grrls in muzak

so, i was listening to the radio today and the pussycat doll's "when i grow up" came on. i hate that song, seriously. but anyways, it got me thinking about current female artists. while there are a ton of talented females out there, the girls who are topping the charts are katy perry, fergie, britney spears... what happened to janis joplin? annie lennox? pj harvey? kim deal? stevie nicks? nico? ella freaking fitzgerlad?

w-t-f.

so, i did a little research (note: i am complete nerd) on billboard #1's of the past. here's a brief summary of some of the things i found:

May 16th 1964 "My Guy" Mary Wells

June 3rd 1969 "Respect" Aretha Franklin

March 20th 1971 "Me and Bobby McGee" Janis Joplin

February 24th 1973 "Killing Me Softly with His Song" Roberta Flack

May 29th 1976 "Love Hangover" Diana Ross

April 28th 1979 "Heart of Glass" Blondie

September 3rd 1983 "Sweet Dreams" Eurythmics

November 7th 1987 "I Think We're Alone Now" Tiffany

April 21st 1990 "Nothing Compares 2 U" Sinead O'Connor

November 29th 1993 "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston

February 22nd 1997 "Wannabe" Spice Girls

October 14th 2000 "Come on Over" Christina Aguilera

September 11th 2004 "Goodies" Ciara 

August 19th 2006 "London Bridge" Fergie

May 5th 2007 "Girlfriend" Avril Lavigne

July 5th 2008 "I Kissed a Girl" Katy Perry

on the one hand, i feel like this proves my point that there is definitely a trend towards crappier (and more degrading) music by female artists.

one the other hand, it gives me hope:

1) the charts from the 70s were full of horrible music. things did get slightly better.

2) great artists, whose legacies have lived on, were seldom included on the charts. joni mitchell only had one single that even broke the top 10. neither the pixies or the breeders left kim deal with a #1 hit.  i don't think patti smith ever even broke into the top 10.

this makes me feel better about hearing songs like "fergilicious" on the radio.