The 100 most important women in pop – places 54 to 50

Music knows no gender: the struck string, the stepped foot drum or the loop in the audio software – everything is completely gender-neutral. Nice thought, right?

But beyond the tone and beat, the charged theme certainly plays a role. Music, once it has left the instruments, is always context. Music depicts realities and also influences them.

There is no need to tell anyone today that pop and society have become more diverse over the decades. But anyone who likes to scratch their beard with all the movement and prefers to turn around again is a tradition-conscious pop culture canon. Countless lists are still topped by Dylan and the Beatles – Radiohead are still seen as young challengers here. This view may also have an appeal for some, but when it comes down to the argument that there are so few influential female musicians, then the lights dim.

We dedicate ourselves in the current MUSIKEXRESS hence all the influential women in the music business. As obvious as all of this may be, the impulses that female acts have given us in addition to their hits are still valuable. Keep it up, we’ve only just begun.

Here is an eleventh teaser from the list of the 100 most important women in pop – places 54 to 50:

54th place: Spice Girls

Girl power forever! What Bikini Kill and the other pioneers of the Riot Grrrl movement had started in the early 1990s, the Spice Girls brought into the mainstream in 1996. Suddenly female self-determination was not only an electrifying mantra, but also a hyper-successful brand essence that even young girls instinctively understood. Feminism became pop.

Without her There would be no blueprint for optimistic pop with a feminist message like Lizzo and Dua Lipa do today.

(Annett Scheffel)

53rd place: Patsy Cline

In the rigid Nashville system, Patsy Cline established herself as a country singer in the 1950s. She brought more diversity to the conservative genre and blurred the line between country and pop, giving her hits like “Crazy” and “I Fall To Pieces.” She was the first woman to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1963, Patsy Cline died at the age of 30 in a private plane crash.

Without her Taylor Swift wouldn’t have found the transition from country to pop so easy.

(Albert Koch)

52nd place: Chrissie Hynde

The disparaging “Fuck off!” in “Precious”; being a confident boss in your own band (Pretenders); the aggressive feminist stance; advocating veganism long before it was hip; the overdose of kohl around the eyes – everything is calling: icon of the Riot Grrls. A role that Chrissie Hynde was not assigned, but for which she was born as a hippie, a punk and later a rock star who also indulged in a duet with Frank Sinatra.

Without her there would never have been a top vegan restaurant in Akron, Ohio.

(Thomas Winkler)

51st place: PJ Harvey

First with the electric guitar, then with acoustic instruments, the 54-year-old Brit has been able to transform ugly things into beautiful songs since the early 90s and her debut DRY (1992).

Without her We wouldn’t have such a prime example of an artist who has already had many career highlights, but still continues to educate herself, collaborates with others and expresses herself in such a nuanced way that it resonates. Like her “No Man Is An Island” poem quote, which Polly Jean Harvey brings live more often than her Brexit commentary.

(Hella Wittenberg)

50th place: Phoebe Bridgers

With the US singer/songwriter’s second album, PUNISHER (2020), no one had to spell her name anymore. Hardly anyone had ever heard anyone sing so pointedly about changes in emotions from boredom to suicidal thoughts to relationship confusion.

Without her Abortion would not have become an issue again. In 2022 she told the world about her abortion. Bridgers manages to position herself both lyrically and publicly in such a way that she takes on an amplifier role. When she speaks out about mental health and MeToo issues, the reports are louder.

(Hella Wittenberg)

+++ Our current issue has been in stores since February 9th. There is a complete list of the 100 most important women in pop. Here we often share excerpts from the rankings. +++