I found your new post, Brian, misleadingly nestled among those older posts. Who'd have thought that MetaBeats would have such a burst of activity that we'd be in danger of missing entries? I was pleased to see that somebody picked up on my Zappa thread. And I found your challenge quite - well, challenging. I've been thinking about it and scanning my albums, and there are certainly lots of women represented, but very few that I would even consider as my favorite. My choice would have to be Suzanne Vega I think - I've got almost all of her recordings, and I've gone to see her in concert a couple of times. It's a less passionate connection than your unhealthy obsession with Nico, but I think it's the best I can do. When it comes right down to it, female musicians have generally not inspired me as deeply as male musicians have, and I'm not sure why that is. There are generally a lot fewer females than males in the business, but I don't think that fully accounts for it. I wonder if, at some hidden level, the female perspective is different enough from the male perspective that it impedes the musical and lyrical resonance that the very best music can produce.