Janis Joplin could not sing?

I recently left a comment (on another site) talking about "The 27 Club": Those rock stars that had burned out and died by the age of 27.

Jimi was mentioned (and praised). As was Kurt Cobain (somebody I respect and admire a lot).

However, Janis Joplin was mentioned, and all of the comments were negative: She could not sing. She was a sexually out of control woman. She was a hopeless drug addict. And nobody in their right mind would sleep with her (unless they wanted to risk catching a STD). WTF?

So Jimi, Jim, and Papa John (from The Mamas and the Papas) never slept around with multiple partners? I just don't get it? Everybody was sleeping with everybody during the late sixties. So why is Janis the only one to be
getting a bad rap?

In fact, Papa John (according to his own daughter - even though he lived many years past 27) was guilty of incest. Janis had no children. She just sang blues and rock. So what's up with all the hatred? Is it just a double standard? Or is she being used as a scapegoat to prove what happens to people when they choose to ignore the white middle class way of life?

I'm genuinely puzzled? Any feedback would be totally awesome.

Thank you much,

QP

P.S. Despite all the negative crap I have read about Janis online - she remains my most respected singer from the late sixties. That woman could sing!! Blues. Folk. Rock. Country-rock, etc. She was multi-talented. That's why I don't understand all the negative garbage about her I read online. She was a genius (IMO). Plus she was a decent person. So what's up?

 

Janis was a AAA artist who put mind body and soul into her art. Those who bad rap Pearl seldom knew her, she and my ex were roommates for a while in the Haight and I was with my ex three days before Janis's death when we walked into the HA Switchboard to find the entire staff waiting for my wife to open the letter there waiting for her from Pearl. Bad rapping the dead folk is bad enough when you actually know/have known the folk of which you speak.

 

Janis Joplin's passion and conviction as a vocalist is undeniable, whether she was a good singer I'm not really in a position to judge.

I did a presentation on Janis Joplin in school and reasons she may get more negative treatment is she was not the prototypical hippie. It wasn't until she teamed up with Big Brother and the Holding Company, who was already somewhat established, that she had much success. Her drugs of choice were speed and alcohol as opposed to LSD and weed. Her love life by many accounts was difficult and tumultuous, often being used.

There could probably be some similar arguments for say Kurt Cobain but given the era Joplin hailed from there may be a bit more scrutinity.

 

Ive never really cared for her radio play music. but I know she could sing..

 

I've never really heard anything negative said about Janis so I do find that surprising.

I think maybe, depending in the age of the people being negative towards her, there may be a certain and very rigid expectation of what a female singer should be and Janis doesn't fit that mold at all. Most current pop stars are beautiful in bland, generic ways, they're sex symbols but its not genuine sexuality but the music industry's idea of what sexy should be
..and they all sound the same so if you grow up listening to that type of generic voice, janice's voice may sound a bit jarring.

She doesn't really fit into any mold as a singer or a woman so I guess I can see why people used to a particular mold may not understand anyone outside the mold.

 

This was pretty much the summary of my presentation I did on her. HAHA!

 

I totally agree. But I never knew her, yet I can hear the genius and pain in her music. How can so many other folks be so totally deaf? And why the great need to merely focus on her drug use and sexual life? I don't think that should have anything to do with her as a great artist. Yet it seems like that's all that most of her critics want to fixate on...

QP

 

People forget Janis wasn't your typical pacifist east coast hippy, but a South Texas outlaw hippy. She grew up in a culture where the redneck goat ropers thought nothing of hunting and shooting hippies for sport. There were reasons the Haight was referred to by the Man as the most heavily armed neighborhood in the country. The peace sign ran right along side 'Don't tread on me'

 

Right on :2thumbsup:

QP

 

You did a presentation on Janis? Awesome! Any way other folks can read it? I'd love to take a long peek

QP

 

You may as well try to explain color to a blind man. If somebody needs to have Janis Joplin explained to them, they will never understand. Sadly, a lot of people still don't get her.

​

 

Double standards for sure. That's the way the media obsessed culture sees their "stars". It's no longer an artistic value system, but some other strange system of judgements and gender roles, economic/class roles, etc.

I've seen the same things happen in modern musicians as well. Where you came from, who your people are, etc. might elevate your reputation as an artist, though you might be a lot less talented than an artist who is from a different background and is not appreciated and protected in the same way.

 

This is true. I know some of her townspeople called her a "****** lover" because she honestly stated that blacks should be given equal rights. And this was when she was still in high school! That's why I think she was such a remarkable person (apart from her singing talent). Talented and brave.

QP

 

Right on. BTW, Shale sent me this same pic of Janis a few years ago: What an awesome pic! Thanks for keeping the true spirit of Janis alive

QP

 

My mother was a fan and went to many of her shows and what not. She said she was a fall down drunk who would also do any drug thrown down on the table. Drank wild turkey preferably so she could have whored out, Who knows.
Either way, No worse than any other and the only time she couldn't sing, Was when she was too drunk and was yelling the lyrics and other things. Music I have herd has been fine though.

 

I come from that part of south Texas at about the same time she got out of Galveston along with Chet Helms and that was a time when hippies were commonly referred to as 'white niggers' by the cops and redneck types.

 

Aside from her voice, I don't particularly care for the music she put out. But to deny the singing talent she possessed, not to mention the sheer uniqueness of her voice and its passion and soul, is pure ignorance in a time when "good singers" are judged on how much like Mariah Carey they sound.

Going back to Janis, I think the early stuff she did with Big Brother is the best, as there is a certain rawness found on the first album not found on the albums which followed. Her music became more refined as time progressed and her management sought to capitalize on her powerful voice and create are more commercially palatable sound.

 

I totally agree. Why is Janis regarded less as an artist than her peers (mostly male)? Fact of the matter is she opened the door for all the female rockers that came after her, yet she does not get the recognition or respect. And this is what disturbs me most. Am I the only one?

QP

 

You summed up what I was doing my best to say. Plus she was only actively recording/singing for three years!

God only knows what she would have given the world (had she lived longer).

QP

 

You can say, She was the 'first' woman to break stride and do it on her own. She was the headline, When bands and male leads were popular.

I do agree, Today anyone can sing via the sound board. You can not replicate Jimi, Janis or Jim no matter how hard they try.
Pure talent, Is pure and just singing out loud or with backup, You sound the same. Very rare to find today unless you look to the old folks still singing.