I love this song, and especially Janis' performance of it. Of all the deaths-at-27 of this era, Janis' is the only one that makes me feel like we really missed out on something special.

/Subby

You don't also mourn Jimi, jedzz?

Don't get me wrong - Hendrix was a great artist. But everything I've ever heard from Joplin has been nothing but intense and electric, in a way I've never heard from anyone else. More than Elvis, the Beatles, or Hendrix, she is the one artist from before my time who makes me regret that I could never get a chance to see her perform live. There are a lot of great artists, but I think Joplin - even when compared to her peers - was truly special.

no doubt dude, she can't be still, it moves right through her....just possessed by the music....i agree, morrison was made iconic because he died, and jimi was almost the same -- if either of those guys had "grown up" you risk that fat - middle age mess of creative drought and thick belly. but even if joplin ballooned up to rival urethrea franklin, she'd still have that charge in her.

just me tho....

I just wanted to point out that she was before my time. Yeah, before my time. I'm young. Before my time. Really.

Excellent, subby, you are a person of great taste in music.

I'm with ya Jedzz.

Really enjoyed that.

meh

I mean, I get it: powerful and intense vocalist + great performer + lots of drugs = legendary musician.

But that right there seemed like a lot of cocaine and a dated sounding R&B rock song. Just doesn't seem authentic or special to me, but what do I know...

Yeah, she really hit the coke hard, didn't she? Almost as cringingly good as Neil Young performing Helpless with the Band.

I can amaze my college-age son and his friends by pointing out that when I was their age, in the space of just a couple years, I saw Joplin, Hendrix, the Doors, Clapton w/Cream and w/the Dominos, the Allman Brothers, Jeff Beck etc., for less than the cost of a SINGLE concert ticket today. Derek & the Dominos (I've still got the stub) was $10 for the expensive seats. And you got your money's worth -- the Allman Brothers concert lasted almost three hours.

And then I tell 'em to get the hell off my lawn.

Meh.

Ive got almost all her stuff - the double live album, too - and I just dont get it anymore.

Many MANY years ago it was pointed out that when she had a 'good' voice, the band was bad and when she had a good band her voice was shot.

People complain about Dylan's voice? His is better than her's.

I truly think if she hadnt died no one would really care about her now.

As one who saw them live, Morrison and Hendrix were icons well before they died.

Speaker2Animals: the Allman Brothers concert lasted almost three hours.

Hell, some of the Allman Brothers songs last almost three hours.

mfaby: Many MANY years ago it was pointed out that when she had a 'good' voice, the band was bad and when she had a good band her voice was shot.

It isn't that her voice was melodic, even at its best (though she
certainly was a couple of standard deviations above the norm):
its that she had POWER. Even at its most croaking, she could fill
a room with a song, and make you feel the pain.

I truly think if she hadnt died no one would really care about her now.

I wish I could disagree with you fully, but given that so much of
her artistry was her sheer power and passion, and that came
no doubt from a lack of discaplined use of her gifts, she probably
would have burned out vocally within a few years had she not
killed herself with drugs & alcohol.

Or maybe she would have learned discapline and then really blew
the rooves off of concert halls. Who knows?

/Wish I could have seen her live, but I was like 5 when she died

Millzners: meh

I mean, I get it: powerful and intense vocalist + great performer + lots of drugs = legendary musician.

But that right there seemed like a lot of cocaine and a dated sounding R&B rock song. Just doesn't seem authentic or special to me, but what do I know...

This.

its only dated, cause you're jaded buddy.

In its time -- this was revolutionary -- you have to consider the perspective -- especially if you're young, I get it, you're tired of hearing how great the old farkity farks were. No one had done what Janis Joplin was, a hard drinkin' southern white women that could RAIL the blues like something else....watch the old vids -- she did not give a fark....any modern female rock or pop star owes at least a nod to Janis Joplin -- I'd say she was the Female Elvis of Rock. Plant and Page did the same thing -- rocked the farkin' bejesus out of old blues tunes......they just got to be first is all....have to respect that.