Aside from being really good, I always thought that "Big Brother and the Holding Company" was one of the best band names ever...

I used to blast "Combination of the Two" out of my family's console stereo at maximum volume and scream the lyrics along with Janis.

Yes, I am old.

Bless her heart. She really sang her ass off.

Godscrack: She really sang her ass off.

She came by it honestly...

"Onstage I make love to 25,000 people, then I go home alone."

Janis was a great performer and a legend in her own time. I don't understand why Janis left Big Brother. They were a great band (and still are, apparently) that kicked some major ass. Pick up Cheap Thrills for proof.

The sad part about the concept of the hippie is that most people who fit the visual description seldom live up to the true ideal, the details of which seldom get a lot of press. I am grateful that I know a lot of hippies that have.

GurneyHalleck: Janis was a great performer and a legend in her own time. I don't understand why Janis left Big Brother. They were a great band (and still are, apparently) that kicked some major ass. Pick up Cheap Thrills for proof.

The sad part about the concept of the hippie is that most people who fit the visual description seldom live up to the true ideal, the details of which seldom get a lot of press. I am grateful that I know a lot of hippies that have.

My memory, which is a little suspect, is that Big Brother and HC just had difficulty dealing with her unreliability and thought they could do better. They didn't. 40 years does things to the memory so , . . .

dhudd:
My memory, which is a little suspect, is that Big Brother and HC just had difficulty dealing with her unreliability and thought they could do better. They didn't. 40 years does things to the memory so , . . .

Janis was a great talent and put everything she had into her singing, but in the long run she had a serious substance abuse problem. All the talent in the world doesn't help you if the rest of your band has to worry about whether you'll show up for your next performance.

As much as she loved singing, she loved heroin and alcohol more, and in the end they won.

Now I had heard that "...the holding company" was rejected by the recording company who signed her. Apparently they thought the band was no match for the singer...again so I'd heard.

If that beginning guitar solo is an indication, this might not be far from the truth.

I'm all for soul and depth and I don't think technical proficiency is all it's cracked up to be, but JEEZ man, can you at least improv in tune? That's not soul...that's just bad.

I like the original version by XTC better.

meehaw: Now I had heard that "...the holding company" was rejected by the recording company who signed her. Apparently they thought the band was no match for the singer...again so I'd heard.

If that beginning guitar solo is an indication, this might not be far from the truth.

I'm all for soul and depth and I don't think technical proficiency is all it's cracked up to be, but JEEZ man, can you at least improv in tune? That's not soul...that's just bad.

That actually jobs a memory for me as well.

Bufu [TotalFark] Quote 2009-06-25 11:17:59 AM
I used to blast "Combination of the Two" out of my family's console stereo at maximum volume and scream the lyrics along with Janis.

Yes, I am old.

Me too, I still have the vinyl. Great R.Crumb cover art too.

Meh. I'll take Grace Slick instead.

Mama Cass' expression/reaction at 5:27 FTW. Can you imagine being there and seeing Janis for the 1st time? How could that not knock your socks off!??!

/then again, maybe Mama Cass was reacting to a food vendor that happened to be passing by?

hippies were never cool, submitter.
/janis was though

PumpUpDaFark: Meh. I'll take Grace Slick instead.

This. But barely.

dhudd: My memory, which is a little suspect, is that Big Brother and HC just had difficulty dealing with her unreliability and thought they could do better. They didn't. 40 years does things to the memory s

Nope, her handlers thought a more polished band would help. They were so amateurish, but they complemented her wonderfully. She was convinced to leave and the Cozmic Blues Band(sp?) was formed around her.

Marla Singer's Laundry: dhudd: My memory, which is a little suspect, is that Big Brother and HC just had difficulty dealing with her unreliability and thought they could do better. They didn't. 40 years does things to the memory s

Nope, her handlers thought a more polished band would help. They were so amateurish, but they complemented her wonderfully. She was convinced to leave and the Cozmic Blues Band(sp?) was formed around her.

Well, I did say my memory was suspect, and I did agree with the nextish poster who said the same thing you did as it jogged my memory - but thanks anyway.

Janis is my mothers all time favorite so thanks to my mom for exposing me to bad ass music when I was little.

Having been a fan and still in possession of 'BB&THC', 'Pearl' and
'Joplin In Concert' on vinyl I can say with all seriousness that her voice was terrible; a screeching, almost atonal mess.

Yeah, she put on a great show and emoted the living hell out of the songs but seriously she got by on style more than substance. The same is true for what's-her-name, Lady Day, the chick that sang 'Strange Fruit'(another over-rated song)

And we all know it.

It doesn't stop me from enjoying Joplin.

As far as the bands go I remember reading a review of 'Pearl' in RS and the guy wrote(slightly paraphrased): When her voice was good the band (BB&THC) was crappy and when the band was good (on Pearl) her voice was crappy. Meh. Could be.

meehaw: If that beginning guitar solo is an indication, this might not be far from the truth.

I'm all for soul and depth and I don't think technical proficiency is all it's cracked up to be, but JEEZ man, can you at least improv in tune? That's not soul...that's just bad.

Sam Andrews. It's like he just puts his fingers on the fretboard and hunts around until he finds the right key. You'd sort of expect this from some local bar band on their first night, but BBHC was an established band on the SF scene and by that point he should have figured out that he wasn't half the musician that the rest of the band was (and is, apparently). I mean, the back beat is solid on this video. It's Andrews' playing that harms the ears.

What's really curious if you read any of his interviews is that he thinks he was the hot shiat musician of the day and he is not shy about saying that Joplin wasn't up to the standards of the band and they had to carry her - musically and I imagine physically once she got into the Jack Daniels.

Bill Graham said that this video was the band's second performance at the festival, which he had requested specifically because they refused to be filmed during the first performance unless they got paid extra (something not even Hendrix or The Who had demanded). Apparently ol' Bill had told them not to expect any future Fillmore dates unless they agreed to the filming.

So, it's always seemed to me that the guy had an ego problem along with a problem with playing in key and time.

PumpUpDaFark: Meh. I'll take Grace Slick instead.



Okay, go take a seat over there, please....

/love 'em both

happydude45: Me too, I still have the vinyl. Great R.Crumb cover art too.

Yep, my vinyl is sitting in the rack next to the turntable.

Crumb was interviewed last year on the 40th (!!) anniversary of the album's release. He got the job for the jacket art simply because he knew some of the band members and he offered to do it for cheap ($300) and he had the hots for Joplin. He was still pretty much unknown at the time. Apparently he did it in one night.

All these years later he's still bemused it's considered an icon of rock art.

CarnySaur: I like the original version by XTC better.

So, so pleased that someone said this. Now I have that much better song stuck in my head. Thanks.

/The diggers and the tower cranes

CruiserTwelve: All the talent in the world doesn't help you if the rest of your band has to worry about whether you'll show up for your next performance.

See Alice in Chains for reference...

CatfoodSpork: I HATE JANIS JOPLIN!!!

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

/likes BB&THC
//even the guitarist

CatfoodSpork: I HATE JANIS JOPLIN!!!

You are a mindless peasant.

Go listen to your Britney Spears crap in the short bus.

A little off topic.....Sky Saxon from the Seeds died. "Pushin' Too Hard" is one of the greatest songs of that era.

GurneyHalleck: Pick up Cheap Thrills for proof.

A great great record.

About 10X the talent of Mick Jackson. Bad lifestyle choices. Too bad.

Hippies were never cool. Yippies on the other hand...

Boris S. Wort: Hippies were never cool. Yippies on the other hand...

Yippies, on the other hand, made hippies look cool?

Is that where you were going with that ellipsis?

MutinousDoug 2009-06-25 10:16:22 PM
About 10X the talent of Mick Jackson. Bad lifestyle choices. Too bad.

Geeze. I've never been a huge fan of either but this is just plain ill-informed or intentional trolling.

And don't you mean MICHAEL Jackson. Or do you mean Mick JAGGER?

Either way, you're still wrong.

satanicsantoku: hippies were never cool, submitter...



Agrees 100%

CarnySaur: I like the original version by XTC better.

Thanks. I was beginning to think I was the only person ever who'd heard of XTC.

/damn kids and their new-fangled music, stomping all over my lawn

Holy fark the guitar playing is damn near unlistenable. BBHC and Joplin have always been waaaaaay overrated.

mfaby: I can say with all seriousness that her voice was terrible; a screeching, almost atonal mess.

You can say it, but you're a pompous moron so it doesn't hold much significance.