![]() I guess I saw a lot of myself in Joplin’s personality, despite the fact that superficially she was a rowdy Southern chick and I was a deeply introverted boy from Hamilton, New Zealand. I was 11 in 1970 and I don’t think I’ve ever really gotten over the demise of my idols, and over the subsequent years as Janis Joplin’s story slowly unfurled, it all just became unbearably sad. But while Curtis’s death was suicide, the “27 Club” of rock deaths were all unfortunate accidents that put a full stop to what most of us imagined would be long, glittering careers. ![]() Years later, I was similarly fascinated by the death of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, and spent much of 1980 soaking up their deeply depressing records, mired in my own illness and melancholy. There was very little information about Janis Joplin at this time and even less about her death and what led to it, so my imagination went wild. It was a bit sick, really, because I used to fantasise that she could still somehow come back to life, or that time could be turned back and that she could make a different decision and still be alive. I played her two main albums until I knew and could imitate (in falsetto) all the smallest vocal inflections and knew all the words, and when the posthumous Pearl was released in ’71 and then the live double In Concert album in ’72 I got even deeper into Janis-love. It was Joplin’s death that really touched me because, listening to the records, you could hear all her pain. I adored all three artists and my nascent brain couldn’t quite believe that they were gone, for good. In 1970, first Hendrix then Joplin died horrible, premature deaths, and then the following year it was Jim Morrison’s turn. Her scratchy voice was hard to take, but I got an emotional hit listening to it that was something I’d never experienced with any other singer. I still didn’t know if I liked it but I knew I was hooked. While Hendrix and The Doors were instant hits – along with The Who and Donovan – it took more than a few spins to grow to love Janis Joplin, but something drew me back to it again and again. ![]() ![]() Central to my rock revolution was the Smash Hits album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the self-titled first album by The Doors, and Janis Joplin’s I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! I was a big fan of ‘60s bubblegum pop until I discovered my sister’s rock records at the age of 10, in 1969. ![]() During my adolescence I almost drowned in them. GARY STEEL remembers what it was like to be an adolescent obsessed with dead rock stars.ĭead rock stars. ![]()
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