90s "Lilith Fair" style music

My favorite was the underrated Heather Nova. From your list, I had to go with Sarah. Can't stand Paula Cole.

God they were all so terrible.

I always loved this one from Paula.

Joan Osborne, "One of Us". Her album Relish one of the best of the 90s. So underrated.

Sheryl crow

Ahem

Is it even possible to hear the name Sarah MacLachlan without picturing sad puppies?

Natalie Merchant?

I agree R4.

I will remember poo.

Fiona Apple was my favorite one from the "Lilith Fair" era way back in the 90's.

Ah, this thread is bringing back the memories, thanks, OP.

I hated all of these women and their "hits". Fiona was awesome though,and so was Alanis !

Meredith Brooks? How come she didn't have a long career after her song "Bitch" in 1997?

Every time one of Sheryl Crow's songs came on the radio (which was every five minutes back then) I couldn't change the station fast enough. God, her music was complete shit.

"Bitch" was such a formulaic, connect-the-dots composition.

Sheryl Crow's music was pretty boring. It would put me to sleep.

I like Paula and respect her decision to walk away when the record label was trying to make her into someone she was not.

Who were the carpet munchers?

Amen, r17.

Uh, Natalie Merchant OP?!

Indigo Girls

I don't consider Fiona or Alanis part of the Lilith Fair sound even if they did perform on the tour. When I think of LF, I think of the musicians that OP listed in his poll.

Sheryl Crow has a few decent songs but I agree that overall she's really boring.

I'm surprised that Sarah McL isn't a huge star. She had a few monster hits and then seemed to vanish. I can't imagine it was because people got sick of her.

You might be on point, r22.

Shawn Colvin

Michelle branch?

Back when it was a thing, Sandra Bernhard did an amusing take on Lilith Fair and women in rock & roll.

The Indigo Girls?

Liz Phair

The TRUE GODDESS ~Tori Amos~

Don't forget the groups like Throwing Muses and the Raincoats

Does anyone think that the arrival of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera killed the "Lilith Fair" momentum?

Bump this thread.

R22 Sarah is still around. I saw her perform last year in NY at the Beacon.

Not the Throwing Muses. They started before the Pixies, who used to open for them. Their stuff is way outside the doldrums of this ovary music. Liz Phair didn't get boring until her later albums and was never really part of that crowd.

I agree with you, r34.

Cool, r35! I can't imagine anyone putting Kristin Hersh's lifetime of work in the same category as Sarah MacLachlan's insipid dreck, unless they've never heard Throwing Muses or her solo work. Hersh is a freaking far-out genius innovator with massive respect in the alternative music world who will leave a great legacy. Sarah...my grandparents even liked her music, fer crying out loud.

Um, Michelle Shocked owns this thread

Along with Ani DiFranco, Tracey Chapman, and Tanita Tikaram and Joan Armatrading.

This thread needs pics.

Michelle Shocked and that hat she wore

Lezzers, the lot of 'em!

Ani, plus the prerequisite dreads

Joan

Tanita doing the 90's lesbian Elvis thing

Jan Arden's Insensitive was pretty good.

Juliana Hatfield.

I went to the 1997 show in Camden, NJ. The other big names were Tracy Chapman, Fiona Apple & The Cardigans. Went with a mix of guys & girls, I was 18, 2nd music festival I ever went to. Interesting.

Meredith Brooks ( Live) Lilith Fair- Bitch 1997

I was alive in the 90's and listened to music and I don't know who these are: Paula Cole and Shawn Colvin. I went to college with Lisa Loeb and I remember she became a star but I can't for the life of me think of one tune. I remember Jewel - You Were Meant For Me and Who Will Save Your Soul. Not my kind of music but it seemed pretty good.

Don't forget Jill "I Kissed A Girl" Sobule! She was a featured act at a fundraiser in Connecticut not long ago.

[quote]Don't forget the groups like Throwing Muses and the Raincoats

Throwing Muses never performed at Lilith Fair. Hersh didn't didn't like the idea of excluding a gender.

I LOVED the first Breeders album "Pod" (released on 4AD in 1992, I believe it was), back when it really *was* a supergroup, with Kim Deal from the Pixies, Tanya Donnelly from Throwing Muses, Jo Wiggs from the Perfect Disaster...I was a sophomore in high school when that album came out. LOVED "Hellbound."

They really embodied what edgy female-driven alterna-rock could be at that time. Sadly, it was not to be.

Sarah McLachlan - Building A Mystery

I won tickets to Lilith Fair and took my straight male friend. When we got there we realized it was just us and 15,000 lesbians so neither one of us scored that night. We thought it was hysterical that they played the Stones "Under my Thumb" during the pre-concert music.

Shit music. Nobody listeners to anymore.

Km Carnes recently recorded a version of under my thumb.

Tori Amos - "Cornflake Girl" (US Version) (Official Music Video)

They all suck.

Why do you say that, r55?

Smash Mouth

This jem from Luscious Jackson can't be left out. The album Fever In Fever Out I still enjoy.

Suzanne Vega

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Love Paula Cole. "Harbinger" and "Amen" have great songs, but "This Fire" is genius. Beginning to end. One of the great 90s female indie or rock albums, along with:

Alanis - Jagged Little Pill

Sarah - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Joan Osborn - Relish

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come On Come On

If any of you gaylings don't know these and want to experience a kick-ass moment in music before Britney and Auto-Tune, these albums are a great place to start.

Terribly outdated shit music.

LOVED sarah MaLachlin

Veruca Salt

Indigo Girls

WHET Juliana Hatfield?

Jill Sobule - I Kissed A Girl (1995)

Puke!

Julia Fordham somehow never fit into this mould, even though she was (and still is) my favourite among these.

Love Fordham.

Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name

Sucky music for lesbians and gays.

She made an album with Paul Westerberg of the Replacements last year, R64

I don't really think of a lot of these artists as Lilith Fair style music (even if some of them did literally play the Lilith Fair)

One individual is perpetuating this thread.

Bump.

Are you going to Lesbian Fair?

My sick BFF used to murder "Building a Mystery" as "Building a Taco Stand."

Fiona Apple - Sleep To Dream

Erykah Badu and other black musicians

I think Juliana Hatfield kind of burned herself out with eating disorders. I think she was genuinely very messed up in a way that kind of meshed with the zeitgeist of the 1990's for a while.

Sarah McLachlan - Elsewhere (with Paula Cole) Live from VH-1 Storytellers.

Lilith Fair 1997: Water Is Wide (Indigo Girls, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan)

[quote]Erykah Badu and other black musicians

WHET Erykah Badu?

Macy Gray had drug problems and Lauryn Hill went insane, but I thought Erykah would be able to move into a career for aging Gen Xers.

Patti Rothberg - Inside

Jewel - Morning Song [Lilith Fair - 1997]

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote]WHET Erykah Badu?

She still makes records...she just takes a LONG time between albums. She's encroaching on Sade territory.

The Breeders have never, ever been a part of this crowd. Kim Deal is strictly an alternative rock legend and if asked to perform at Lilith Fair, she would've said no. I know this for a fact.

Daughters of Lilith:

Dido, Jill Sobule, Erykah Badu, Missy Higgins, Bic Runga, Angelique Kidjo, Neko Case, Sixpence None The Richer, Tegan and Sara, Chantal Kreviazuk, Colbie Caillat, Beth Ditto, Tegan and Sara, Sara Bareilles, Lana Del Rey.

R4 'Right-Hand Man' is her best song, so groovy. She prefigured the Joss Stones that came after her.

Abra Moore was a witchier, lesser-known Juliana Hatfield imo.

She has this freaky-deaky, jumpy & crackling voice that's very memorable. Some good tunes, too.

See: the soundtrack to BOYS ON THE SIDE (starring Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker & Drew Barrymore).

Uhm, hell-o? Jann Arden? She was like, It.

The music of lesbians

All kidding aside, I liked Joan Osborne's "Lumina." I remember it played on a Sopranos episode where Meadow was listening to it in her room, lol..

I'm the Erykah Badu poster. I was just saying to the OP, why white wash Lilith Fair?

How many of them were dykes?

Only a slightly disproportionate percentage, R95, surprisingly.

By the way, Lilith Fair only lasted, what, 3 years? So that's a small window for people to fit into it. And let's not forget it was the brainchild of Sarah McLachlan, whose own sensibilities as a writer/performer are highly dubious. She was able to get some decent talent on the lineup, though. I was surprised and disappointed when Liz Phair joined, but by then she'd already started to suck anyway.

Cat Power

Bump.

Why in the world would Emmylou Harris appear at an all white chick festival such as the Lilith Fair?

Does Liz Phair count? WHET her?

I LOVE Shawn Colvin's "Whole New You" from 2001.

It makes me remember great times back then.

Plus, the song is fucking awesome!!!!!!

CHILLS!!!!!!

Dido

Liz Phair heads final WOMADelaide 2019 lineup release

Was Janet Jackson in Lilith Fair?

I've never seen that video, R97. Cat Power looks like a baby dyke. Those five 'dancers' are hilarious.

No, r107.

Sarah McLachlan had the best music, I think, but she was what Tori Amos has referred to as a “meteor”—a brief, brilliant appearance before burning up. (She didn’t say this specifically about McLachlan, to be clear.)

Jewel is a self-help-y type of folk rocker, but her voice is special and she is charming. She’s had the mosr diverse career of all: she made folk rock, pop, country, dance and lullaby albums, she starred in an Ang Lee feature film, has hosted reality talent shows, has published poetry books. Interesting talent IMO.

Joan Osbourne’s voice is extraordinary and I believe she participated in Lilith Fair.

Of the Lilith participants, I would give Fiona Apple the “best artist” award.

Does Aimee Mann count?

R22 I love Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and Surfacing. Sarah’s earlier stuff was lyrically vacant, and her later stuff the same. She was a very good somgwriter during her prime, but after interviewing her once I decided she was more of a businessperson than an artist. I had admired her greatly before then. The interview was almost all business and marketing talk, plus some stuff about her parenting, etc. She said she was in a “good place” or something, so I asked if that would be reflected in her new music. She said something along the lines of, “Siiigh, well, you know, I am really an upbeat, happy person! But the fans want lots of sappy sad songs from Sarah McLachlan, and ya gotta give ‘em what they want or it won’t sell!” So disappointing. She also told me that her early music was lyrically terrible because she really only cared about vocals, but she knew that she would never make it big if she wrote generic songs, so she had to discipline herself to become a better writer. I admire that from a practical standpoint, but listening to her in retrospect, all I hear is someone who wrote strong lyrics that sounded personal for the sake of selling her music.

All of the other artists who played at Lilith Fair, by contrast, were songwriters. You may or may not appreciate their songs, but I think most of them were artists whose hearts were in it. I think Sarah M was more about building a brand, and she saw a huge untapped market because radio stations discriminated against women by limiting airtime for them. In the end it was great for women musicians and for listeners like me who love their music. But Fiona and Tori get a lot more respect from me for just being themselves.

According to Wikipedia:

Sarah McLachlan Sheryl Crow Tracy Chapman Jewel Paula Cole Suzanne Vega Mary Chapin Carpenter Fiona Apple Joan Osborne The Cardigans Emmylou Harris Lisa Loeb Indigo Girls Shawn Colvin Meredith Brooks Tracy Bonham India Arie Natalie Merchant Second stage artists Jenny Labow Cassandra Wilson Suz Andreasen Leah Andreone Mudgirl Wild Colonials September '67 Tara MacLean Victoria Williams Autour de Lucie Holly Cole Juliana Hatfield Once Blue Susanna Hoffs Abra Moore Kelly Willis Katell Keineg Mary Black Davina Madeleine Peyroux Patty Griffin Yung Chen Lhamo Dayna Manning Lhasa de Sela Wild Strawberries Dar Williams Mary Jane Lamond Morcheeba K's Choice Village Stage artists Fleming and John Dido Pat Benatar Kinnie Starr Lauren Hoffman Kim Fox Garrison Starr Lori Carson Joy Askew Jill Sobule Alana Davis Beth Orton Michelle Malone Holly McNarland Elise Knoll Lovechild Dayna Manning Catherine Kidd Oh Suzanna Camille Alisha's Attic Gena and Sum Girl

Holly McNarland

I only know about her because of Mother May I Sleep With Danger.

Shit then, shit now. Whining, droning. dirging females who ruined '90s pop .Proof that lesbians ruin everything.

I remember Missy Elliot putting in a surprise appearance at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater, but that was probably because she lives there.

R115 Riiiiight.

Yes R110 I agree with you about Jewel. Was just listening to Pieces of You on spotify a few weeks ago and it still holds up. Such a sweet, sincere voice.

Back then Sandra Bernhard's monologue about the Lilith Fair era was so accurate ("I'm so tired of all of them . . just get out of that dirty bathtub for starters and work your way forward"). Worth a listen if you've never heard it.

Bump

Liz Phair participated. There was a lot of good music on the tour.

“McLACHLAN: I’d never felt an ounce of sexism from any of the guys at my record label. The first time I felt sexism was the pushback from radio stations [in the midnineties]. They’d say, “We added Tori Amos this week, so we can’t add you.” Or: “We added Tracy Chapman this week, so we can’t add you.” And I’m like, “We’re doing completely different [things]!”

^^^Tori Amos has said the same thing all her career, except she has been told sexist things all her career by her own labels. They told her “the girl with the piano thing has been done” and tried to replace all her pianos with guitars. They tarted her up like a she-pirate wench for her first album. They told her her music is too girly, that men can be weird but women can’t, that women whose careers last until they are 40 should be grateful and retire quietly.

That is so true, r120.

Colvin's thread reminded me

The tour really did have a lot of great artists.

I accept that it may be because I am old now at nearly 43, but I feel like the 90s was an era of incredible musical diversity, with a lot of really, really talented musical artists who wrote, played and sung their own music. Men and women, but it was the era during which (in great part thanks to Lilith Fair), women finally said fuck you to an industry that put ridiculous limitations on them.

Listening to Taylor Swift's "Folklore," which was SO critically acclaimed, I kept thinking, "she's like Jewel but with better production." And while I like Taylor Swift fine and don't want to diminish her talents, her vocal talent is competent, whereas Jewel had a really impressive voice. She wrote, played and sang her own music.

Lilith Fair featured so many talented artists, from the star, Sarah McLachlan, to Shawn Colvin and Fiona Apple to Paula Cole and Missy Elliott, India Arie, Natalie Merchant.

All the women of that era have said that radio stations limited playing them because they thought that more than one or two women within a period of time was off putting. Fucking crazy.

And solely because they were all women artists, Lilith Fair developed this bizarre stigma. I recently watched a YouTube video of two Gen X guys watching a Tori Amos performance from the 90s. They were enthralled. One of them said that all he ever knew about Tori was that she is an angry lesbian (no) who hates men (no) and played Lilith Fair (NO). The other guy said that she's not a lesbian--not that there's anything wrong with that!--but they both continued to talk about Tori at Lilith Fair. Tori never played Lilith Fair. She declined. (She's pretty uncompromising with her music.) Neither of the guys had any idea that she is an actual musician (She's probably the most gifted pianist in all of pop music, male or female.) or that she sang well or that her songs are any good. All because she's a woman. I was honestly surprised how sexist they were, which was a reflection of how sexist the 90s culture was. That was the era during which I came of age, but I was a self-sequestered gay boy and so I guess I was immune to that part of the culture.

[quote]but I feel like the 90s was an era of incredible musical diversity, with a lot of really, really talented musical artists who wrote, played and sung their own music. Men and women, but it was the era during which (in great part thanks to Lilith Fair), women finally said fuck you to an industry that put ridiculous limitations on them.

And then Britney came along and set women back 50 years.

labia labia labia... I hate men I hate men... labia labia

R125 You may be right.

Jagged Little Pill came out in 1995.

Joan Osborne's Relish was 1995.

Jewel's Pieces of You was 1995.

Fiona's Tidal came out in 1996.

Sarah's Surfacing was her breakthrough in the U.S., and that was 1996.

Britney's first album came out in 1998.

All the major talents did seem to fizzle after that except Tori and Fiona, who continued on in their own directions. Tori went off the radar for most after 2002, and Fiona developed a peculiar mystique that has made her a critical darling, but she certainly went from pop star to noncommercial fine artist.

Hmm. Thinking about this really does make sense of why Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey are so revered by their generation. It doesn't really offer anything else in the way of thoughtful women singer-songwriters. I actually like Billie Eilish even though I know DL is on the hate bandwagon.

Still, it's really interesting to consider how marginal all their vocal abilities are compared with Sarah, Tori, Fiona, Jewel, Joan Osborne, Paula Cole, Natalie Merchant, et al. Was the 90s just a time particularly rich with talent, or has that kind of generational talent been buried somehow recently? Or am I just old and therefore think today's music is poor compared with that of my generation?

I saw Paula Cole in concert around 1998 or so. She opened for Green Day at a mini music festival. She was much better than I expected and put on a good show. She did a great version of Jolene. Coincidentally, the next day I ran into her and some of her band at a local movie theater. I spoke to her and she was very nice. I have no idea what she’s doing now.

R128, she still performs and plays small venues. At least she was pre-COVID.

Here's Paula a year ago.

Joan Osborne is so underrated. Her one “hit” is far from my favorite of hers. She has some great songs. I saw her YEARS ago in a small concert and she was fantastic.

Julianna Hatfield did an album of Olivia Newton John covers that came out a couple of years ago.

R131 Relish is one of my favorite albums. It was lightning in a bottle. I love Joan's voice sooo much, but I've bought most of her albums and the songs just don't measure up to Relish's spirit for me, sadly.

The last concert I went to before COVID was Paula Cole at The Grammy Museum in DTLA. I'd seen her at Lilith and opening for Sarah McLachlan and it was wonderful seeing her in such a small venue. She's smart and extremely talented. She teaches at Berklee.

I am not quite sure if Taylor Swift or Lana del rey or Lorde compare to any of the Lilith Fair women— they seem so highly manufactured, working with super producers all the time. I somehow hear their producer’s sound even if they wrote some parts of their songs. I think Jack Antonoff ruined them, I hear him in their songs. I think people in the 90s can tell Fiona Apple apart from Tori Amos and Jewel, they sound very different. Theyve really mastered their instruments also. Taylor Swift’s guitar playing skills are pretty meh, its really just a prop. Early Lady Gaga had more freshness to her sound, she can play the piano.

I am not Billie Eilish’s audience, but you can tell that its her song and she wrote it. You may find Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers blah but they make their own stuff. H.E.R. Is also a pretty great musician. But they dont work with super producers who pump out the same old arrangements and sound so probably they will get ignored.

St. Vincent is interesting.

R123 what a great reason to bump this old thread, moron.

No mention of Sophie B Hawkins?

But where have all the cowboys gone?

Why are there no singers like them anymore?

Even Taylor Swift dresses like a hooker.

I'm a female! I won't be noticed unless I dress up like a hooker or do something else attention grabbing. I can't just be innocent and normal.

What artist makes a debut like this today, without all kinds of electronic manipulations?

I can actually imagine Taylor Swift making a song like this, but of course she couldn't rival Sarah McLachlan's voice.

On one hand, the Medieval Baebes sound and look like a Lilith Fair parody and on the other hand, I actually discovered them at Lilith Fair and I love their music.

Back when VH1 wasn't sitcom reruns all day plus Drag Race!

Another from Sophie B.

Imagine Taylor, Cardi B and Lana doing this. Hahaha

I'm thinking the 90s was just an exceptional era for musical artists. They were extinguished by the mid-2000s.

Stupid girl

Who is today's Courtney?

It's incredible with all these women artists that radio stations could limit to one woman per hour or whatever.

💚

Jann Arden

Joan and Melissa. This performance is incredible.

More!

Somehow still active

Ooooh love 90s lilith fair gals, love them all

Paula Cole's You Make me Feel is so underrated