Pink broke through with Can't Take Me Home, a sexy teen-pop disco cruise from a Philly gal with New Wave hair you could fry an egg on. On her second album, Missundaztood, the twenty-two-year-old abandons R&B to indulge her dream of being a hard-rock chick, and the result is practically the teen-pop In Utero. She dishes about self-loathing ("Lonely Girl"), drug abuse ("Just Like a Pill"), parental divorce ("Family Portrait") and, of course, the price of fame. "Tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears," she grouses. "She's so pretty/That just ain't me." But if Pink really wants to rock, she could do better mentorwise than Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes fame, whose songwriting and production dominate the album (though Pink also collaborates with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora). Her "Dear Diary" isn't as catchy as Britney's, and the lively R&B beats of Can't Take Me Home are definitely missed when Pink bogs down in traditionalist rock clichés; "Misery" sounds like the Black Crowes, which couldn't have been the idea. But Pink deserves respect for expressing herself instead of going through the teen-pop motions — even if her execution isn't up to her ambitions, Missundaztood is more fun than that god-awful "Lady Marmalade" remake.

“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."