Living with the myth of Janis Joplin. The History of Big Brother and the Holding Co.

Sept. 20, 2009 - PRLog -- What Mick Jagger is to the Rolling Stones, or Freddie Mercury to Queen, Janis Joplin was to Big Brother and the Holding Company. Joplin’s fame still obscures the public view of the band. Her expressive singing and her intense passion for life made her famous. Like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, who also died young, Janis Joplin is one of the legendary rock stars of the notorious 1960s.
To many people, Big Brother and the Holding Company has always meant Janis Joplin. Big Brother, who gave Janis a platform for success by giving her the freedom and the energy to develop her musical style, were considered amateurish and unprofessional by many reviewers. The critics downgraded Big Brother for a long time and in Joplin biographies the band has been marginalized.
Janis Joplin became the lead vocalist of Big Brother in 1966, and in that group she found the space to become one of the best white blues singers in the world. Although Big Brother and the Holding Company were known in the Bay Area of San Francisco a year before Janis Joplin joined them, and although they still play today as an active band, there has been no in-depth history of the band until now.
Big Brother is representative of all the overshadowed bands in music history. This book tells the band’s story, how difficult it was to find an identity separate from Joplin’s towering talent. As David Getz, the band’s drummer, says: ”The fame of Big Brother is like a golden albatross. It hangs around your neck like a curse. But the curse is made of gold.“
This book describes the life story of each of the members of Big Brother: where they came from, what their roots were, how they see their time with Janis Joplin, and what they experienced afterwards. It has been written with the close participation of the musicians themselves.

“I read from cover to cover your wonderful book. I couldn't put it down. You did a masterful job. I really became immersed in your book." Robert Altmann (Chief-photographer for Rolling Stone magazine. A leader in embracing digital photography, his recent work appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Mojo, The New York Times, People, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Francisco Examiner)


"Though written in German, this is the only existing work on this seminal band, covering in depth their history before, during and after Janis Joplin. Based on countless interviews and the full cooperation of all surviving band members, and written by a longtime music expert.” Greg Shaw † (Founder of the  Mojo-Navigator magazine, www.bomp.com)

“Although the author was born after Big Brother and the Holding Company had splintered and its most famous member, Janis Joplin, had died, the affection that Michael Spoerke has for the band and the San Francisco counterculture from whence it emerged has fueled a tremendous project.  Interviewing a host of participants and with full cooperation of the band's gentlemen, he has written a detailed, well-researched, sympathetic and well-reasoned account.  It covers the entire history, from the formative years of the members to the band's inception, evolution, stardom, tribulations, disintegration, and reformation, all the way to the present.”  Craig Morrison (Canadian ethnomusicologist and author of American Popular Music: Rock and Roll)

Annotated Table of Contents
Chapter 1: American Society in the Sixties
How and why the Sixties counterculture began in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, political issues—the Kennedys, the New Frontier program, and the Viet Nam war—and the role of such figures as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and Ken Kesey in the growth of the counterculture.

Chapter 2: Blue Yard Hill - Rock & Roll is King
Founding members Peter Albin and Sam Andrew, their origins and musical formation, the Haight-Ashbury beginnings of the band in an earlier configuration called Blue Yard Hill, Chet Helms’ role, and how James Gurley joined.

Chapter 3: Big Brother and the Holding Company: A Legend is Born
The origin of the band’s name, the development of the San Francisco psychedelic scene, the world’s first psychedelic rock concert, the founding of the Psychedelic Shop, the band’s initial musical style and its first gigs, how Dave Getz joined, and the relationship between Chet Helms and Bill Graham, the two main concert promoters on the scene.

Chapter 4: Janis Joplin
How and why Janis Joplin joined, the impressions she made on the others, their first rehearsals and first concert together at the Avalon Ballroom, their first international performance (in Canada), the band’s communal living phase, first band problems, disastrous experience as a “hippie band” during an engagement in Chicago, the capital of blues music, and their first record deal.

Chapter 5: The Monterey Pop Festival
Their breakthrough at the Monterey Pop Festival, fighting with their manager about being filmed there, and the release of the first album.

Chapter 6: Big Brother/Big Business
Why they changed management from Julius Karpen to Albert Grossman, how success brought more problems, their first concert in New York, recording their second LP Cheap Thrills, and the fact that Janis Joplin is loved by the press but the band is not.  

Chapter 7: The End of the Big Brother Family
Why and how Janis left the band and how the others dealt with this difficult situation.  

Chapter 8: After the Fall from Rock Olympus
What each member did after the band broke up.

Chapter 9: How Hard It Is To Be A Brother - the First Big Brother Reunion
How the band reunited in 1969 and was joined by Kathi McDonald and Nick Gravenites and others to record two new albums that were acclaimed by critics but not big sellers.  After a second split, the story again traces each member’s path.

Chapter 10: Big Brother Redux
How the 20th anniversary of the Summer of Love led to the band reuniting, how they dealt with its history and initiated new projects, including recordings and touring all over the world to the present.

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About Michael Spoerke: Michael Spörke, born in 1972, holds a doctor and a master degree in political science, history and sociology from the University of Kassel (Germany) and does teach political science at the University of Kassel.
Michael Spörke is the author of the first biography of Big Brother and the Holding Company, published in German as Big Brother and the Holding Co. 1965-2003. Die Band, die Janis Joplin berühmt machte (Books on Demand GmbH, 2003).

Living with the myth of Janis Joplin. The History of Big Brother and the Holding Co. ISBN-10: 1409284999 ISBN-13: 978-1409284994 . It is available through national distributors, independent booksellers, retail outlets, and online bookstores. It is also available through publisher Lulu.com . To request a review copy or inquire about speaking engagements, interviews, and signings contact 0049-3641-638833 or mspoerke@aol.com.