To answer the "Who the hell cares question":
Well, hopefully no one bases their opinion of whether or not they LIKE the band on the looks of their members. For example, I like Nile.
BUT with that said, it certainly doesn't hurt when a band whose music you LOVE also has a beautiful woman on stage. Unless of course you don't go for beautiful women, in which case, uh, nothing. Ignore this thread
My choices:
Angela from AE
Tarja from Nightwish
Cristina from Lacuna Coil
Doro from uh, Doro (no, she's not too old, shame on you!)
Karen Gilligan from Cruachan
Stefanie Duchene from Flowing Tears
Lotta Hoglin from Beseech
Liv from Theatre of Tragedy
I'm sure there are more attractive women in metal, I just don't know them or don't like the band. But for those who are just interested in reading about women in metal, there's a pretty decent compendium fansite with links and all right here----->
http://www.geocities.com/svipdaag/grrls/index.html