This two-volume set showcases the heroines who blazed the popular music trail.Popular music owes greatly to the spirit of rebellion. In all of its diversified, experimental, modern-day micro-genres, music's roots were first watered by good old-fashioned social dissension, its incendiary heights pushed heavenward by radicals and rogue revolutionaries and perhaps none are more influential and non-conformist than women. Always first in line to give convention a sound thrashing, women in music have penned sonic masterpieces, championed sweeping social movements, and breathed life into sounds yet unimagined. Today's guitar-wielding heroines continue to blaze the trail, tapping reservoirs and soundscapes still unknown to their male counterparts."Women Icons of Popular Music" puts the limelight on 24 legendary artists who challenged the status quo and dramatically expanded the possibilities of women in the highly competitive music world. Using critical acclaim and artistic integrity as benchmarks of success, this can't-put-down resource features rich biographical and musical analyses of a diverse array of musicians from country, pop, rock, R&B, soul, indie, and hip-hop. It goes beyond the shorter, less detailed biographical information found in many 'women in rock' compendiums by giving readers a more in-depth understanding of these artists as individuals, as well as providing a larger context - social, musical, political, and personal - for their success and legacy. Among those featured include: Patsy Cline; Diana Ross; Aretha Franklin; Joan Baez; Janis Joplin; Joni Mitchell; Carole King; Patti Smith; Tina Turner; Madonna; Tori Amos; Mary J. Blige; Ani DiFranco, and more.