Ani DiFranco

I saw Ani DiFranco in concert in 1998, in Albuquerque, for my 19th birthday. The fire alarms went off. She kept right on playing.

Ani was one of the first female musicians I encountered who was allowed to be angry in her music; who could call out hypocrisy and not try to soften it. She wasn't trying to be pretty. She wasn't trying to get a boy. The first song of hers I ever heard has a chorus that begins with the line "Fuck you and your untouchable face," and I thought: YESSSSS!!!. Exactly that.