Before there was the marketing catchphrase “Women In Rock”, there was Janis Joplin, who set a standard so incredibly high that 50 years after her passing, no one can match her. #bluesrock #womeninmusic #blues #acoustic #rockandroll #rock #counterculture #LGBTQ #bivisibility #guitarrock #janis #janisjoplin

I have not come here to bury Janis, but to praise her. October 4th, 2020, does mark the 50th anniversary of her passing in a hotel room in Hollywood, California. She was part of a triumvirate of iconic countercultural performers of the late 1960’s, all 27 years of age, who died within a year of each other, the other two being guitar legend Jimi Hendrix in September, 1970 and singer Jim Morrison of the Doors in July, 1971.

Cover of Pearl, Janis Joplin, 1971 (photo taken 1970). Barry Feinstein and Tom Wilkes, design and photography. Courtesy of Columbia Records.

Before there were “women in rock”, there was Janis. It really is as simple as that and yet doesn’t convey just how seismic her impact and influence were on the people who lived through the time of her professional recording and touring career, a brief period from 1966 to 1970, and to future generations. But this was no ordinary time in our history, then or now. Civil rights for dispossessed peoples actually seemed like an attainable freedom for those affected, and conventions were being turned upside down everywhere. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

And, most importantly, Janis was no ordinary performer, and no ordinary person.

Janis Joplin, 1968. Photo by Norman Seef, courtesy of Vogue magazine.

Prior to Janis, women in music, especially white women, had to fit into an easy to categorize mold. Non-white singers often had to conform to acceptable white standards of appearance and performance if they were going to succeed in the cut-throat music business or risk never being able to break out and make a living as a self-sufficient artist. And along came Janis, a refugee from the tiny industrial town of Port Arthur, TX.

“I’m one of those regular weird people.”Janis Joplin

She did attend college at the University of Texas for a brief while, only to drop out after being voted the “Ugliest Man on Campus”. As I have said about so-called liberal cities like Austin and my hometown of Los Angeles, the history of marginalized populations in these places paints a very different picture.

Janis Joplin live, 1969. Photograph: Crawley/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock.

She moved to San Francisco, initially working with the band Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1966 (hipsters, take note), recording their first album on an indie label, then moving to major label Columbia, and going solo in 1969. Along the way, she literally became the single biggest and most visible embodiment of the counterculture scene.

So, you may be asking yourself, how did she do it?

* She did not have movie star looks and even acne well into her twenties.* Her singing was not pitch perfect. * She was not a shrinking violet, vocally or otherwise.* She almost never wore make-up.* She wasn’t flight attendant thin.* She wrote some of her own material.* She wore clothing that set its own standards of style.* She didn’t ask that skin blemishes be removed in photographs.* On stage, she did what she wanted, sang what she wanted, didn’t stand still, danced freely and with amazing passion.

In the words of Country music legend Loretta Lynn, in speaking about the entertainment industry, “You either have to be first, best or different.” Janis Joplin was all three.