VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll (US, TV)
July 26 - August 1, 1999
#71 Tori Amos
VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll was a 5-part series broadcast from July 26 - August 1, 1999. Each episode was 1 hour long and covered 20 artists.
transcript
Episode 1
#86 Laurie Anderson
Tori Amos: "Laurie Anderson, um, I think really came at a time when music was shifting, not only sonically but... so that we were seeing the art world kind of come into the music side."
Episode 2
#71 Tori Amos
Geri Halliwell, who was the host for the entire second hour/episode of the series on July 27, introduced Tori when they reached the artist at #71.
Geri Halliwell: The artist at #71 won a scholarship to the elite Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore at age 5, but she was thown out for an infatuation with rock and roll.
Narrator: She started playing piano scores and writing her own songs at the age of 4. But a streak of rebellion got the child prodigy Myra Ellen Amos expelled from her elite music school and instead on the track to becoming a rock star. Tori had a thunderous breakthrough in 1992 immediately establishing herself as a formidable music talent and fascinating persona.
John Popper (Blues Traveler): Tori Amos. Wow. She's frightening. I get scared of her.
Ahmet Ertegun (founder of Atlantic Records): Tori Amos is a very very special person. She's extremely sensitive, poetic, musical, and beautiful.
Phoebe Snow: I think she's brilliant. She's courageous. She's big on imagery. She basically paints a tableau for you when she's singing.
Janis Ian: Tori does some amazing stuff on the piano and she's opened up a whole world for people who were not accustomed to seeing a woman take the stage at the piano.
Tori Amos: I'm much more comfortable when I'm just at the piano. I think that's why I became a songwriter. When I was little, that's how I really kind of told my mother I wanted macaroni and cheese. I'd sing it to her.
Episode 3
On the struggle women have to go through to be accepted in the music industry:
Tori Amos: I remember being told, "We're already playing Natalie Merchant. We're already playing one." That was going on in 1991.
Tori Amos: I think my dick's bigger than all those guys anyway.
#46 Kate Bush
Tori Amos: I got her work, and was really moved. And, more than anything, I was moved by her as a producer.
Episode 5
#10 Carole King
Tori Amos: Carole King was always such an amazing writer.
#7 Chrissie Hynde
Tori Amos: I thought Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders were such a turning point. You really hadn't heard anything done like that before, in that way, with that attitude.
~ ~ ~
USA Today (US)
July 16, 1999
VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll
VH1 has designated July 26 - August 1, 1999, as 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll Week. While VH1 placed Tori at #71 on their official list, they had an online poll at the VH1.com web site where you could vote for your favorite women. Tori made #5 on that list (Stevie Nicks was #1).
1. Aretha Franklin
2. Tina Turner
3. Janis Joplin
4. Bonnie Raitt
5. Joni Mitchell
6. Billie Holiday
7. Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders)
8. Madonna
9. Annie Lennox
10. Carole King
11. Patsy Cline
12. Deborah Harry
13. Ella Fitzgerald
14. Stevie Nicks
15. Patti Smith
16. The Supremes (Diana Ross)
17. Chaka Khan
18. Gladys Knight
19. Etta James
20. Grace Slick
21. Linda Ronstadt
22. Emmylou Harris
23. The Mamas & the Papas (Cass Elliot, Michelle Phillips)
24. Dusty Springfield
25. Marianne Faithfull
26. Bessie Smith
27. Joan Baez
28. Carly Simon
29. Karen Carpenter
30. Rickie Lee Jones
31. Barbra Streisand
32. Joan Jett
33. k.d. lang
34. Dolly Parton
35. Sinead O'Connor
36. Bjork
37. Donna Summer
38. Diana Ross (solo)
39. Pat Benatar
40. Heart (Ann and Nancy Wilson)
41. Patti LaBelle
42. Dionne Warwick
43. Cher
44. Sheryl Crow
45. Roberta Flack
46. Kate Bush
47. The B-52's (Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson)
48. Dinah Washington
49. Melissa Etheridge
50. Sarah Vaughan
51. Bette Midler
52. Laura Nyro
53. Alanis Morissette
54. Tracy Chapman
55. PJ Harvey
56. Martha & the Vandellas (Martha Reeves)
57. Mavis Staples
58. Cyndi Lauper
59. Joan Armatrading
60. Ruth Brown
61. Whitney Houston
62. Lena Horne
63. Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac)
64. The Shirelles
65. Loretta Lynn
66. Sade (feat. Sade Adu)
67. The Ronettes (Ronnie Spector)
68. Hole (Courtney Love)
69. Sarah McLachlan
70. ABBA (Agnetha Faltskog, Frida Lyngstad)
71. Tori Amos
72. Queen Latifah
73. Tammy Wynette
74. Anita Baker
75. Exene Cervenka (X)
76. The Go-Go's (Belinda Carlisle)
77. Janet Jackson
78. Mahalia Jackson
79. Indigo Girls (Amy Ray, Emily Saliers)
80. Big Mama Thornton
81. Gloria Estefan
82. Grace Jones
83. Salt-N-Pepa
84. Yoko Ono
85. Petula Clark
86. Laurie Anderson
87. Nico
88. Sheila E.
89. Eartha Kitt
90. Ani DiFranco
91. Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)
92. Natalie Cole
93. Peggy Lee
94. Liz Phair
95. Olivia Newton-John
96. Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
97. Lucinda Williams
98. Kim Deal (Breeders, Pixies)
99. Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club)
100. Erykah Badu
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