When I think of Janis Joplin I am reminded of Slater's line about Martha Washington in the movie Dazed and Confused, "Man, she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man."
Janis was born today in Port Arthur, Texas in 1943. She was somewhat of an outcast while growing up, due mainly to her open mindedness in an otherwise traditional community. As a youngster she gravitated toward the blues, with Bessie Smith and Lead Belly being primary influences. After high school she bounced around a few colleges before packing up, heading West and landing in San Francisco ahead of the hippie movement.
In 1964 she made a few recordings with Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane) and started her use of heavy drugs. By 1965 her friends became concerned about her wild ways and convinced to return home. Janis got back into college to study anthropology and continued singing locally. She was noticed by the manager of the band Big Brother and the Holding Company and she returned to San Francisco in 1966 to join the band. She also returned to hard drug use and developed quite a thirst for Southern Comfort.
The band was enjoying success playing shows along the West Coast and gained considerable exposure from their perfimance at the Monterey Pops Festival in 1967. Their debut album was released two months after the festival. The band toured the country in support of the album and made television appearances on The Dick Cavett Show. In 1968 Big Brother released their last studio album with Janis, "Cheap Thrills", which reached #1 on the charts and would eventually be added to the Library of Congress. The biggest single off the album, "Piece of My Heart", would reach #12.
In 1969 Janis went solo and formed the Kozmic Blues Band to support her. They released one album, "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!", which went to #5 on the chart. By this point Janis had developed a nasty heroin habit and was spiraling out of control. "Kozmic Blues" would the last album released during her lifetime. Although she was a mess there were still some great moments and songs still to be realized.
Janis played the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969. It wasn't her best performance and she was left out of the documentary movie and soundtrack. A better time was had in 1970 when she was on the Festival Express tour with Buddy Guy, The Band, Grateful Dead, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Delaney and Bonnie. The Festival Express was a train tour of Canada and it afforded the artists a lot of time together in between shows. Many of these moments were captured in a documentary movie and it's must-see for fans of any of those groups.
By the time of Festival Express, Janis had formed a new band called Full Tilt Boogie Band. The resulting performances and recordings with Full Tilt were among the best of her solo career. In August of 1970 she had moved into a motel in Los Angeles near the studio where she would record her final album, "Pearl". By now Janis was a full blown heroin junkie but over the next few months she was able to record some of her best work.
On October 4, 1970, sixteen days after the death of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin was found dead of a heroin overdose in her room at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood. She was 27 years old. Janis had recorded enough material for "Pearl" to be completed and released in January of 1971. The album would reach #1 and sell over four million copies. Her cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" from that album would become one of her most recognizable songs. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and as long as rock music is being made she will be known as one of the greatest female singers ever to set foot on stage.
