Joplin vs Slick

What happened in America, was world wide ... and you can see it in a lot of bands through out Europe ... however, the appreciation is kinda spread out all over ... GONG was in it, in France and England, and even got Daevid Allen's passport in trouble and all that ... and Germany was very well aware of the whole thing in America, and it is talked about in many bands ... FZ is not an "accident" in that he is an anti-establishment type of work/person, and that appealed in a lot of places. Hard to say that things were not "heard" in France, since Heldon (for example) had some serious politically minded covers on their albums ... not to mention the titles of the pieces in the albums!

A lot of the others had quite a bit of stuff hidden away, however, that's like saying that SAVAGE ROSE and OSANNA did not have a voice and no one heard them ... the only ones that didn't were the English/British and the PA folks who still think that PG invented the costume thing and the theatrical presentation that had been a part of theater history in Europe for at least 500 years ... but then, English/British history is not a part of Europe, right? 

But it was very well known that in many places a lot of the "new music" was being censored and shut down, and East Germany was one of the best known of these although all of the Communist bloc were known to have the same issue ... to the point that you can even hear a SATIRE of it by Guru Guru on their album "Tango Fango" ... but something that is really hard for folks to understand ... Guru Guru ends up saying that "our new God" is not this or that ... it's "rock'n'roll" ... !!!!!! And we ignore that comment and how valuable it was at the time it came out and the wall didn't come down until much later, when all Roger could do was just about make fun of it ... in my book! I would have given more local bands, and many of them the (so called) "krautrock" members, that had been a part of the fight and this "new freedom". Everyone forgot and ignored them!

Both Joplin and Slick were very important to the music scene, and in general to the whole thing ... both were "anti-establishment" to a point within the confines of their art ... and how they expressed themselves ... Slick, in her book, does not look at a lot of these things with an artistic eye, but she is not a dummy and above all, she is well read and intelligent ... or worse ... just another doll on the stage! 

The only sad thing for me, is that we never got a chance to see/hear Joplin again, and really ... she deserved a lot more ... a lot more ... although I am not sure that she was interested in the politics of it all ... for her the music and its feeling was enough of a revolution and no other words were necessary ... but the intensity, is something that most did not have, or were afraid to even try ... only a handful of people could go that far ... and survive! Europe, by comparison, has a history of the arts that go back hundreds of years ... in America, the "art" has been relegated to the bottom, because commercialism, and meme is more important to everyone. 

(I can't speak for Europe on this last point on more recent days!) ... and thus, both Joplin and Slick come off much more important ... whereas Europe with its breaking apart in so many small countries ... had a tendency to hide and make all the "arts" disappear! America got rid of them, instead!

Yeah, easy vote for Joplin here.  

Now if she was pitted against Beth Hart, I would have to think because Beth can do Whole Lotta Love better than Robert Plant.

SteveG wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: I could suggest Grace Slick for inclusion in the Prog-Related section of Prog Archives, but she's almost bound to be rejected for inclusion, given my past record of rejected suggestions. You and Svetonio are similar in that respect.

Almost. Svet's volleys of suggestions were not entirely fruitless. Some of them were included.

ohhh... and I love you Steve.. but I wouldn't go quite that far...

suffice to say Janis was hand DOWN the greatest female rock vocalist ever..  they all owed a debt to her.. 

I remember reading an interview with Linda R. who was immensely influenced by her.  Not just to be a singer.. but a star.. 

easier said than done in rock..  something notorisouly testorone driven and male dominated.. 

every female rock singer can trace their success back to her..

but her over Aretha.. Babs...or Billie???  oohhh. let's just call her one of the greatest female vocalists of all times. She's earned it.. and even if idiots around here don't recognize it.. those that count.. do recognize it.

my favorite from her..  perhaps the single greatest female rock vocal performance ever and my favorite from her....   untouchable

^ Because that's what's important in a singer.

;)

Sometimes I think the time I saw Buddy Guy in '91 was the very best concert I've ever been to.  

Shortly thereafter, accidentally caught Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson because I just happened to walk into the right bar while on vacation and he just happened to be playing there that night. My wife and I sat at a small roundtop right up front, not 3 meters from the man while he laid out some killer licks.  

I'm sorry I never got to see Son Seals or Michael Burks, who both expired far too soon.  

Most recently (2018), I got to see Ana Popovic at a local club.  While she skews pretty hard to the rock side of things, somewhere between SRV and Hendrix, she still knows how to bend a string!  Fantastic performance.  Interestingly, it seems to be the women who are keeping great blues guitar alive these days.  Ana Popovic, Dana Fuchs, Samantha Fish, Susan Tedeschi, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Debbie Davies, Deborah Coleman, Carolyn Wonderland....