5. régine chassagne
originally from haiti, régine is married to win butler, frontman of canada's arcade fire. she plays millions of instruments on-stage: violin, accordion, organ, xylophone, and can perform the impossible-sounding feat of simultaneously playing a violin and singing. her voice on songs like 'in the backseat' (from debut album 'funeral') can send shivers up your spine.
4. alison mosshart
currently frontwoman of both the kills and the dead weather, alison mosshart has managed to avoid the paparazzi attention meted out to her kills bandmate jamie hince since he made the decision to become kate moss's other half, maintaining a cool aloofness about the whole affair. she repeatedly insists that she and kate are friends while at the same time looking like frenemies is a more accurate description, and that she could probably tear her to shreds with secret lazer beams hidden behind her eyes if she wanted to. the video for the dead weather's 'treat me like your mother' is pretty much the most badass thing i've seen recently (brief summary: she and jack white, wearing top-to-toe leather, walk from opposite ends of a piece of scrubland, and empty hundreds of bullets into each other from a series of heavy-duty guns worn about their person while smoking cigarettes and looking angry). i want every pair of shoes she owns.
3. akiko matsuura
formerly (edit: apparently she still is) singer for comanechi, now drumming for the big pink, akiko matsuura moved from japan to london specifically because she wanted to be in a punk band. tiny in every way, she manages to thrash out the harshest drumbeats for the big pink while maintaining a fuck-you cool. at the big pink's recent glastonbury set, she played wearing nothing but a leotard and a playboy bunny bow. hot-a.
2. annie hardy
annie hardy, now the only member of giant drag, didn't let the other member's departure stopped her from playing all instruments live on her own. she looks like an angel, but she specialises in audience back-chat and explicit song titles: debut album 'hearts and unicorns' contains the songs 'YFLMD' (you fuck like my dad) and 'my dick sux'.
1. karen o
there's only one lady who can occupy this top spot, and that is the totally unique karen orzolek. she spits grapes at audience members, runs around in insane outfits (by friend and designer christian joy), and has a pair of lungs on her more ear-splitting than five lesser girls put together. never, ever upstaged by her other half, even when that other half is spike jonze (or when ex-boyfriend, liars' angus angus, doesn't turn up to meet her at the taping of their video for 'maps' before he goes on tour, making the tears she cries in the video real), she tops a recent straw poll of 'girls gay men would go straight for,' and i've been her biggest fan since i was about fourteen. long live the queen of cool girls in bands!
