I've always loved the music of the '60's, especially that great but short-lived phenomenon known as the "girl group era".

Coinciding with the genesis of rock and roll, teenage pop and soulful R&B, the girl groups embodied the best elements of all of those styles.

The concept of feminism was hardly mainstream in the early '60's, which makes it all the more remarkable that the hyperemotional tales of teenaged angst at the heart of the genre were told from a female point of view.

Sure, the subject matter was love - getting the boy, losing the boy, fighting for the boy. But it was a girl up there in the spotlight, telling her story, expressing her emotions. Pretty empowering stuff in an era where women, like children, were  preferably seen rather than heard.

ANNE FARNSWORTH