Madonna

The other eighties superstar apart from Michael Jackson was Madonna. Madonna, more than any woman singer before, decided what she did and controlled what she did. She, too, was a very good dancer and, like Michael Jackson, her music was loud, fast, exciting disco music. She said that sex was an important way for women to be free. And in her videos, which helped the songs to do well, Madonna often showed herself in control of men. Thousands of people went to see her; she made films; she was always on TV. Madonna showed the way to other women in pop and many are now following.

Steve Flinders: Forty Years Of Pop; Oxford University Press, 1996 (2001), page 11