10 Most Underrated Female Rock Bands Of All Time

The Era of GRRRL Rock.

By Tim Coffman /

Most of the time rock and roll can feel like a bit of a boy's club. Outside of the typical all female rock bands that pop up every now and again, a lot of the heavyhitters on the scene tend to take a few more cues out of someone like Jimmy Page's playbook than from Joan Jett. But why don't we have some of these female bands reach the top?

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I mean, they have some great riffs just like the boys do, and in some cases most of their stuff is done a lot better than any guy could hope to accomplish on a normal day. Compared to the star studded lineup of bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, these acts seem to fall under the radar time and time again for no good reason.

That's not to say that each of these acts haven't gone on to do incredible things on their own though. Aside from not playing the game of being the next big thing, these artists were still influential on the scene that they grew up in and are even still leaving a mark on the rock scene as we speak. Though men have certainly had their time in the spotlight for rock and roll, the girls can definitely hold their own when the time calls for it.

10. Doll Skin

If there's anything to take away from the past few years of rock and roll, it's that the future of the genre is female. From people like St. Vincent leading the charge and even some pop starlets like Rina Sawayama dipping their toes into heavier stuff, it's time that rock is officially taken over by the femme dynamic. Then again, it's never a bad thing to transition back to the more traditional stuff every now and again.

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Outside of the usual alt rock formula, the entire sound behind a band like Doll Skin is rooted in the grrrl punk of the '90s, complete with some of the most savage commentary imaginable. Although you'll probably never hear it on the radio any time soon, songs like Puncha Nazi are still some of the greatest bits of punk rock brilliance that have ever come out in the past few years.

There are even some times where they put the savage stuff on hold for some more melodic material, like their beautiful cover of Alanis Morissette's Uninvited or Shut Up (You Miss Me), which is way closer to Foo Fighters than it is Hole. Compared to the dime a dozen rock bands working nowadays, this is what someone like Pink might sound like if she leaned a lot more into her rock credentials.

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