The Pretty Reckless have been around for over a decade, and are the only rock band fronted by a woman to have had seven No. 1 singles. Despite their success, vocalist Taylor Momsen admitted that it took them a while to be accepted by other rock bands, and described their early years as an “uphill battle.”
The Pretty Reckless released their debut album Light Me Up in 2010, but prior to that, Momsen was known for her roles in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Gossip Girl and more. Having always considered herself a musician first, she was determined to prove that she was serious about rock ‘n’ roll.
Between their 2014 sophomore record Going to Hell and its 2016 follow-up Who You Selling For, the band scored four consecutive No. 1 singles, and then their most recent album Death By Rock and Roll garnered them another three.
Momsen recalled to iHeartRadio Canada that there weren’t as many rock bands led by women when TPR were starting out as there are today, and that it was a bit of a struggle for them to be accepted by their rock ‘n’ roll contemporaries as they chugged along.
“I think that we’ve been around now for a while, and I think that we’ve certainly felt a shift in acceptance from other bands and from the industry and things like that, where I think in the beginning it was kind of an uphill battle — for me, at least — to kind of… people had a lot of preconceived notions about me, I guess,” the singer said.
“I think that it’s taken time to kind of prove that this is a real thing and a real band, and not some sort of fling or whatever. So I think that that’s been really amazing.”
The vocalist confessed that she isn’t a big fan of terms such as “female-fronted rock band” and the likes. While she thinks that it’s important that women are represented in rock, she doesn’t want the gender divide to be such a big focus within the industry, and she wants her band to be put up against every other band, not just the ones with female singers.
“I wanna compete with the best of them, not just the other women.”
Watch the interview below.
The Pretty Reckless are heading out on tour with Shinedown and Diamante starting April 1. See all of the dates here.
The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen – It Took Us a While to Be Accepted By Other Bands
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