As it's Internation Women's Day . . .

... and I did say I'd do some stuff about women this month and never reeaallly got round to it, I thought that I would post here my all time favourite songs sung by women.
For some reason (SEXISM) the music industry tends to mess with female singers and try to make them popular because of their appearance as opposed to their actual ability, and even when they don't put a major effort into that, physical appearance is still what a singer will get judged on as opposed to . . . their singing, which is their profession (this does, admittedly, apply to some men too). For example, Adele; brilliant singer, writes her own songs and everything. But what's she judged on? Her size. 'Oh God look at her, lard-arse' 'yes but that's not important, she's a singer-' 'Eww who got her pregnant she's so fat' 'But she's still really pretty actually, and anyway that's not even important-'
You get the picture.
So anyway, here are some awesome songs by awesome women.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep. Because everybody knows this song and she really belts it out, and just yeesssssss gooooddddddd

Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good. Amy was such a talented singer and it's really such a shame what happened, but that's common knowledge. She's been painted on the ceiling of the cafe in Affleck's Palace, Manchester, where all the dead legends have gone (is Mitch Lucker up there yet though?)

Shirley Bassey - Goldfinger. Because firstly, Adele's already up here, and secondly, this is a better Bond theme than Skyfall anyway.

The Pretty Reckless - Make Me Wanna Die. Because I love how Taylor Momsen just decided to go off from Gossip Girl and join this band, and start dressing however she likes, no matter what the slut-shaming from the media is like.

Evanescence - Bring Me To Life. Because this song is so cheesy I love it. I remember this song from when I was about seven, actually, so it's also kind of nostalgic for me. It also spawned many an early 2000s scenekid phase.

Ms Dynamite - Dy-Na-Mi-Tee. I don't even care, I used to have the album with this on when I was younger, I loved Ms Dynamite.

Beyonce feat. Jay-Z - Crazy In Love. SPLOSHUNS AND RAIN DANCING AND THOSE WEIRD PURPLE AND ORANGE OUTFITS. DESTINY'S FAVOURITE CHILD.

My Favourite Cover Versions

I've mentioned at some point previously having a phobia of cover versions. Well, I do. I get so worried they're going to do an awesome song and murder it, because you can't just do what another band does. You have to do it your own way, and that's what's weird, because you have to do what another person does the way you do it, and that's not guaranteed to work.
That said, there are actually some good covers out there that I quite like.

Common People - Pulp (covered by My Chemical Romance)
My Chem love Pulp. I love Pulp because they, along with various other bands, were in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as The Weird Sisters and made some awesome songs - such as Can You Dance Like A Hippogriff? - everyone loves Pulp. Except my dad because people apparently used to say he looked like Jarvis Cocker and that upset him. Apparently I look like Jarvis Cocker if I wear glasses. But this was an awesome cover done by my absolute favourite band, done in the Live Lounge at Radio 1, where quite a lot of pretty good covers are done.

Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (covered by Mayday Parade feat. Vic Fuentes)
The covers recorded for Punk Goes Pop tend to vary in quality, what with some bands just going with 'ok, that's a pop song, we're metal, let's just scream it instead'. I also don't massively like the original version of this song because it's pretty boring and they played it every five minutes that I was in Florida, in between Call Me Maybe and Payphone. Ugh. However, I love this one 'cause they've actually managed to make it more exciting and different, and it sounds like pop punk, an actual genre, as opposed to xylophone and body paint. Plus, it's got Vic Fuentes in it and Vic Fuentes is awesome.

Valerie - The Zutons (covered by Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson)
Another one from the Live Lounge. This one has been so wildly successful that I'm not sure everyone realises that it was originally by The Zutons as opposed to Amy Winehouse (who was a wonderfully talented singer). But it is an amazing cover, so, y'know . . .

Sabotage - Beastie Boys (covered by Cancer Bats)
It doesn't sound massively different from the original, but the original's a good song in the first place, so you can't really go wrong there. But it makes me feel so badass when I listen to it, so I generally use it to soundtrack my overly confident marching out of school at the end of the day, while very energetically miming along to the words to scare people into getting out of my way.

What's This? - Danny Elfman (covered by Fall Out Boy)
There's a whole album of band covers of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is one of my favourite films, but this is my favourite cover, because Patrick Stump really has an amazing voice. I like that they've kept the music sounding the same, but made it into guitar noises . . . yes. Technical language. But yes, one of my favourite bands covering one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite films (definitely my favourite Christmas/Halloween film - I've been watching that film since it was on VHS).

So there you go.