Queen of Psychedelic Soul

Today in Music History: October 13, 1970

"Just like there's only one Joni Mitchell, and only one Aretha Franklin, there was only ever one Janis Joplin. No one else could come close. Janis was unique - she was the Queen of Psychedelic Soul." 

 
Janis Joplin With powerful blues-inspired vocals, Janis Joplin rose to fame in the late 60s. Joplin developed a love of music at a young age showing promise while singing in the church choir. Her idol was Blues singer Bessie Smith. When she found out Smith was buried in an unmarked grave, she bought a headstone that read "The greatest Blues singer in the world will never stop singing." At the University of Texas at Austin in the early 1960s, Joplin began performing at folksings on campus and local venues. Either performing solo or with her friends the Waller Creek Boys, her unique voice gained attention.

Probably one of the greatest tragedies that shaped Janis' worldview and hence life was her having been born and raised in Texas. Many times she would refer to the relentless bullying she'd been a victim of in that most conservative of US states. She spent most of her adult life seeking the approval and acceptance she'd never found in school. In 1969, just after a September concert at the Hollywood Bowl, she played for a packed audience in Austin, Texas, in October. Of the audience described in the papers as "frantically enthusiastic," she remarked afterwards "I used to go to school here and they never treated me like this!" (Source: Songfacts.com)

1970 Janis Joplin's ashes were scattered at Stinson Beach in Marin County, California. The singer had been found dead on the floor beside her bed at the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood California on 4th Oct. Forever 27, she became a member of the '27 Club'. The official cause of death was an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

"Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That's what music is to me." ~Janis Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970)

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...