Janis Joplin would have been 75 today

January 19th, 2018 would have been Janis Joplin's 75th birthday had she lived.



I wonder where her career would have taken her had she survived. I thought that Pearl was a fresh direction for her.

She is still missed.

CBC Radio ran an interview with Full Tilt Boogie Band guitarist John Till today, it can be heard here:

Guitarist John Till pays tribute to Janis Joplin on her 75th birthday

 

One of the greats no doubt.

 

I picked up this last year. good read.

https://www.amazon.com/Scars-Sweet-...8&qid=1516376112&sr=1-1&keywords=JANIS+JOPLIN

 

Loved Janis....but far too many issues there for there to have been a good ending.

 

"Me and Bobby McGee" from the album Pearl

 

"Mercedes Benz" from Pearl

 

If nothing else, her voice would have been destroyed before she hit 35.

In singing as in all things, she held nothing back for tomorrow.

 

Yeah, I tend to think if she had lived her voice would have been shredded by the mid 1970’s. She’d probably sound like Marianne Faithful does now.

Never a fan in the least, but here’s to a fellow Texas musician. Stay hard, Janis.

 

The Kronos Quartet played Summertime at a concert last night and the leader said their rendition it was inspired by Janis.

 

I would've loved to have seen Janis get old, whether or not she could maintain that voice of hers. Will put on "Crybaby" now... an immortal of hers.

 

This is probably true.
However, judging from “Pearl” and reading of Paul Rothchild’s recollections in a couple of books, Janis was realizing she didn’t have to sing so hard all the time. That she could inhabit her songs with more of a dynamic character and still come across passionate.
Counting on the fact she could up her writing skills and keep choosing great material, I’ve always felt she could have done so much more.

Her personal issues that fueled her blues were deep rooted. She would have had to make a huge change. She may not have been a blues singer as such anymore.

 

Well, some singers adapt their style/delivery to their changing capabilities... when you heard her sing in a softer voice, she still had the ability to convey a lot of feeling.

At least we have the recordings.

 

I just doubt she was ever meant to live that long. I absolutely cannot picture old and grey Janis.

 

I listen to her all the time, and will also this weekend.
Maybe the two disc Pearl sessions after reading this thread.

 

Haven't listened to her in a while. Port Arthur!! Wonder if she ever sang a class reunion blues.

It's true that she was always listening and learning. I remember her talking about how Billie Holiday could make with just the right note. One of a kind in her own right. Probably up there laughing bout us moonin over a dead woman. ..

 

"To Love Somebody" live on the Dick Cavett show.

 

Time to put on the 45 rpm MFSL release of Pearl in memory of Janis.

 

"Summertime"

 

Love that lady. 75, wow.

 

Happy Birthday, Janis. Clean and sober for 47 years now.

All she wanted was a man to love.

 

An amazing talent. When she died she was starting to mature as an artist, and was certainly developing. I am convinced that she had the potential for a long career, if her personal demons didn't interfere or wreck her voice. I feel that in Pearl she was starting to move away from her hippy origins, and that her legacy isn't recognised more because of the hippy and personality-damaged image. At some stage in her future I could see her returning to her blues roots, which would be an album I would look forward to.

 

There's a quote from Keith Richards saying more or less that about Brian Jones, in that some people you just get a sense of them not being long for this world, in Keith's case saying about Jones that you just knew he wasn't going to be walking around at 70 years old.

But in that case I think he was saying Brian was both dedicated in his self destructiveness and also essentially an unhappy person.

I bring this up because I am not sure the same was true about Janis. Sure there was a self destructiveness, and at the time of her death she was probably less than happy. But I don't sense she was as far down either road as to say she wasn't meant to live long. Her death seemed rather accidental to me.

 

76 today. Just finished a radio special about her, they played Summertime, Piece of My Heart, Ball and Chain, Kozmic Blues, Cry Baby and Try in that order.

My favorite artist of all time even though I don’t listen to her as much as I used to.

She is great.