Fearless Love, Melissa Etheridge's feistiest disc since her 1988 debut, blurs the difference between hard-earned personal experience and social commentary. In "Miss California," she voices her frustration with California's recent anti-gay-marriage amendment by addressing the state as if it were a wayward lover: "I know the hand that's trying to hold me down/Is the one I'm trying to hold." For "The Wanting of You," Etheridge sets "Born to Run" riffs against a tale of a married woman who constantly lusts for another, reminding you that she's best when she brings both intensity and compassion.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."