Girls Going Wild

Call them "babes" or "chicks" at your peril (unless, of course, you're being postmodern and ironic). Our girls represent the lethal, smouldering core of modern womanhood. Dudes beware: they'll slay you on the dance floor, suck out your soul after midnight, and finish off the rest of you for breakfast. Start with some Stefani ("Hollaback Girl"), then feel the wrath of an Alanis scorned ("You Oughta Know"), better know a Shania ("Man! I Feel Like a Woman!') and grind with Nelly ("Promiscuous"). Nanette Workman turns the marmelade hot 'n' sticky, in Next Steps.

You know the wild dial has been turned up to 11 when Eve's in the house. Here she joins forces with Mary J. Blige ("Not Today') and Orange County ultra-minx Gwen Stefani ("Let Me Blow Ya Mind"). For sheer, hair-raising volatility, we offer you Björk's thunderous, ominous "Army of Me" and Hole's blistering "Celebrity Skin." And until you've heard former Rolling Stones backing vocalist Nanette Workman dish up "Lady Marmelade," why, you just don't know the meaning of wild. Suzie McNeil shows her superhuman rock credentials, in Deep Cuts.

Wild? We'll give you wild — from the punk-charged metal of jailbait rebel girls the Runaways ("Cherry Bomb") to the lip-glossed Eurotica of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight") and the soulful, talk-to-the-hand defiance of Jean Knight ("Mr. Big Stuff"). If you dig a renegade Japanese flavour, try alt-rock trio Shonen Knife ("Twist Barbie") and if you fancy stormin' your way to pop-rock nirvana, cue up Suzie McNeil's "Supergirl."

Like beauty, wildness takes many forms. It might be the cheeky Brit strumpeteering of the Spice Girls ("Wannabe"), the urban flesh grinding of Mis-Teeq ("Scandalous"), the jokey, rural yee-hawing of Gretchen Wilson ("Redneck Woman"), or the legs-akimbo lunacy of Courtney Love ("Celebrity Skin"). Wild girls are the heart, soul, and slavering spirit of rock 'n' roll, whether they're enticing fellas with a come-hither coo (Lee Aaron's "Whatcha Do to My Body") or offering them a lengthy conversation with the hand, like En Vogue's "My Lovin (You're Never Gonna Get It)." It all amounts to the best excuse for an all-girl get-together since Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazon, announced: "OK, ladies, tonight we party."