Suzi Quatro - Influence

Influence

Before Quatro's success, rock was dominated by men. In his paper I Wanna Be Your Man: Suzi Quatro's musical androgyny, Philip Auslander points out that the many women in rock by the late 1960s mostly performed only as singers, "a traditionally feminine position in popular music". For example, since Janis Joplin did not play guitar on stage, even she "cannot be seen as a powerful figure in the context of the rock culture of her time". Though some women (like Quatro herself) played instruments in American all-female garage rock bands, none of these bands achieved more than regional success. So they "did not provide viable templates for women's on-going participation in rock". When Quatro emerged in 1973, "no other prominent female musician worked in rock simultaneously as a singer, instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader". Auslander adds that in 2000 Quatro saw herself as "kicking down the male door in rock and roll and proving that a female musician ... and this is a point I am extremely concerned about ... could play as well if not better than the boys".

Quatro has influenced two generations of female musicians (from several different countries and performing in several different genres). Often her success as the first female bass player to become a major rock star gave them more confidence and/or strength to succeed. Some of these musicians are described below.

Pat Benatar

Rock/hard rock singer Pat Benatar started her musical career in the 1970s (in New York City, USA). She won four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance from 1981 to 1984.

Blondie

The band Blondie formed in 1974 (in New York City, USA), broke up in 1982, and reunited in 1998. It is the most commercially successful New Wave/punk band and also branched out into other musical genres. In 2006, Blondie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Tina Weymouth

Tina Weymouth is a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads (formed in 1975 in New York City, USA) and its side project Tom Tom Club. Talking Heads was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. When Chris Frantz was unable to find a bass player interested in joining the group, he encouraged Weymouth to learn to play bass by listening to Quatro albums.

The 5.6.7.8's

The 5.6.7.8's is an all-female Japanese rock trio/quartet. It formed in 1986 (in Tokyo, Japan) and is the longest-enduring Japanese garage rock female band. In the West, the band is best known for its appearance in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Volume 1.

Tuscadero

The American indie rock band Tuscadero, formed in 1993, was named after Quatro's character Leather Tuscadero on the TV show Happy Days.

The Glycerine Queens

The Glycerine Queens, formed in 2010, is an American all-female rock band. The band is named after Quatro's song "Glycerine Queen", which is in her debut Suzi Quatro album and on the B-side of her "All Shook Up" single.

Others

Quatro had a direct influence on The Runaways and Joan Jett.

Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist, KT Tunstall, commented in a 2008 interview that the cover photo of her studio album Drastic Fantastic (2007) is based on Quatro.