I have a few friends who listen almost exclusively to rock music and mostly attend gigs on a somewhat regular basis. Pure rock music, you might say, that hasn't been seasoned for MTV and the masses. After one sparked my curiosity, I decided to enquire and see if they had any bands in their library with a female lead and of the five I asked -- four said no and only one said yes (albeit a single album) and he seemed very embarassed to say it, excusing it off quickly. Two of the people I asked were (and as far as I know, still are) girls. The general feedback seemed to be that girl rock bands can't help but fall into the pop genre and that the rest can't pull off real rock or ever be taken seriously by 'core fans'.

Are female rock bands, by this definition, uncool and unworkable by design? How do you think the overall quality compares with their male counterparts and do you enjoy any female rock yourself (interpreting the word as you wish)?

FTR: The album was Paramore. (British TV host, Micheal Paramore.. anyone? no..? OK then.)

I enjoy listening to Garbage, Hole and No Doubt. :)

I have Garbage, No Doubt and The Donnas in my collection.

I believe the majority of them probably do. I don't know if they intentionally do that because that's where their fans are at, or if they just slip into that genre along the way.

On that TV reality show 'Rock Star' they had some great women rockers. They just never make it into mainstream, and I don't know why... I guess the "real" girl rockers are underground.

Girl rock bands are a great thing, whether the entire band is girls or just one member. But first things first, No Doubt is not rock, they are a ska/pop band.

Back to the subject matter, there are tons of great rock and metal bands that fit this category. Here's a list of bands that are all or partial female:

Kittie
Nightwish
Kamelot
Arch Enemy - albums with Angela Gassow on vocals since their original singer was a guy
Girlschool
Lacuna Coil
Hole

There are more that escape me right now. Bands like Evanescence, Paramore and Flyleaf are good but are more MTV pop than real rock and metal.

Don't like girl rock bands at all. I don't like listening to rock music and having a female vocalist ruin it. I've given it many chances but it just doesn't do it for me.

NightWish and Paramore are class, i have quite a few of their songs

Atreyu, Nightwish and Paramore are so different that putting them in the same sentence makes me dizzy. Good tunes are good tunes but Paramore couldn't be roadies for Nightwish.

I like girl rock bands and bands with girls as lead singers.

Lita Ford
Joan Jet
Doro Pesch (Warlock)
Vixen
Fly Leaf
Hole
No Doubt

If a girl can rock out as much as a guy then I say more power to them. I would like to see more all girl bands or even some more rock bands with girls as the lead singer.

Some all Girl bands rock out harder than the guys.

I love girl bands!

Flyleaf
The Hush Sound
No Doubt

I really like evanescence.

Had a larger post the site is being horrible and not working.