Legacy of Women Rockers
Avril Lavigne Brings Her Snarl to Tampa on Saturday
Avril Lavigne rocks out the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa this Saturday.
During the nine months Avril Lavigne's parents spent preparing to bring her into the world in 1984, the foundation was being set for her to become a rock star.
That January, two New York-based singers effectively smashed the molds of a woman's place in rock as either a) the front singer for a band run by the guys behind her or b) as a tightly controlled protégé-turned wife of her principal handler.
The first to break through, Madonna, proudly proclaimed on one of her first television appearances that she intended to 'rule the world.' By September 1984, a half dozen of her high-gloss, low-tech dance songs had succeeded either as club music or radio music, and the first arguments began as to whether she was a good role model for young girls.
The second was Cyndi Lauper. From her giddy debut exclamation that 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' to her pointed adoption of pro-wrestler 'Captain' Lou Albano as her 'manager' so she could poke fun on stage at his clueless sexism, Lauper completed the work by Madonna and before her punker Joan Jett so the age of the 'everygirl' rocker could begin.
Lavigne, who performs in Tampa on Saturday, embodies the everygirl rocker: She might address a song to a boy, but she sings to the girls. She is less likely to come up through the nightclubs. Three years after Lavigne was born, singer Tiffany broke as a national act by touring shopping malls. Tellingly, Lavigne used this format — in 2004, doing a short guerrilla tour of malls accompanied only by a guitarist.
Everygirl takes no guff. If Madonna and Lauper had a model to draw on, it was Jett's rise from a train wreck fronting the ‘70s band The Runaways into a band-leading, tough-talking and self-reliant punker. Lavigne's emblem of a skull and crossbones backed by a crudely drawn heart reflects the emblem for Jett's band The Blackhearts, as does the snarl she brings to such songs as 'He Wasn't' and 'Girlfriend.'
Everygirls sing without irony about irony.
Lavigne's star continues to rise because of what she brings to the table. Lavigne is touring to promote her third album 'The Best Damn Thing.' That album debuted at No. 1 in 2007 and has sold more than 5 million copies.
Avril Lavigne Brings Her Snarl to Tampa on Saturday | TheLedger.com