, they’ve also found the time to share their talents with some of music’s biggest names as touring musicians, touring with Elvis Costello and Keith Urban, just to name a few. They’ve also shared their talents in the studio, working with Steven Tyler and The New Basement Tapes, again, just to name a few. Are you getting how talented they are yet?

They rock just as hard as the boys in their class, and I’d venture to say they do it even better. Blending old blues, soul, and folk sounds with modern flavors, they create a unique sound that’ll perk your ears up and draw you in just like it did me. My highlights from Larkin Poe are ‘She’s a Self Made Man,’ ‘Freedom,’ and ‘Blue Ridge Mountains,’ but my favorites change daily and every song is worth cranking up loud. If they aren’t already on one of your playlists, get them there, and you can thank me later.

Anyone who has spent more than fifteen minutes in a room with me would be able to tell you that I absolutely adore Stevie Nicks. She’s a music icon, and the immediate name associated with those that are unapologetic, free spirited, and a little witchy.

From her impeccable fashion taste, to her stick-to-it can-do attitude, Stevie Nicks is easily one of the most influential women in rock n roll.

Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac at the age of 27 in 1975, bringing along then boyfriend Lindsay Buckingham. In the midst a dysfunctional romance that would become infamous, (my friends and I still call becoming romantically involved with a band mate ‘Buckingham-Nicksing it) Rumours was born.

Rumours was one of the most influential albums of my life, and considering only a handful of records have ever sold more copies than Rumours, I’m willing to bet I’m not alone in that sentiment.

I remember the first Fleetwood Mac lyrics that ever really resonated with me.

Oh, thunder, only happens when it's raining

Players, only love you when they're playing

They say women, they will come and they will go

When the rain washes you clean, you'll know

You'll know

I was probably 14 the first time I heard “Dreams”, and despite being into a phase marked with heavy listening to grunge giants like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, those lyrics rattled me down into my core. They were ethereal, they were romantic, they were Renaissance, they were real. I started scribbling them in the margins of my notebooks. I bought a black lace dress. I was fully enveloped by the dark mystique of Fleetwood Mac.

In fact, those lyrics are partly what inspired me to start trying to put my own feelings to words, and writing my own poetry, a practice I maintain to this day.

Maybe it was how vulnerable they were while still feeling so powerful. I was always a kid who listened to a ton of music, but I couldn’t remember hearing something that was so raw and yet so beautiful at the same time. It was heartbreaking but resilient. Stevie’s lyrics were romantic and kind of spooky, without being vampiric and over the top. With her mystifying dancing, bold, heady lyrics and her penchant for wearing lace, capes, and intricate scarves, Stevie Nicks was everything I wanted to be.

Nicks also enjoyed success as a solo artist, with her first solo record Bella Donna reaching number one on The Billboard 200 within two months of it’s release, and being certified platinum the following month.

Nicks collaborated and performed with a number of influential musicians during her career, some of the most notable being Tom Petty, Don Henley, Dave Grohl, Harry Styles, and most recently, Miley Cyrus. Her willingness to cross genre boundaries and seek and perform with genuine talent always leads to a terrific, earth shattering performance.

Stevie Nicks continues to enjoy success in all aspects of her work, including her acting career (check her out in American Horror story), and she continues to be a champion for young women who dance through life with her same free spirited power, choosing to go their own way.

The Runaways. Where do I even begin? For one thing, I can say that they’re the reason why I fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll.

In 2010, I was twelve going on thirteen when I saw my first ever R rated movie. That movie being the biopic about The Runaways. I originally went to see that movie because of Kristen Stewart being in the movie, but I didn’t know what to expect from it at all. I had only ever heard of Joan Jett and knew I Love Rock ‘N Roll. I had never heard of The Runaways or any of the other members.

I left that movie theater feeling so in love with rock ‘n’ roll and The Runaways. I had already bought the soundtrack so for a week, I basically listened to almost nothing but it until I bought a Best of The Runaways CD at a Borders bookstore. Man, is that an old fashioned sentence or what?

This band opened doors for other all female hard rock bands. Without them, we wouldn’t have the amazing all female hard rock bands that came after them. It’s easy to see the influence that The Runaways has had on women. Their music makes you feel like a badass and makes you want to rock.

Some of my favorite songs from them include Born To Be Bad, Hollywood, Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin, and Take It or Leave It.

As someone whose life heavily revolves around rock n’ roll, my existence is almost completely based around men. There are very few women in this world who I look up to, and one of them is Taylor Swift. I got into Taylor Swift in an unusual way but long story short, it wasn’t until I found myself renting a small movie theatre with a group of Swifties from all over Massachusetts watching Taylor’s new Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, that I realized that I too, was a Swiftie.

Taylor Swift has been a cultural icon since she released her self-titled debut album in 2006 when she was just 16 years old. Since then she has released nine studio albums, broken records previously held by artists like The Beatles and Whitney Houston, sold out shows around the world, and is currently working on re-recording her first six studio albums. She has already accomplished so much in her career, but this is just the beginning. I know the future holds great things for this woman and cannot wait to see them unfold.

The main reason why so many people are drawn to Taylor Swift is because her songs and lyrics are so relatable. No matter what you are experiencing in life, Taylor has gone through the same thing, and has written a song or two about it. I have loved Taylor ever since her “Red” era, but it wasn’t her “Reputation” album when I started to relate to her music. My love for her has only gotten stronger since.

Women in Music That Shaped Our Love For Music

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