Playlist: International Women’s Day

I’m willing to bet my last dollar it was probably a woman who sang the first song. It makes total sense and also checks out with the storyline of humanity that a woman was the first to do something and then got pushed to the sidelines when it proved profitable.

And despite the truth that the music industry continues to be a weirdly hostile place to be anything but cis-male – whether you’re trying to claim ownership of your work, or to get on a festival line-up, or to be played on the radio, or to not be sexually harassed – women keep pioneering movements and moments in music, like they have been doing with little appreciation throughout history.

This International Women’s Day playlist celebrates some of my favorite women in music and kicks off with a power anthem by Karen O (and DangerMouse), which declares “I’m a Woman!” and is fantastic for marching around powerfully in your living room.

The playlist is by no means complete, but it was made from a mood I was in one full moon last October, so it seemed appropriately witchy for today. Enjoy these women in pop, punk, hip-hop, indie, rock and whatever Bjork is, because without them and countless others, music would suck.