Mixed-gender band

[4]: 2  According to Auslander, she was "kicking down the male door in rock and roll and proving that a female musician ... and this is a point I am extremely concerned about ... could play as well if not better than the boys".

[11] The Smashing Pumpkins went through a succession of female bass players—D'arcy Wretzky, Melissa Auf der Maur, Nicole Fiorentino, and Ginger Pooley.

[12] As of 2024[update], the best-selling mixed-gender band of all time is ABBA, followed by Fleetwood Mac, both featuring multiple male and female performers in their lineups.

The history of rock has been described as including "a myriad of collectives in which a strong female voice provides the group's identity while being supported by male backing musicians".

[1]: 80  Jason Lipshutz and Hannah Dailey, in a piece for Billboard wrote that there is "something magical about watching a female artist lead the charge with a group of guys standing behind her onstage".

[14]: 104  "[S]everal scholars have argued that men exclude women from bands or from the bands' rehearsals, recordings, performances, and other social activities",[14]: 102  with women being considered "passive and private consumers of allegedly slick, prefabricated – hence, inferior – pop music..., excluding them from participating as high-status rock musicians.