Strange Little Girls

Strange Little Girls is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001. The album's 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female point of view. Amos created female personae for each track (one song featured twins) and was photographed as each, with makeup done by Kevyn Aucoin. In the United States the album was issued with four alternative covers depicting Amos as the characters singing "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", "Strange Little Girl", "Time", and "Raining Blood". A fifth cover of the "I Don't Like Mondays" character was also issued in the UK and other territories. Text accompanying the photos and songs was written by novelist Neil Gaiman. The complete short stories in which this text appears can be found in Gaiman's 2006 collection Fragile Things.

This article is about the Tori Amos album. For the song, see Strange Little Girl.

Strange Little Girls
Studio album of cover songs by
Tori Amos
ReleasedSeptember 18, 2001 (2001-09-18)
RecordedFebruary–July 2001
Studio
  • Martian Studios, Cornwall
  • The Nut Ranch, Los Angeles
Length62:09
LabelAtlantic
ProducerTori Amos
Tori Amos chronology
To Venus and Back
(1999)		 Strange Little Girls
(2001)		 Scarlet's Walk
(2002)
Singles from Strange Little Girls
  1. "Strange Little Girl"
    Released: October 9, 2001
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic65/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Alternative Press7/10[3]
The Austin Chronicle[4]
Blender[5]
Entertainment WeeklyB[6]
The Guardian[7]
Los Angeles Times[8]
Q[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
Slant Magazine[11]

As with Amos's previous two studio albums, the cover album was recorded at her Cornwall studio. The album received mixed reviews upon its release in September 2001 with critics largely seeing the album as a mixed bag, praising the unlikely re-workings of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" and Slayer's "Raining Blood", while panning the versions of the Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". Amos also tackled songs by artists such as Tom Waits, the Velvet Underground, Depeche Mode, and the Stranglers.

The album's greatest attention was garnered from Amos's cover of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie & Clyde", a rap song. The album's cover of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" was translated into a discussion on the right to bear arms, and included sound bites from both George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush, as well as from Amos's own minister father. The album entered the charts at US No. 4, selling 111,000 copies, making it her third album to debut in the US Top 10, her second-highest debut in terms of sales,[12] and her best position in the US for almost six years.

A planned commercial EP "Strange Little Girl" (originally by the Stranglers), including "After All" (originally by David Bowie) and "Only Women Bleed" (originally by Alice Cooper), was pulled from shelves soon after being shipped to stores in Europe. Despite being recalled from the shelves, limited copies of the single were sold and a promotional video was made.

Additionally, Amos later acknowledged that she had attempted to reinterpret four other songs that she "couldn't find her way into." They were "Fear of a Black Planet" by Public Enemy, "Hoover Factory" by Elvis Costello, "I'm Sick of You" by Iggy Pop and "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" by Peter Murphy. These tracks have not been released.[13]

Amos received two 2002 Grammy nominations: Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Strange Little Girl", and Alternative Music Performance for the album.

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Original artistLength
1."New Age"Lou ReedThe Velvet Underground4:37
2."'97 Bonnie & Clyde"Marshall Mathers, Jeff Bass, Mark BassEminem5:46
3."Strange Little Girl"Brian Duffy, Dave Greenfield, Hans Wärmling, Hugh Cornwell, Jean-Jacques BurnelThe Stranglers3:50
4."Enjoy the Silence"Martin GoreDepeche Mode4:10
5."I'm Not in Love"Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman10cc5:39
6."Rattlesnakes"Lloyd Cole, Neil ClarkLloyd Cole and the Commotions3:59
7."Time"Tom WaitsTom Waits5:23
8."Heart of Gold"Neil YoungNeil Young4:00
9."I Don't Like Mondays"Bob GeldofThe Boomtown Rats4:21
10."Happiness Is a Warm Gun"John Lennon, Paul McCartneyThe Beatles9:55
11."Raining Blood"Jeff Hanneman, Kerry KingSlayer6:22
12."Real Men"Joe JacksonJoe Jackson4:07
Total length:62:09

B-sides

Like most of Amos' albums, this one also features B-sides on its singles, but this time only two were released.

Title Writer(s) Original artist Single
"After All" David Bowie David Bowie "Strange Little Girl" (2001)
"Only Women Bleed" Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner Alice Cooper "Strange Little Girl" (2001)

Personnel

Charts
Chart (2001) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[14] 7
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15] 18
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[17] 24
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[18] 8
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[19] 16
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[20] 27
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[21] 16
French Albums (SNEP)[22] 26
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23] 11
Irish Albums (IRMA)[24] 21
Italian Albums (FIMI)[25] 11
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[26] 13
Scottish Albums (OCC)[27] 17
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[28] 32
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29] 34
UK Albums (OCC)[30] 16
US Billboard 200[31] 4

Sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States — 395,000[32]

See also

References
  1. "Reviews for Strange Little Girls by Tori Amos". AllMusic. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Strange Little Girls – Tori Amos". AllMusic. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  3. "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Alternative Press (160): 74. November 2001.
  4. Gray, Christopher (November 2, 2001). "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls (Atlantic)". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  5. Considine, J. D. (September 2001). "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Blender (3): 120. Archived from the original on April 13, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  6. Morgan, Laura (September 14, 2001). "Strange Little Girls". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  7. Petridis, Alexis (September 14, 2001). "Masked ball". The Guardian. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  8. Nichols, Natalie (September 16, 2001). "Tori Amos 'Strange Little Girls' Atlantic". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  9. "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Q (182): 116. October 2001.
  10. Fricke, David (September 4, 2001). "Strange Little Girls". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  11. Cinquemani, Sal (September 5, 2001). "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  12. "Jay-Z's 'Blueprint' Enters Second Week at No. 1". Retrieved September 27, 2001.
  13. Jacobs, Jay S. (2006). Pretty Good Years: A Biography of Tori Amos. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 107.
  14. "Australiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  15. "Austriancharts.at – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  16. "Ultratop.be – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  17. "Ultratop.be – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  18. "Tori Amos Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  19. "Danishcharts.dk – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  20. "Dutchcharts.nl – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  21. "Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  22. "Lescharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  23. "Offiziellecharts.de – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  24. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 38, 2001". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  25. "Italiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  26. "Norwegiancharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  27. 29, 2001/40/ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  28. "Swedishcharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  29. "Swisscharts.com – Tori Amos – Strange Little Girls". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  30. "Tori Amos | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  31. "Tori Amos Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  32. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1045442/ask-billboard
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