Thirty years ago Wednesday, a powerful new female voice joined the rock music chorus when Melissa Etheridge released her self-titled debut album.
The stripped-down project, completed in just four days, only reached #22 on the Billboard album chart but it became a success on rock radio, spinning off the inescapable tracks “Bring Me Some Water” and “Like the Way I Do.” “Bring Me Some Water” earned Melissa her first Grammy nod, for Best Female Rock Vocal performance.
The album has since gone platinum and remains a fan favorite. Melissa, who now has two Grammys and an Oscar, still performs “Bring Me Some Water” at nearly every one of her shows. She originally wrote the song about the jealousy she felt when she and her girlfriend at the time were living in different cities and had agreed to be non-exclusive.
Asked if she relives those emotions every time she sings it, Melissa told ABC Radio a few years back, “Heavens, no! We don’t go through the emotion, yet the feeling within the audience and within myself is one of just so much fun and so much rock ‘n roll, that it’s easy to slip right back in and sing that song from the heart.”
It’s notable that Melissa didn’t officially come out as gay until January of 1993. Her fourth album, which was released that September, was titled Yes I Am. It was her big breakthrough, and featured her signature Grammy-winning hit, “Come to My Window.”
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