Janis Joplin was the queen of all Rock. She brought her powerful, bluesy voice all the way from Texas to San Francisco’s psychedelic rock scene, where she attained her success while changing the entire view of women in rock. She has been called “the greatest white urban blues and soul singer of all time.” Her vocal intensity proved a perfect match for the high-energy music of Big Brother and the Holding Company, resulting in a mix of blues, folk and psychedelic rock. Joplin’s tenure with Big Brother may have been brief, lasting only from 1966 to 1968, but it yielded a pair of albums that included the milestone Cheap Thrills. Moreover, her performance with Big Brother at 1967’s Monterey International Pop Festival, a highlight of the film documentary Monterey Pop, is among the great performances in rock history.
Joplin left Big Brother in December 1968, taking guitarist Sam Andrew with her. Her first solo album, I’ve Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, appeared in 1969, and she toured extensively with her Kozmic Blues Band. By mid-1970, however, she’d dissolved that outfit and formed a superb new one, Full-Tilt Boogie. They gelled over the course of several months of touring and entered the studio to record what would turn out to be Joplin’s swan song. Sadly, only a short time later on October 4, 1970 Janis passed away in her hotel room from a drug overdose, she was 27. The posthumously released Pearl(the title was her nickname), comprised nine finished tracks and one instrumental to which she was supposed to have added vocals on the day she died. It was prophetically titled “Buried Alive in the Blues.”
Janis Joplin has passed into the realm of legend: an outwardly brash yet inwardly vulnerable and troubled personality who possessed one of the most passionate voices in rock history. She remains today, one of my favourite singers of all time and every time I hear her sing it still gives me goosebumps. Of all female vocalists she is by far my fave. I LOVE Janis Joplin! She was flawed in many of the same ways that Lennon was and as someone with a savior complex I wish I could have rescued her and treated her right. She was a beautiful person and deserved the love that she was always seeking, yet destined never to find.
Here are some of my favourite songs for your enjoyment.
Happy Mothers Day!
1 comment:
there has never been anyone that even comes close to Janis..and doubtful there ever will be!
Post a Comment