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Sunday will mark 50 years since singer Janis Joplin was found dead in her hotel room. A tribute to the music journalist Hanspeter “Düsi” Künzler.
My 22 year old daughter spent a 2018-19 year at the University of California at Berkeley. Janis Joplin was part of the daily soundtrack at the student house where she lived. She has been a passionate Joplin fan ever since.
First, the voice just gets under your skin, he says. Second, Joplin was the first major artist to establish herself as a woman in the men’s rock music business.
And third, he admired the bravery of a woman who, regardless of the consequences, always said and did what she wanted. “If you compare it to today, when everything is trimmed to a smooth, streamlined shape …”
Inspiring charisma, sad circumstances
The contrast between Janis Joplin’s inspiring charisma and the sad circumstances of her short and desperate life couldn’t be more stark. Born on January 19, 1943, in the Texas oil city of Port Arthur, Janis grew up in a classically American, medium-sized family and is said to be a shy child.
When I was a teenager, I suffered from acne; otherwise, she did not fit the ideal of beauty in those days and was mercilessly teased. She flew forward, acted more rude than all the boys around her, and liked to frolic in the disreputable areas of town. When she was a teenager, she sold her paintings in local cafes, and when she was twenty, she also began singing there.
He alternated between blues songs by Bessie Smith and folk sounds, which he performed in an impeccable bell voice. She was already drinking a lot of alcohol, speed, and heroin.
A traumatic incident at the University of Austin, where she was studying art, plunged her deeper into depression. They had nominated fellow students for the “ugliest student (sic)” choice. Joplin often cited this moment later as a turning point in her life.
Perfect time
In 1963 he landed in San Francisco. The timing was perfect. The city offered a rich breeding ground for eccentric concepts, it also benefited from the connection with Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and the other writers of the Beat Generation, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti with his iconic City Lights bookstore. The same friend who brought her to SF smuggled her into a psychedelic blues rock band called Big Brother & the Holding Company.
In June 1967, he gained national attention with a spectacular performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. The mix of “white” rock and “black” blues and soul was explosive. The blurring of racial barriers was still undesirable in much of the United States. Two LPs with Big Brother and one with the Kozmic Blues Band are the only albums Joplin has ever released.
Since San Francisco, she had teetered between heroin, withdrawal, depression, alcohol, and a series of breathless love affairs. Her hunger for confirmation and love was insatiable, you read in the biographies. She only managed to control the demons by singing. On October 4, 1970, she was found dead in a Hollywood hotel room.
A heroin overdose was mentioned as the cause. She had turned 27, as was Jimi Hendrix, who had died less than three weeks earlier. It did not experience its greatest artistic and commercial success: with the posthumously released album “Pearl”, by far the best, a great monument was created.
About the Author: Zurich-based journalist Hanspeter “Düsi” Kuenzler has lived in London for almost 40 years. He is a specialist in music, art and football and writes for various Swiss publications such as NZZ. He is also a regular guest on the SRF3 show “Sounds”.
Monday through Friday at 11:30 am and sometimes not until 12 noon, there is a regular midday column on “Blue News” that revolves around known, sometimes unknown personalities, and sometimes appears an asterisk.
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