Strange Little Girls is a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 released by singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Tori Amos

Tori Amos

Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...

 in 2001. The album's 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female's 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

Kevyn Aucoin

Kevyn Aucoin was an American make-up artist and photographer.-Early life:Aucoin was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, to parents Isidore Adrian Aucoin and Thelma Suzanne Melancon, who adopted him as an infant through Catholic Charities of Alexandria, Louisiana He...

. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 the album was issued with four alternative covers depicting Amos as the characters singing "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (pictured), "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

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...

. The complete short stories in which this text appears can be found in Gaiman's 2006 collection Fragile Things

Fragile Things

Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders is a collection of short stories and poetry by English author, Neil Gaiman. It was published in the US and UK in 2006 by HarperCollins and Headline Review....

.

As with Amos' 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

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde" and Slayer

Slayer

Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...

's "Raining Blood

Raining Blood

"Raining Blood" is a song by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King for the 1986 studio album Reign in Blood, the concept deals with religion, specifically said to be about overthrowing Heaven...

", while panning the versions of The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun

Happiness Is a Warm Gun

"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" is a song by The Beatles, featured on the eponymous double-disc album The Beatles, also known as The White Album...

" and Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

's "Heart of Gold

Heart of Gold (song)

"Heart of Gold" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young. Released from the 1972 album Harvest, it is so far Young's only U.S. #1 single. In Canada, it reached #1 on the RPM national singles chart for the first time on April 8, 1972, on which date Young held the top spot on both the...

". Amos also tackled songs by artists such as Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...

, Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...

, and The Stranglers

The Stranglers

The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...

.

The album's greatest attention was garnered from Amos' cover of Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

's "'97 Bonnie and Clyde

The Slim Shady LP

The Slim Shady LP is the second studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on February 23, 1999. It is his major-label debut, and was released under Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, and Web Records....

", a rap

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 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

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 and George H. W. Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

, as well as from Amos' own minister father. The album entered the charts at US #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, and her best position in the US for almost six years.

A planned commercial single, "Strange Little Girl

Strange Little Girl

"Strange Little Girl" by The Stranglers was released in the UK in 1982 as their last single while signed to Liberty Records . By the time of release, the band had already decided to leave the label for Epic Records, and this last single was part of the severance deal, along with the compilation...

" (The Stranglers), including "After All" (David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

) and "Only Women Bleed

Only Women Bleed

"Only Women Bleed" is a song written by the musicians Alice Cooper and Dick Wagner. It is a ballad about a woman in an abusive marriage.It is one of Cooper's biggest hits, reaching #1 on the Canadian RPM national singles chart and #12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1975. It is from...

" (originally by Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...

), was pulled from shelves soon after being shipped to stores in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. Despite being recalled from the shelves, limited copies of the single were sold and a promotional video was made.

Additionally, Tori 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

Fear of a Black Planet

Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 10, 1990, on Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records. Production for the album was handled by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the dense, sample-layered sound of the...

" by Public Enemy, "Hoover Factory" by Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

, "I'm Sick of You" by Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

 and "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" by Peter Murphy. These tracks have not been released.

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

Reception

Track listing

B-sides

The album, as with most of Amos' albums, is also known for its collection of original B-sides.

Title	Single
"After All"	"Strange Little Girl" (2001)
"Only Women Bleed Only Women Bleed "Only Women Bleed" is a song written by the musicians Alice Cooper and Dick Wagner. It is a ballad about a woman in an abusive marriage.It is one of Cooper's biggest hits, reaching #1 on the Canadian RPM national singles chart and #12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1975. It is from... "	"Strange Little Girl" (2001)

Chart performance

Chart (2001)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200	4
U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums	3
UK Album Chart	16
ARIA Chart (Australia)	7
Top 40 Longplay Chart (Austria)	18
Canadian Album Chart (Canada)	8
Danish Album Chart (Denmark)	16
Finnish Album Chart (Finland)	16
IFOP Album Chart (France)	26
Top 100 Longplay Chart (Germany)	11
Irish Album Chart (Ireland)	21
MUSICA!'s Top 20 Album Chart (Italy)	11
Album Top 100 (the Netherlands)	27
Top 40 Album Chart (Norway)	13
Polish Album Chart (Poland)	6
Swedish Album Chart (Sweden)	32
Swiss Album Chart (Switzerland)	34