Lady Crush #10: Brody Dalle

Best Known For: The Distillers

So far it has seemed like my Crushes (of both the man and lady variety) have had an underlying theme to them: sense of humour.  With the exception of Tony Jaa & Hakeem Olajuwon, I would argue that every single one of my Man Crushes was known for having a good sense of humour or at the very least, a willingness to poke a little fun at themselves.  The same can be said for most of the names on this Lady Crush list as well.

So, then, how could we possibly be cracking the prestigious Top 10 of this list with a name that is not very well known for possessing a sense of humour at all?  And, not only that, but as deserving as I feel she is of it, why am I going to have such a difficult time justifying this high of a ranking?  You see, unlike the other female musicians on his list, whose shroud of mystery could often be used in place of any actual justification, I have long been a big enough Brody Dalle fan to have learned a fair bit about her over the years.

And a lot of it hasn't been very pretty.

For starters, she left home at 13, lied about her age to Tim Armstrong when the two of them first got together (telling him that she was 18 when in fact she was 16 - he was 30…)  After their rocky marriage and even messier divorce came the whole Josh Homme situation (he wasn't exactly single when they started seeing each other).  On top of that, she's done practically every drug known to man (heroin being her weapon of choice) and at the peak of her punk rock days, she felt a sick need to keep up with and be considered one of the guys (her pre-show warm up included an entire bottle of vodka and smoking a pack of cigarettes) which would often lead her to being blackout drunk, and doing (even by her own admission) some pretty stupid things.

Not exactly the type of person one should have a Lady Crush on then, right?  Well, luckily I can save some face with the knowledge that almost all of this was prior to 2004, and in the subsequent years, becoming a mother and disbanding The Distillers has lead to a much more tame and gentle Brody Dalle.

But tame and gentle are not what this crush is about at all.  In fact, seeing that this crush was formed during the peak of her 'bad girl' days, there must have been something pretty great so that not only did I look past her unsavoury behaviour, but I even managed to form a mighty crush in spite of it all.  Which means it could only be one thing right?  The one thing that is inherent to all my Man and Lady Crushes: Brody must be absolutely hilarious.

But she's not.

Even though that seems to be the key ingredient in winning me over, and the only thing that could make me turn a blind eye to such unpleasant behaviour, it's just not the case.  While she may not be completely humourless, she's not exactly cracking a whole lot of jokes either.   But, what else could it be?  What did Tony Jaa and Hakeem Olajuwon have that made them rise above the rest, despite lacking any outwardly apparent sense of humour?

Well the answer is simple: they were both completely badass.  Tony Jaa as a martial artist and Hakeem as an absolute basketball freak.  The Distillers were (and still are) one of my favourite bands ever, and it stands to reason that the driving force behind them had to be absolutely, undeniably, 100% badass as well.  And Brody was certainly that.  Sure, it may have lead to a few of the aforementioned missteps along the way, but I would still argue that it's much more difficult to make these lists on the sole basis of being a badass than it is to make it for having a good sense of humour.  Too many people 'try too hard', and as such the ones that really are true badasses are few and far between.  So, for all the Brody's out there, know that your badassedness alone will always earn you a place in my mighty man heart.

Proof of Awesomeness: