She Bop 2: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop & Soul by Lucy O'Brien

CONTINUUM | JAN 2002

PAPERBACK | 530 PAGES | 6" x 2" x 9"

Popular music grew out of ragtime, vaudeville and the blues to become global mass entertainment. Women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were the original pop divas, yet eighty years after they blazed a trail, have their successors achieved the recognition and affirmation they deserve? Or has the only way to success been to slot into saleable images of the cute babe or sexy chanteuse?

Since its publication in 1995, the first edition of Lucy O'Brien's book has garnered worldwide acclaim. This fully revised and updated edition, with an additional chapter and dozens of extra interviews, is the ultimate hands-on history of women in rock, pop and soul. Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dusty Springfield, Patti Smith, Madonna, Joni Mitchell, Whitney Houston, Courtney Love, Alanis Morissette, Destiny's Child - all the key names are here. But 'She Bop 2' refuses to look at women artists simply as personalities, problems or victims. From Dream Babes to rock chicks, Riot Grrrls and ragamuffins, Girlpower, Lilith Fair rock, and the rise of the corporate Diva, 'She Bop 2' is the uncompromising story of women as creators and innovators.

“Anybody who has shoved a bulging sock down their pants before picking up their 'guitar' should probably read this book." —Tori Amos

“...more than an encyclopedia; it's well-written, thoroughly researched, and uncompromising in its presentation of women as creators and innovators.“ —Boston Phoenix

LUCY O’BRIEN is a writer, academic, and broadcaster. She is the co-writer of the new memoir by Skin, the lead singer of rock band Skunk Anansie (published in September 2020), and is also the author of Dusty: The Classic Biography, Annie Lennox, and Madonna: Like An Icon, which has been translated into 13 languages. She has contributed to Q, Mojo, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The Quietus, and numerous anthologies, such as Mute Records: Artists, Business, History (2018) and Voicing Girlhood In Popular Music: Performance, Authority, Authenticity (2016). She played in all-girl band The Catholic Girls, and is currently working on a memoir about punk and feminism.