Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
149th out of 195 books
—
18 voters
She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop & Soul
by
Lucy O'Brien
Popular music grew out of ragtime, vaudeville and the blues to become global mass entertainment. Yet nearly eighty years after Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith first blazed the trail, have their female successors achieved the recognition and affirmation they deserve? The first hands-on history of women in rock, pop and soul, She Bop tells it like it is - on stage, on camera and...more
Paperback, 480 pages
Published
January 1st 1996
by Penguin Books
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
167)
haven't finished this yet. it's OK. one thing I found a bit irritating was the author's speculation on why these women made certain choices in their careers and making it sound like its not speculation and ascribing all of their motivations to something having to do with being female. that's a pretty bad sentence, I know. but anyway, if you are a musician who happens to be a female, I guess you are always technically a "female musician," but maybe not everything you do as a musician is a direct...more
For me, this book can be summed up in one song: Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog." The Elvis version never made sense to me (why is he calling someone a hound dog?), but when I heard Big Mama's huge, deep voice bellow out this insult, it all made sense. This is a woman's song.
It's so great to see a history of women in popular music. It's an impossible task in many ways, but the author does a nice job of covering some of the most important pioneers. As with any book that covers popular music, I'm...more
It's so great to see a history of women in popular music. It's an impossible task in many ways, but the author does a nice job of covering some of the most important pioneers. As with any book that covers popular music, I'm...more
Great history of women in music. I used this as a research paper source in college more times than I can count (I was a music business major).
I bought this for a friend a few years ago, and ended up reading it before I sent it to her. It's a really good overview of the history of women in popular music. It examines many of the big issues women have to face in the music industry (sexism, racism, promotion, etc.) Some names you will recognize, others you will likely not. I think this is a great book about women in music, and great book about music in general.
This is a great overview of women in pop music, but sometimes you get a bit too much of the author seeming like a fan reliving a star-sighting. She obviously displays excitement and gratitude for her experiences in meeting some of the ladies in question, and this isn't a problem, but it makes some sections drag a little.
May 20, 2013
Charlie Waters
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Lauren
added it
Apr 21, 2013
Kyndyle
marked it as to-read
Apr 17, 2013
Jessica
is currently reading it
Apr 15, 2013
Tenial
marked it as to-read
Apr 09, 2013
Jeanne
is currently reading it
Mar 16, 2013
Kay Brady
marked it as to-read
Mar 05, 2013
Rachna
marked it as to-read
Feb 15, 2013
Mike Woodward
marked it as to-read
Feb 08, 2013
Sreevidhya
marked it as to-read
Jan 22, 2013
Stephanie
marked it as to-read
Jan 21, 2013
Hayley
marked it as to-read
Jan 20, 2013
Cyndi
marked it as to-read
Jan 19, 2013
Lenora
is currently reading it
Jan 14, 2013
Raine
marked it as to-read
Jan 09, 2013
Mance
marked it as to-read
Jan 05, 2013
Anne
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“A myth is 'a narrative involving supernatural or fancied persons embodying popular ideas or social phenomena.' Women love telling stories . . . the girl-group is a gigantic narrative full of morality tales locked up like charms in a crystallized sound.”
—
2 people liked it
“Young men list music as their focus and means of identity -- before sport, before TV, before cinema -- while women cite fashion as most important, with music an ambivalent second.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
May 17, 2013 02:17am