“Like no other”: America’s most unique band, according to Heart
Like many who went on to become some of the world’s best female rockers, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson never really thought about the gender disparity when they were younger.
In fact, some of their first influences stemmed from the usual pool of rock ‘n’ roll’s finest players, like Elvis Presley and The Beatles, with the Fab Four having an especially deep-rooted impact on the type of music they went on to create and the sort of image they played into in the early days.
At the time, there weren’t really any women in rock to look up to, much less the kind that actually went on to have a successful career for long enough for it to mean something to the next generation of talent. And so, musicians like the Wilson sisters idolised predominantly male-fronted bands and forged their own path that would step into that role. As they later said, “Getting started in music so young, it was a calling.”
They also genuinely had the talent to go far in the industry. As Nancy later reflected, Ann had the voice, while she had the “burning desire” to become a guitar hero, both of which came together to create something that “nobody can argue with”. And it was all from admiring the greats and aspiring to become even greater.
All their hard work paid off in the 1980s, a major turning point following the release of their self-titled 1985 album, which also became their first to score the number one position on the US charts. Songs like ‘Dreams’ and ‘What About Love’ also cemented their position in rock history, while their raw energy on stage drew in a loyal fan following that is still very much alive today.
All of these achievements are owed to the simple fact that they put in the work. If you were to ask their peers why they reached the levels they did, they’d likely say it had something to do with the way they took their influences and created something uniquely their own… But it was also because they didn’t restrict themselves, not when it came to the kind of music that moved them and certainly not when it came to pushing the same sorts of boundaries in their own work.
For instance, one of the songs that influenced them the most was Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, but they also believed everything that Steely Dan touched turned to gold, especially with the ways they blended different styles and played by their own rules to create music that sounded like nothing they’d ever heard before. During an episode of The Celebrity Playlist Podcast, the duo shared all the reasons why Steely Dan was “like no other band”.
“These guys took jazz and stood it in its ear and made their own sound out of jazz and rock, and East Coast that took sarcasm and a wink and a sneer and made it really accessible,” they said, saying that the first time they heard a Steely Dan song, “I had to buy the single and put it in an envelope to a friend of mine in Germany because it was so groundbreaking.”
In many ways, that’s precisely what ensured Heart excelled beyond anything anyone could have imagined; not because they were women who rocked just as hard as men, although that was a major part of their success too. They surpassed many of their peers in the music world because they knew what genius meant, borrowing elements of others’ approach to greatness and figuring out their own path.
