The world out there on stage is a man's world. Or is that simply what we've been led to believe? What if the King of Rock & Roll had actually been a Queen?
Anyone who listens closely can hear Memphis Minnie's guitar in Chuck Berry and Eric Clapton, Sister Rosetta's untamed spirit in Jerry Lee Lewis, and Big Mama Thornton's growling vocals in Elvis Presley. Yet the fact that women were already rocking the stage in the 1950s was successfully erased from our collective memory. It's time to dig up the roots and tell the real story.
The women we meet on this journey have devoted their lives to rock music, and they are as inspiring as they are diverse. "You have to be like a man. But I can do that—I'm a woman with balls," says Linda Gail Lewis, while Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go's describes herself as "a rare bird." Suzi Quatro insists gender has never mattered to her, while Rosie Flores embraces the distinctly female qualities of her guitar playing. As an African American punk rocker, Honeychild Coleman has had to fight prejudice on several fronts. Alternative rock legend Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses eventually turned her back on the major record labels, asking: "What would my children think if I looked into every camera as though I wanted to fuck it—just because that's what they expect from you?"
ROCK CHICKS – I AM NOT FEMALE TO YOU is a film about music as an inner calling, the fight to pursue your dreams, and the courage to become truly yourself.