Why I Love Kristin Hersh

In case you did not realize it, I really like music.
My tastes are pretty wide ranging. Anyone who follows me on twitter or facebook knows that lately my tastes have been angry ones. I covered some of my love of hip hop in a previous posting and my love of punk and hardcore is well known. This posting is gonna cover some of my love for female singers. I thought of this topic while listening to one of the greatest bands of all time, the Throwing Muses, the other night. This reminded me of a conversation I had with a good friend a couple of months ago. I was sharing my love of great music when of course I got to the part of music greatness known as the Throwing Muses.
Quick history for the uninformed. The Muses were formed by half sisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnelly back in the late 80s. Known for their aggressive, but very melodic songs, they came from the same genre as The Pixies.
Anyway, I was recommending music to her and the muses along with Kristin Hersh's solo stuff and Tanya Donnelly's solo work and work with Belly were included. This led to Ani Difranco, the Breeders, Poe, Veruca Salt, The Gits, early Hole(before Courtney Love became a complete douche), Liz Phair, PJ Harvey, Luscious Jackson, Sneaker Pimps, Lush, and of course the great Tori Amos(who by the way was Chancey's favorite, RIP Bro!) and probably more that I have forgotten at this moment.
All was well in our music discussion until my good friend said this about Kristin Hersh: "yeah she's ok, kind of like Jewel" Ok, at this point it took all the nonviolence zen training that I have had not to drive to her house and punch her in the ovaries. She may as well insulted my children. Comparing the genius of Kristen Hersh to Jewel is blasphemy. Now there is nothing wrong with Jewel. She is talented in her own way, but she couldn't write anything close to what Kristin does and to say otherwise is pure insanity.
All this being said, I still love my friend. She does have pretty good taste in music and I guess I can cut her a break this time.
To sum up: I love Kristin Hersh, Tanya Donnelly and the Throwing Muses. They are in my humble opinion, one of the greatest musical acts of all time and deserve way more praise and acclaim than they get. I can name many times in my life, both good times and rough times, during which either the Muses or Kristin were the soundtrack that kept me flying high or picked me up when I was down. Kristin is continuing to make some great music today and it is all being funded by fans. This gives her the freedom to create the music she wants to create and not be under the thumb of a record label. I am proud to call myself one of her "Strangels"! Go to http://www.kristinhersh.com and http://www.cashmusic.com and show some love and support.
Long Ashes, Good Karma, Stabby Days and Much Love.....Namaste!
Shing 12/09