Janis Joplin-A forgotten legend?

Janis was a Southern Comfort gal:

 

I, too, was never drawn to her, her vocals are grating. I believe her legacy speaks to her as representing a time and place and not so much as defining an era. But, hey, that's only what I think ... I've been wrong about a bunch of things in life.

 

I can never tell on this forum if someone's A) being a chauvinist pig, B) being ironic, or C) making out that another poster's criticism has to do with gender/chauvinism when it doesn't, in order to pick PC points. All three happen .

 

If you dig pearl, might want to give a lieten to a band called Blues Pills. Not saying Erin Larssin sounds exactly like her bet definitely the same vibe.Start with High Class Woman.

 

Examples?

 

guess you had to be there!
One of the greatest! And that band was awesome

 

Forgotten by whom? Janis Joplin is a legend. Many female artists continue to cite her as a huge influence.

What a bizarre thread title!

 

Not by me. She was a great talent.

 

Imagine if you will a 15 year old boy. One who is discovering new music at a breathtaking rate. Every week seems to bring new discoveries. Imagine then that the boy's father comes home one day with an armload of lp's, and that two of them are Cheap Thrills and Pearl. Imagine putting those albums on a Garrard turntable and absolutely playing them to death. I don't have to because that's how I was first exposed to Janis. That was the beginning of my lifetime love affair with her.

 

As another poster noted, Joplin's vocal style was raw and passionate, has nothing to do with overwrought. If anything we are right now in a period riddled with overwrought female singers, X-Factor/The Voice stars-for-a-day, doing their overly dramatic vocal acrobatics by aping Whitney Houston or Adele.

Janis Joplin was the first full-on rock chick, who showed girls didn't have to look like a barbiedoll for making it in the music industry. Janis unmistakably paved the way for similar female artists like Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Courtney Love, etc., they all are profoundly in debt to her.

 

Phew....big subject to cover this..."legends". Someones "legend" is another persons headache......

If your a serious music fan with any interest in music history, you will undoubtedly stumble upon the great Janis Joplin.

Janis remains a "legend" to those who remember her or have stumbled across her, and that's how it should be.

The problem now is there is a generation of old people (I included myself in "old") who can't understand why their legends are not revered by a younger and more current generation.

Reality is, in every previous generation, the odd artists will remain known as a "Legend" to the current generation.....Sinatra (or Presley) as an example....but how many of today's youth really know Billy Eckstine, Johnny Mathis, Louis Prima? All brilliant...all questionably legends, but yet have slipped away from being household names to the current generation.

A story from this weeks sums the subject of "legends". I was watching a clip on Youtube of this years Fairport Conventions Cropredy festival. On stage .....Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Chris Leslie etc etc......all of whom I consider musical "legends". My 20 year old son came in, sat down, listened for a few minutes and asked...."when did they set up a festival for pensioners and which of them are the carers??"

So...if you do discover Janis, the rewards are plentiful.....but if your too busy discovering your own "legends" that's okay too.

 

I listen to Cheap Thrills often.

 

At age 65 ( having been there the first time around ) all I really have a taste for now are the two Big Brother And The Holding Company albums she was on.

 

I'll just post this, from the Tom Jones Show in 1969.

 

Back then Janis Joplin was a huge influence on a certain type of 'gutsy' female singers, suddenly appearing her slipstream. Anyone remembers Genya Raven, frontwoman of Ten Wheel Drive? What a set of pipes!

 

Another dynamite 'Janis-soundalike' is Stone The Crow's Maggie Bell...

 

How well remembered or currently thought of is not how to measure an artist’s greatness or lack thereof. Harry Nilsson may have been the greatest vocalist of his generation, at least during the first half of his career, but you don’t hear a lot about him these days.

 

Most acts from 50 years ago, as well as most actors have been forgotten as their audience ages. It happened to earlier acts and it will happen to later acts. We now are on the second generation that prefers other music to rock—its influence is shrinking more every year.

 

Two plus two — five?

 

I am not a big fan but listen to Pearl every so often. I think her performance on Woodstock was irritating to watch. A complete shoutfest. She needed to be told "less is more" not the other way around.

 

For me personally, I enjoyed Janis the most when she was part of "Big Brother and the Holding Company". I really thought her vocal characteristics fit the raw psychedelic sound of that band. "Cheap Thrills" says it best for me. Unfortunately, I never really cared for "Cosmic Blues" or "Pearl". I always thought those records were trying to make her something that she was not. There could have been many different ways to showcase her abilities other than to try and make her a pop singer.

That's why I always respected Grace Slick. She knew where her talents fit her best. She stayed with the Jefferson Airplane and Starship as long as she could and finished while she was still on top of her game. Janis was a root music singer and would have been better served by allowing her to continue in that direction. A casualty from the greed of Albert Grossman.

 

If she was a modern pop star, people here would say that she was derivative. Likely of Janis Joplin...

D.D.

 

How right you are! The following generations enjoy a completely different kind of music(good or bad) than those who would have been influenced by someone like Janis Joplin. Not to say there are still not fans of her music, her audience, mainly the boomer generation, are now into "new age" or light "country" music.

 

Yeah, you’re wrong.

 

Nope.