Strange Little Girls is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001. The album's 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female point of view. Amos created female personae for each track (one song featured twins) and was photographed as each, with makeup done by Kevyn Aucoin. In the United States the album was issued with four alternative covers depicting Amos as the characters singing "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", "Strange Little Girl", "Time", and "Raining Blood". A fifth cover of the "I Don't Like Mondays" character was also issued in the UK and other territories. Text accompanying the photos and songs was written by author Neil Gaiman. The complete short stories in which this text appears can be found in Gaiman's 2006 collection Fragile Things.
| Strange Little Girls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 18, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | February–July 2001 | |||
| Studio |
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| Length | 62:09 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Tori Amos | |||
| Tori Amos chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Strange Little Girls | ||||
| ||||
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 65/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Alternative Press | 7/10[3] |
| The Austin Chronicle | [4] |
| Blender | [5] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B[6] |
| The Guardian | [7] |
| Los Angeles Times | [8] |
| Q | [9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| Slant Magazine | [11] |
As with Amos's previous two studio albums, the cover album was recorded at her Cornwall studio. The album received mixed reviews upon its release in September 2001 with critics largely seeing the album as a mixed bag, praising the unlikely re-workings of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" and Slayer's "Raining Blood", while panning the versions of the Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". Amos also tackled songs by artists such as Tom Waits, the Velvet Underground, Depeche Mode, and the Stranglers.
The album's greatest attention was garnered from Amos's cover of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie & Clyde", a rap song. The album's cover of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" was translated into a discussion on the right to bear arms, and included soundbites from both George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush, as well as from Amos's own minister father. The album entered the charts at US No. 4, selling 111,000 copies, making it her third album to debut in the US Top 10, her second-highest debut in terms of sales,[12] and her best position in the US for almost six years.
The song was featured in Season 4 of The West Wing in the episode "20 Hours in America Part 2".
A planned commercial EP "Strange Little Girl" (originally by the Stranglers), including "After All" (originally by David Bowie) and "Only Women Bleed" (originally by Alice Cooper), was pulled from shelves soon after being shipped to stores in Europe. Despite being recalled from the shelves, limited copies of the single were sold and a promotional video was made.[citation needed]
Additionally, Amos later acknowledged that she had attempted to reinterpret four other songs that she "couldn't find her way into." They were "Fear of a Black Planet" by Public Enemy, "Hoover Factory" by Elvis Costello, "I'm Sick of You" by Iggy Pop and "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" by Peter Murphy. These tracks have not been released.[13] She also mentioned later in a 2012 interview that, with drummer Matt Chamberlain, she had recorded "Growin' Up" by Bruce Springsteen for this album, but it has also not been released although she has played it live.[14]
Amos received two 2002 Grammy nominations: Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Strange Little Girl", and Alternative Music Performance for the album.
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "New Age" | Lou Reed | The Velvet Underground | 4:37 |
| 2. | "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" | Marshall Mathers, Jeff Bass, Mark Bass | Eminem | 5:46 |
| 3. | "Strange Little Girl" | Brian Duffy, Dave Greenfield, Hans Wärmling, Hugh Cornwell, Jean-Jacques Burnel | The Stranglers | 3:50 |
| 4. | "Enjoy the Silence" | Martin Gore | Depeche Mode | 4:10 |
| 5. | "I'm Not in Love" | Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman | 10cc | 5:39 |
| 6. | "Rattlesnakes" | Lloyd Cole, Neil Clark | Lloyd Cole and the Commotions | 3:59 |
| 7. | "Time" | Tom Waits | Tom Waits | 5:23 |
| 8. | "Heart of Gold" | Neil Young | Neil Young | 4:00 |
| 9. | "I Don't Like Mondays" | Bob Geldof; Johnnie Fingers | The Boomtown Rats | 4:21 |
| 10. | "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | The Beatles | 9:55 |
| 11. | "Raining Blood" | Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King | Slayer | 6:22 |
| 12. | "Real Men" | Joe Jackson | Joe Jackson | 4:07 |
| Total length: | 62:09 | |||
B-sides
editLike most of Amos' albums, this one also features B-sides on its singles, but this time only two were released.
| Title | Writer(s) | Original artist | Single |
|---|---|---|---|
| "After All" | David Bowie | David Bowie | "Strange Little Girl" (2001) |
| "Only Women Bleed" | Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner | Alice Cooper | "Strange Little Girl" (2001) |
Personnel
edit- Tori Amos – lead vocals, Wurlitzer, Bösendorfer, Rhodes, ARP
- Matt Chamberlain – drums, military drum, taos drums
- Adrian Belew – guitars (tracks 1, 3, 8, 10, 12), Drill guitar (track 5), acoustic guitar and rattlesnake (track 6)
- Justin Meldal-Johnsen – bass guitar tracks 1, 3, 8; "bass painting" tracks 5, 11
- John Philip Shenale – music arrangements and performance (track 2), strings and synths (track 4)
- Jon Evans – bass guitar (tracks 4, 6, 9, 10, 12)
- Dr. Edison Amos, Daniel Bocking, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush – voices (track 10)
- M & M – additional guitars, string pads (track 6)
Charts
edit| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] | 7 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] | 18 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[17] | 6 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[18] | 24 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[19] | 8 |
| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[20] | 16 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[21] | 27 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[22] | 16 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[23] | 26 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] | 11 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA)[25] | 21 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[26] | 11 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[27] | 13 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[28] | 17 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[29] | 32 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] | 34 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[31] | 16 |
| US Billboard 200[32] | 4 |
| European Albums (Eurotipsheet)[33] | 14 |
Sales
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States | — | 395,000[34] |
See also
edit- Male, a 2015 album by Natalie Imbruglia with a similar concept
References
edit- ^ "Reviews for Strange Little Girls by Tori Amos". AllMusic. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Strange Little Girls – Tori Amos". AllMusic. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Alternative Press (160): 74. November 2001.
- ^ Gray, Christopher (November 2, 2001). "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls (Atlantic)". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Considine, J. D. (September 2001). "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Blender (3): 120. Archived from the original on April 13, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
- ^ Morgan, Laura (September 14, 2001). "Strange Little Girls". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Petridis, Alexis (September 14, 2001). "Masked ball". The Guardian. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Nichols, Natalie (September 16, 2001). "Tori Amos 'Strange Little Girls' Atlantic". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Q (182): 116. October 2001.
- ^ Fricke, David (September 4, 2001). "Strange Little Girls". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Cinquemani, Sal (September 5, 2001). "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ "Jay-Z's 'Blueprint' Enters Second Week at No. 1". Billboard. Retrieved September 27, 2001.
- ^ Jacobs, Jay S. (2006). Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 107. ISBN 9781423400226.
- ^ Staff, PopMatters (October 5, 2012). "The Most Wanted Unreleased Tori Amos Music, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Tori Amos Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Lescharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 38, 2001". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Italiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ 29, 2001/40/ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Tori Amos | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "Tori Amos Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
- ^ "European Hot 100 Albums" (PDF). Eurotipsheet. Vol. 19, no. 41. October 6, 2001. p. 16. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
- ^ "Ask Billboard". Billboard.
