History Music / ToriAmos

Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos, August 22, 1963) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. Her music walks the fine line between {{baroque pop}} & straightforward {{alternative rock}}. She has ventured off into other terri[[{{Pun}} tori]]es, like electronic (''from the choirgirl hotel'', ''To Venus and Back'', ''Abnormally Attracted to Sin''), funk/soul/gospel (''The Beekeeper''), big band ("Pink and Glitter"), adult contemporary (''Scarlet's Walk'', certain songs on ''The Beekeeper''), country ("Not Dying Today", "Drive All Night") and even folk ("Wedding Day"). She has written about many topics, including rape, masturbation, war, religion, feminine sexuality, homosexuality (and related topics), betrayal, and... [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible other things]]. [[http://thegospelaccordingtorichardcroft.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/515-tori-amos-little-earthquakes-1992/ Richard Croft]] said it best about the public's perception of her: "The image of Tori Amos most widely known in pop culture is sort of like an American Music/{{Bjork}}, a modern Music/KateBush, a feminist icon, a screeching, red-haired banshee who flails wildly at the piano and sings all sorts of man-hating anthems for her throngs of similarly screeching, red-haired fans." Note that this description was tongue-in-cheek; she is not misandric, and her fans have a variety of hair colors.

* ConceptAlbum: ''Under The Pink'' (why people of the same sex hate each other more than they do the opposite sex), ''Boys for Pele'' (songs revolving around her break-up with long-time boyfriend/producer Eric Rosse), ''from the choirgirl hotel'' (Tori's marriage and miscarriages), ''Strange Little Girls'' (cover songs originally written and performed by men that Tori reinterpreted from a female's point of view), ''Scarlet's Walk'' (the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, as well as the concept of America post-9/11), ''The Beekeeper'' (songs based on Gnostic Christianity and beekeeping), ''American Doll Posse'' (five female personae Amos developed based on Greek mythology), and ''Night of Hunters'' (a woman has to piece her life together after a horrendous break-up) qualify.

Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos, August 22, 1963) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. Her music walks the fine line between {{baroque pop}} & straightforward {{alternative rock}}. She has ventured off into other terri[[IncrediblyLamePun tori]]es, like electronic (''from the choirgirl hotel'', ''To Venus and Back'', ''Abnormally Attracted to Sin''), funk/soul/gospel (''The Beekeeper''), big band ("Pink and Glitter"), adult contemporary (''Scarlet's Walk'', certain songs on ''The Beekeeper''), country ("Not Dying Today", "Drive All Night") and even folk ("Wedding Day"). She has written about many topics, including rape, masturbation, war, religion, feminine sexuality, homosexuality (and related topics), betrayal, and... [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible other things]]. [[http://thegospelaccordingtorichardcroft.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/515-tori-amos-little-earthquakes-1992/ Richard Croft]] said it best about the public's perception of her: "The image of Tori Amos most widely known in pop culture is sort of like an American Music/{{Bjork}}, a modern Music/KateBush, a feminist icon, a screeching, red-haired banshee who flails wildly at the piano and sings all sorts of man-hating anthems for her throngs of similarly screeching, red-haired fans." Note that this description was tongue-in-cheek; she is not misandric, and her fans have a variety of hair colors.

* ChristmasSongs: Her album ''Midwinter Graces'' largely consists of original songs based on, and containing lines from, traditional christmas carols. Examples include "Star of Wonder" based on "We Three Kings", and "Jeanette, Isabella", based on "Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella".
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Amos' performing persona possesses a level of weirdness only rivaled by the likes of Music/LadyGaga and Music/{{Buckethead}}. ‎"That was 'Toodles, Mr. Jim.' Mr. Jim died, two weeksh ago. And he taught me how to pick cherriesh, and I punched his daughter in the nose because she was mean. Mr. Jim was good."

* ShoutOut: Tori Amos has given shout outs to Neil Gaiman in many of her songs:
** "If you need me, me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the DREAM KING / Neil says hi by the way," in "Tear in Your Hand"
** "Get me Neil on the line. No, I can't hold. Have him read 'Snow Glass Apples' where nothing is what it seems," in "Carbon" refers to Gaiman's short story, "Snow, Glass, Apples"
** "Seems I keep getting this story twisted so where's Neil when you need him," in "Space Dog"
** "and if there is a way to find you, I will find you. but will you find me if Neil makes me a tree," in "Horses" refers to a deal between Tori and Gaiman during his writing of Stardust wherein he gave her a cameo as a tree (with red leaves, of course)
** "Got a sister named Desire...Teach me about them old worlds big brother," in "A Sister Named Desire" is a reference to the characters of Desire and Dream from ComicBook/TheSandman
** "Sister Despair, Sister Despair. Can you bring the Dream King to me?" in "Mary's Eyes" refers to Desire's sister.
** "Where are the Velvets?" in "Hotel" refer to characters from Neverwhere
** "Wednesday...so we go from year to year with secrets we've been keeping..." in "Wednesday," referring to the character in American Gods
** "Neil is thrilled he can claim he's mammalian/'But the bad news,' he said, 'Girl, you're a dandelion.'" in "Not Dying Today"
** She also includes him in the album credits of From the Choirgirl Hotel, Scarlet's Walk, Strange Little Girls, Under the Pink, and To Venus and Back.
** A shoutout to Music/NineInchNails in "Precious Things": "With their nine inch nails and little fascist panties..."
** Again in "Caught a Lite Sneeze": "Make my own pretty hate machine."
** Trent Reznor himself provided backup vocals on "Past the Mission."

%% * ReligionRantSong: "God" (Type 1), "Crucify" (type 2), "Icicle" (type 2/3 with side of TakeThat by way of ADateWithRosiePalms).

%%* ADateWithRosiePalms: "Icicle".

* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** "Icicle" is a song about masturbation. The date is with the icicle, and it is a substitutionary device for Jesus'... uh... [[UnusualEuphemism icicle]]. The song can be interpreted as a girl's church-bred guilt about sex and frigidity [[FauxSymbolism melting like an icicle]] so she finally feels free to please herself. Or the Icicle is a metaphor for her cold fingers... and the "hiding place" would be the vagina.
** At a concert, she described how when she discovered masturbation at a young age, she was all too eager to tell the other girls at church what she just discovered she can do... who subsequently told her pastor father and got her in quite a bit of trouble.

* RefrainFromAssuming: Tori never released a song called "Starfucker." It's "Professional Widow."

* TakeThat: It's been said that "She's Your Cocaine" is Tori's response to the fact that her close friend Trent Reznor was foolish enough to bed Music/CourtneyLove and not expect trouble.

* RapeAsDrama: Tori was raped as a young woman, and her song "Me and a Gun" (and probably many more after that) is based on her sexual assault. As noted above, this led her to co-found RAINN and she has put uncountable hours and a significant portion of her money into the organization.