All Time Greats
Janis Joplin: Buried in the blues
"Oh lord won't you buy me
a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches
I must make amends..."
This scathing attack on consumerist society comes courtesy the legendary rock star, late Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943- October 4, 1970). In her short and turbulent life she had the unique gift of conveying powerful emotion through heart-stomping rock-and-roll singing. Born and raised in Port Arthur, Texas, a small Southern petroleum industry town, she revealed the artistic interests cultivated by parents Seth and Dorothy Joplin. Considered an outcast by her popular peers, Janis was mostly shunned in school. She began listening to musicians such as Leadbelly, Bessie Smith, Odetta, and Big Mama Thornton and singing in the local choir. Janis began copying the styles of these singers. She played in the coffee houses of small towns in Texas. She later ventured to the beatnik haunts of Venice, North Beach and the Village in New York, eventually ending up in Austin, Texas (she was a student at the University of Texas). Along with touching creative heights, Janis had the propensity to pop drugs and alcohol. Cultivating a rebellious manner that could be viewed as "liberated" -- the women's liberation movement was still in its infancy at this time -- Joplin styled herself in part after her female blues heroines, and in part after the beat poets. Among Janis' songs that have stood the test of time are Me and Bobby Mcgee and A woman left lonely. Janis' albums have gone gold, platinum, and triple-platinum. Her Greatest Hits album still tops the charts in Billboard. Several new releases have followed her death, with wide acclaim for her boxed set, Janis. She was the subject of a 1973 feature documentary, Janis, and numerous TV documentaries, the most notable being VH-1's/ Legends programme. She is the subject of two hotly contested biographical movie projects. During the fall 1970 recording sessions for the Pearl album with The Doors and Phil Ochs producer Paul A Rothchild, Joplin died, aged 27. Her death was caused by an overdose of heroin on October 4. The last recordings she completed were Mercedes Benz and a birthday greeting for John Lennon on October 1, 1970; Lennon later said that her taped greeting arrived at his New York home after her death. Joplin is now remembered best for her powerful, distinctive voice -- her rasping, overtone-rich sound was significantly divergent from the soft folk and jazz-influenced styles that were common among many white artistes at the time -- as well as for her lyrical themes of pain and loss. To many, she personified that tumultuous period of the '60s. Compiled by Cultural Correspondent
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