Melissa Etheridge

Many of the rock belter's more overwrought cris de coeur decode nicely into SOS's from the closet. But somehow I don't expect she's going to abandon her fevered word-slinging and musclebound dynamics now that her open secret is officially public. She'll always do her damnedest to make sure no one misses the full significance of images like "naked soul," "ache for something new," and "stand firm in the tempest." Patty Scialfa is Shonen Knife by comparison. But I blame Etheridge on Bruce anyway. (Grade: C+)