Women in rock, an ever fascinating topic and when we come to dead rock stars we very often enter a world of glamour outside and rottenness inside, drug abuse, ecstasy followed by deep depression, orgies and all consuming hard work.
One of the most tragic life stories is that of Janis Joplin. Born 1947 in Port Arthur, TX she was found dead only 27 years later in a motel room near the recording studio in LA where she was recording her last album.
"Onstage, I make love to 25 000 people, then I go home alone" -- Janis Joplin
Her posthumously released cover of Kris Kristoffersen's -- Me And Bobby McGee hit #1 in US charts, and the album Pearl, containing Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz -- an acapella first take recording -- and Buried Alive In The Blues -- the track that remained instrumental because of Janis´death -- was Janis Joplin´s greatest success.
Her previous release "Cheap Thrills", recorded with "Big Brother And The Holding Company" gave us some a deep insight into Joplin´s mind, deep desperation and unhappiness. "Piece Of My Heart", "Ball and Chain" and "Summertime" can make your flesh go all goose bumps, especially if you are already in a depressed mood. When Joplin moved to L.A. and joined the Holding Company she soon started to drink and drug, and within a year she was more or less ready for treatment in hospital and sanatorium. Instead of which she went out and staged one of the best live performances in rock history at the Monterey festival.
Joplin admitted more than once that her life had been deeply unhappy, but that eventually she had found an outlet in singing. Shortly before her death, Janis was back in Port Arthur for a high school reunion, and when asked in an interview, if she was popular in high school, she answered that her schoolmates "laughed me out of class, out of town and out of the state"
Janis Joplin has been an idol and figurehead for the gay movement ever since her death, although she was not homosexual. But her deep desperation about "being different", about not fitting in has communicated itself into her music, thus making it an expression of most gay persons´ experiences in early life.
About a month before she died, Joplin became engaged to Seth Morgan, a 21 year old Berkley student, drug dealer and poet. On the fourth of October 1971 she didn´t show up at the recording studio and was found to have died from an overdose of heroine.
What if Janis hadn't died that day, would we have lost a great singer to happiness?
One of the most tragic life stories is that of Janis Joplin. Born 1947 in Port Arthur, TX she was found dead only 27 years later in a motel room near the recording studio in LA where she was recording her last album.
"Onstage, I make love to 25 000 people, then I go home alone" -- Janis Joplin
Her posthumously released cover of Kris Kristoffersen's -- Me And Bobby McGee hit #1 in US charts, and the album Pearl, containing Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz -- an acapella first take recording -- and Buried Alive In The Blues -- the track that remained instrumental because of Janis´death -- was Janis Joplin´s greatest success.
Her previous release "Cheap Thrills", recorded with "Big Brother And The Holding Company" gave us some a deep insight into Joplin´s mind, deep desperation and unhappiness. "Piece Of My Heart", "Ball and Chain" and "Summertime" can make your flesh go all goose bumps, especially if you are already in a depressed mood. When Joplin moved to L.A. and joined the Holding Company she soon started to drink and drug, and within a year she was more or less ready for treatment in hospital and sanatorium. Instead of which she went out and staged one of the best live performances in rock history at the Monterey festival.
Joplin admitted more than once that her life had been deeply unhappy, but that eventually she had found an outlet in singing. Shortly before her death, Janis was back in Port Arthur for a high school reunion, and when asked in an interview, if she was popular in high school, she answered that her schoolmates "laughed me out of class, out of town and out of the state"
Janis Joplin has been an idol and figurehead for the gay movement ever since her death, although she was not homosexual. But her deep desperation about "being different", about not fitting in has communicated itself into her music, thus making it an expression of most gay persons´ experiences in early life.
About a month before she died, Joplin became engaged to Seth Morgan, a 21 year old Berkley student, drug dealer and poet. On the fourth of October 1971 she didn´t show up at the recording studio and was found to have died from an overdose of heroine.
What if Janis hadn't died that day, would we have lost a great singer to happiness?
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