This work examines how female rock artists Tori Amos, Sara McLachlan, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, P.J. Harvey, Courtney Love and K.D. Lang explore themes of gender and sexuality in their musical and lyrical expression. Merging cultural analysis with musicological theory, the authors examine such issues as gender, performance, the female body, race, sexuality and desire.

Disruptive Divas focuses on four female musicians: Tori Amos, Courtney Love, Me'Shell Ndegeocello and P. J. Harvey who have marked contemporary popular culture in unexpected ways have impelled and disturbed the boundaries of "acceptable" female musicianship.

Within popular music there are entire genres, styles, techniques, and practices that rely heavily on musical intertextuality and references between music of different styles and genres. This interdisciplinary collection of essays covers a wide range of musical styles and artists to investigate intertextuality - the shaping of one text by another - in popular music.