Beth Ditto's Standing in the Way of Control launches her on the path to A-list celebrity

Until Standing in the Way of Control, the Gossip were just another garage trio on the American underground. Sure, they were notable for their feminist zeal and their live show – frontwoman Beth Ditto had a voice that was more church than punk – but their early records summoned a scrappy charm. Before the recording of Standing in the Way, the band's founding drummer Kathy Mendonca left and was replaced by the ultra-capable Hannah Blilie – and the band's sound upgraded from swamp-boogie to disco-ferocious. The album's title track lifted the band from obscurity and thrust them into new territory, far, far beyond their humble roots in the American south: TV, videos, Glastonbury, pop charts, with Ditto and her fat-positive, girl-positive, queer agenda front and centre as an unlikely new icon. Ditto continued to transform as the band's success grew – as she became more of a pop star, she cast herself further from convention, looking like a glamorous alien. Her gospel wail voice transfixed us and Standing in the Way gave us liberation politics that felt right-on and righteous on a 2am dancefloor; it was the dawning of Beth Ditto, the people's diva.