Dreaming Of Anne and Nancy

I will stake a claim because on how old I am that I am a fan of the band Heart. Not only for obvious reasons of great defining Classic Rock, but for taking the pigeonholed female artist of the 70's and breaking a mold. If It was not for Heart I think we would not have female rockers like Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Kim Gordon among Others. I will also tell you that they started the Seattle rock scene before some of those Seattle rockers were out of diapers. I will also go out on a limb and say that back when I was still pretty young and missed it for the first time, Ann and Nancy Wilson were very hot!! Nancy still looks great and Ann is trying to get back to her look back in 1976.

It is hard to find a band that is is influenced by Zeppelin and Sabbath as much as Heart is. You may tell me that there are bands that just rocked like Zep or Sabbath, but I will ask you are they fronted by two women. Not only the did they sound like those bands, they created this wonderful unique sound that still resonates today. Heart is still a band that is treat to hear on the radio and when I would listen to them on the radio I would not change the station and I would crank up the radio.

Heart came on to the scene in the mid-seventies and changed what women were doing in popular music. Most females at that time were influenced by Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez. With Heart it was possible to like Led Zeppelin and Heavy Metal. Who would have guessed that women liking metal and saying wow I wish I could have fronted a rock band and play this type of music.

While playing up in Canada they got noticed by a small little record label called Mushroom who pressed their first album. I still have my personal copy of Dreamboat Annie on Mushroom. My uncle gave a long time ago. He reminded me that "Chicks do rock and the chicks who rock are a band called Heart." I could not find a flaw and what he was telling me. At one point in my early teenage years Heart was my favorite band.

Around the same time my best friend heard I was into Heart. He did not tease me about the band, but he built a comedy monologue about how Heart back when we growing up were quite attractive and now Nancy looks great and Ann looks like a balloon. It was a funny skit, but he not only riffed on Heart, but bands in general. His commentary was on how great artists looked in their prime and how they looked now.

What separated Heart from the rest of the Hard Rock pack in the 70's was the female voices, but that both and Ann and Nancy did play not only guitars, but flutes, violin, and keyboards. Try that on for size with most Hard Rock bands of the time. Ann and Nancy created their own musical world way before everyone put them in that pigeonhole of female musicians.

So, as I tell you all the time to listen to what I recommend, this time I mean it again. Heart might be one of the best things to come out of the 70's. That is saying a lot, but you know they paved the way for so much. They even created a new road where the female musician can do what she can to stand out. Enjoy one of my oddest choices by far in this blog. If you do own this album crank it up!!!! It might be good for your inner musical soul.