Are three chords still enough?

Where have all the rock girls gone?Courtney Love is a shattered mess. Liz Phair hired the Matrix and went adult-contemporary. Sheryl Crow is retreading Cat Stevens. The quarterly magazine Rockrgrl, which profiles women in rock, has been reduced to showcasing Kelly Osbourne on its cover.

Alanis Morissette? Avril Lavigne? Sorry. They’re Pat Benatar and Pat Benatar Jr.

We’re looking for P.J. Harvey.

The older gals — pardon the ageism — are doing what they can. Blondie’s Debbie Harry and the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde still write and record new songs. Stevie Nicks is full time with Fleetwood Mac again. But one can’t reclaim the torch once it’s been passed.

Here and there, young indie rock has its female faces. They often don’t have the decency to go by their real names: the Kills’ VV (aka Alison Mosshart), the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O (aka Karen Orzolek).

And you can often find them on drumseats: Meg White of the White Stripes, Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney and Quasi, and the astonishingly young Rachel Trachtenberg (she’s 10 and plays for her dad).

There’s the promising “it girl” Joss Stone, an English teenager with a voice to reckon with, but her thing is neosoul. The former teen-popper Pink is a rock convert but, at this point in her career, barely more than a dilettante.

Popular and underground rock are dominated by the boys — by dudes such as Miss White’s ex-husband, Jack White.

The girls, meanwhile, are Nickelodeon nullities (Hilary Duff) or glorified dancers who happen also to sing. Some have good voices (Christina Aguilera). Some have bad voices (Britney Spears). Anyway, the voices are incidental to the flesh.

For some reason, female rockers have gone missing.

The women who matter on today’s music scene have outgrown rock. Their male peers have yet to catch up with them, but then, girls do grow up faster than boys.

The women who matter today are playing music that’s older than rock, albeit sometimes with a rock sensibility.

They’re the girls of pre-rock-post-rock.

Or something like that.

Consider the likes of Nellie McKay, Norah Jones, Amanda Palmer and Diana Krall.

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