A few that haven’t been mentioned: Rasputina, Clare Quilty, Joydrop, Tura Satana, My Ruin, Nightwish, After Forever, Theatre of Tragedy, Opera IX (not for everyone), Crisis.
PJ Harvey is the QUEEN!
Tori Amos, New Pornographers, gemma hayes, jonatha brooke
but sheryl crow?? please-- she just inches away from being britney spears these days!
I’ll throw in my band The Locals— but – on a new line here-- because-- the artists mentioned above – well they are just the shiznitiz and I wouldnt dare to compare…
THE DONNAs suck ass, if you’ve ever heard them live-- they cant carry a tune in a bucket if their life depended on it-- their sound is COMPLETELY manufactured in the studio—
Antigone Rising. All female and they can rock out with the best of them.
Tyler Do’Urden
yes— Antigone Rising is good too-- forgot about them-- great band!
Don’t forget Otep, who put out an absolutely stunning death metal album last year.
Not as heavy, but still very good, is Poe, who I haven’t seen mentioned yet.
It’s a trio, two girls and a guy. The guy’s on drums; the other two are bass and guitar. The guitarist is the songwriter and lead singer.
And, lest my eloquence was overlooked the first time, they effin’ rawk.
Come to Seattle at the end of August and you’ll get to see them live at Bumbershoot.
Although her latest, self-titled effort has gotten much-undeserved bad press, I would count Liz Phair among the better contemporary female artists.
Sorry, I can’t userawk in a sentence.
Oh, damn, I just did:D
Chris W
Ani DiFranco, anyone?
Mary Lou Lord is good, but probably not “hard” enough for ya.
Le Tigre 
Forgot about Discount.