Women and Popular Music

From Janis Joplin to P.J. Harvey, Women and Popular Music explores the changing role of women musicians and the ways in which their songs resonate in popular culture. Through a series of artist case studies Sheila Whiteley examines the interaction between feminist debates and music culture over thirty years of pop history. Sheila Whiteley begins by examining the counter-culture's reactionary attitudes to women through the lyrics of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. She explores the ways in which artists like Joplin and Joni Mitchell confronted issues of sexuality and freedom, redefining women's participation in the industry, and assesses the personal cost of their achievements.

Sheila Whiteley is Reader in Popular Music at the University of Salford. She is the author of The Space Between the Notes (Routledge 1992) and editor of Sexing the Groove (Routledge 1997).

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Wonderful World, Beautiful People 2. Repressive Representations 3. The Personal is Political 4. Try, Just a Little Bit Harder 5. The Times, They are A'Changing 6. The Lonely Road 7. Daughters of Chaos 8. Challenging the Feminine 9. Madonna, Autoeroticism and Desire 10. k.d. lang, a Different Kind of Woman 11. Talkin' About a Revolution 12. Authenticity, Truthfulness and Community 13. Artifice and the Imperatives of Commercial Success