"I didn't want this book to be a puff job," says O'Dair. "There are many fabulous women who have been overlooked one way or another, but I didn't in any way want to suggest that just because these performers or creators were female, they were more deserving of attention or praise. I felt that taking that kind of reductive view would only hurt the subject matter. I wanted to be critical, and luckily the writers I went to are largely critical by nature."

Their criticism sometimes concerns the performers themselves, and sometimes greater issues in the music industry or society. O'Dair's journey toward getting Trouble Girls into print is reflection of some of the stories in the book; "A few publishers turned me down and said 'We already have our woman's book for this year,' " she says.

In her introduction, O'Dair asserts that she wanted "to compile a collection of essays about those who have lasted, those who otherwise may not, and those who should." It explores the ways in which the musicians have been, as she terms it, "undersung," and struggled with constant labeling. The stickiest label of the lot being "feminist," since it is so often construed as "rebellious" and little is more entrenched in the lexicon of rebellion than rock 'n' roll.

"When the book was launched, 'women in rock' was once again a catch-phrase, and there were a lot of really good arguments against that categorization," says O'Dair.