Hey gang...let's take a moment or two to remember the original Queen of rock and roll. We still miss you after 37 years.
Hey gang...let's take a moment or two to remember the original Queen of rock and roll. We still miss you after 37 years.
Ya gotta love Pearl . . .
I love her music. She wasn't much of a looker but, she sure had some pipes.
janis was so freakin' cool~ wonder what she would be like if she was still around?~
I have the feeling she probably would have went the same way Grace Slick did - retired and took up painting pictures.
Least she would get to enjoy her well deserved fame n fortune, if she coulda stuk around.
She probably would have fizzled out for a brief moment and then in 2007 she would have joined a tour with Crosby Stills and Nash, that's my hypothesis.
i know i'll get alot of sh*t for this, but i think she went when she was supposed to. her early end made her the legend she is today. i feel that is true for many who have passed at an early age and went on to become icons. can you say Marilyn?
Yeah I agree... but a tour with Crosby Still and Nash could still have been a good time
I still love Janis..her voice never stops giving me chills.. such a sad end for such a huge talent!
I am a huge Janis Joplin fan.. Names two of my cats after her..(incidently, my third cat is named after grace slick) Her voice gives me chills... Its sad that she went so early, but i truly think thats how she was suppose to go.
As Neil Young once sang, "Better to burn out - than fade away".
Yeah, I agree, Janis died when she was "supposed" to otherwise a longer life may have ended up her being a "one-hit" wonder type of singer and pretty much forgotten about. At least she became some sort of "legend" dying young and in her prime (as an artist).
Thinking about it that way I suppose you guys are right! I'm kinda thinking she wouldn't want to be an old has been rocker.
neil young has work to do still with the cause dearest to him. his son is ill (can't remember what from) and he works to raise money and awareness about the illness. sometimes i think a celebrity is made only to help bring to light certain issues, and to use their celeb power to get others to care.
Maybe some of you will relate to this:
I just moved to NY from Phoenix. Not too long ago I was in a reputable/well known used record store in Tempe looking for Janis on vinyl. They had quite a few Hendrix and Doors, but not one Janis lp. I asked the KID behind the counter if perhaps they were on display or not out on the floor and the response I received was, "You know, you're the third person this month to ask about her...did she just die or something?". Sigh.....Call me old fashioned, but there are some things in life you just need to know. You know? Like, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, who the first president was, and when Janis Joplin died. Oh, well...it's keepers of the flame like us that need to teach the younger generations.
Thanks. I knew it was something of the sorts, but just could not remember.
I agree completely that people go when it's their time. The universe has a plan that we're not privy to and doesn't make sense at times. I have faith in it though. All those who died young, came to do what they were sent to do...then they went home.
Do you think her death was a normal drug overdose or a suicide?
I think it was an overdose. Apparently the heroin going around town that weekend was some strong "un-cut" stuff and Janis had been clean for a while, and I guess wasn't thinking when she took her normal dose and since it was stronger than normal - it killed her.
She was finishing up another album - I don't think she wanted to commit suicide.
< sings > Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz, my freinds all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
:ahem: Sorry, couldn't resist. My fav song by her, but yes I also agree it was accidental, Janis had some depressing times in her life, but killing herself was not on the menu for her. She was trying to get her life straight and she just fell off the wagon and it killed her.
I've also heard that she haunts the Hotel where she died..she messes with the telephones and service bell at the service desk.
Janis made you feel something. Funny thing is, I listen to Janis when I am stone cold sober. I can't enjoy her if I am under any influence.
Other music, I can be for.
Yes, Janis was way too professional to just cut out on everybody. Besides, her life was going well and Janis wouldn't leave a party early.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but could someone please tell me what made Janis so wonderful? For lack of a better phrase, I just don't "get" it. Now before everyone starts bashing me, I am in no way criticizing or saying that Janis didn't deserve her fame. I'm not bad mouthing her. It's an honest question. I'd just like to understand so that I can appreciate her, as well. I know I am missing something here, and I hope you guys can help me find it.
Laura , Janis was a free spirited woman, she didn't give two hoots about fame, she laughed, when she was on stage or by a microphone her body didn't go into auto fame mode, she was just herself. Her voice was unlike anyone elses, Janis was just Janis.
She was quite simply cool. She was the outsider of her own home town who made it big but still didn't make it back home. She was loved by millons and her music has a tone that just fills you with freedon and vibrence. Now some will argue that her voice wasn't the best but it was her charisma that was thing of beauty. Some people can sing, some people can act and she could move mountains and build bridges with her music.
Janis was passion. If not for her, the younger generation wouldn't have their Courtney Loves, et. all. Again, she's one of those people, like Elvis, if you love her you just can't pinpoint why..no explanation is needed. Plus, she was down to Earth and no, she didn't care about making a million dollars. She just wanted to reach those who could "feel her".
She sang from deep within her soul. She "lived" her songs - all those songs about heartbreak and loss - she lived all that. When she sang her songs, she sang "truthfully". When I hear some of her songs (altho I always change the radio when Bobbie McGee comes on - since I'm sick of it and it gets over-played!), I just close my eyes and nod my head, agreeing with what she's singing about, "Sing it Girl" I say to myself.
"Ball and Chain" does it for me.
Thank you guys for the insight. Thanks, too for not attacking me on this one. I am finally understanding. All this time I just thought she was some woman who didn't sing very well and died. I am definitely going to give her another listen!
Love Janis and love Me and Bobby McGee... the song makes me feel good and "feeling good was good enough for me"
Tortured Meteor... (I have a friend like that...)
Any chance I could talk you out of naming Janis Joplin as a predecessor for Courtney Love?
I don't consider myself a "big fan" of Janis, so that leaves me free to point out that she had her share of personal problems (okay, more than her share).
But be that as it may, the very thought of living with Courtney Love would have me reaching for the nearest shotgun.
There are women with problems and women who are problems and Courtney Love seems to fall into the latter category.
As far as I can tell, she's just plain nuts.
Point Taken! I just meant that she was the original.
I have a suggestion for those who don't "get" Janis..rent Montery Pop and see for yourself. Just watch the reaction on Cass Elliot's face. That says it all! No one did what she did before that.
Listening to Janis sing Piece of My Heart never fails to move me. She's singing from the heart and you can tell she means every word of that song.
I can remember my mom singing along to the eight track of Janis' Pearl album driving me to school. (OMG, did I just date myself!) Part of Janis' appeal was that she was a white chick who could sing the blues authentically.
The Rose is an excellent movie based loosely on her life. I keep reading rumors about an authorized biopic about Janis, starring Melissa Etheridge, Pink, a couple others. Hey! Maybe that's a good gig for Britney's comeback! (I kid, I kid.)Wonder how bad Hollywood would bung her story up? Her life and death are compelling enough to not need poetic license.
I had the pleasure of seeing her crazy Porsche at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Museum.
OK, serious question here, not a joke . . .
Did she ever own a Mercedes Benz?
I have always wondered about this. Anyone know?
No..she drove a custom painted Porche. You can see it at the museum of rock and roll and her website that's run by her sister and brother!
There's a great picture of her sitting on top of it in front of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco - she's wearing a fur coat of course!
Yes, here it is:
http://tinyurl.com/2qfs3n
(click on the thumbnail)
It's available as a poster, too.
I have the postcard on my fridge!
No, sorry, Neil's kids have cerebral palsey.
Don't you hate it when people post twice in a row? Oh well, I have more to say. And I'm very important!
The intrigue with Janis is not only her legendary status... wow, how can you describe her? She's a force. There it is. She was voted "ugliest man on campus" at UT Austin (f'in longhorns!) but she absolutely transformed into a beautiful woman when she sang. I mean! I know everybody loves Me and Bobby McGee, but to hear her sing "and I'd trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday..." there is no comparison. She captures all the feeling of heartbreak in that one line.
As a kid, I never understood but now as I'm older and have "lived" (read: dealt with some sh!t), I get it and am moved. No, I cannot compare my sh!t to hers, but she just cuts open her soul and pours it out for all to hear.
I have a picture of her on my bedroom wall. Yes, my friends LOVE my framed black and white candids of Marilyn and Arthur, Janis, the Rat Pack and Paul McCartney. But Janis... her heartbreak songs were from the truth of heartbreak, not some poptart rendition of unrequited lust.
Jim Morrison meets Janis Joplin.
Jim sat down next to Janis and threw his arm around her. He was drinking Scotch. Jim asked Janis about herself, and she blurted a few phrases about her troubled high school years in Texas, where she had been mocked and shunned because her family wasn’t well off. After an hour, and after many more drinks and some pills, just as Janis was laughing a little too raucously at something Jim had said, he grabbed her by her hair and suddenly forced her face down into his crotch.
It was an awful moment. People near them backed off. Furious at this humiliation, Janis hit Jim in the face and walked away, calling him an asshole over her shoulder.
“I know I’m an asshole,” he said to her back.
Later, as she was leaving, an even drunker Jim stopped her car in the driveway and tried to speak to her. Witnesses said she rolled down her window and, when Jim bent down to apologize, she smashed her Southern Comfort bottle over his head before driving off, cursing him.
(From blender.com)
I also read that he thought highly of her after this, and wanted to see her again. She refused.
~SinKitty