HELL YEAH!

Damn, would I have loved to hang out with Janis Joplin. Sure, she had a great voice, and a pretty dynamic stage presence. It just seems that she laid it all out there, in a take me as I am sorta way. She wasn't glamorous or sexy, at least in the traditional sense. She just kinda transcended that whole role. Take a look at the video below, it's her singing "Piece of My Heart," live in Germany in 1969. Think inviting the audience onstage is a relatively new thing? Nope. Just watch it, especially at the 1:46 when she sings to the star struck girl that she practically dragged onstage. Try to ignore the fact that the stage ends up looking like a frat party by the end of the song (didn't Germany have hippies yet?), and just revel in her destruction of the performer/audience barrier. Is it any wonder that people gravitated toward her? She's like a female combination of Otis Redding and Andrew WK.

Here's a mess of stuff, including studio, live stuff, TV appearances and a couple originals of songs that she covered. Her voice? Either you dig it or you don't. I happen to really, really, dig it.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Janis Joplin - Piece of My Heart mp3 at Kick Kick Snare
Janis Joplin - Cry Baby mp3 at 8106
Janis Joplin - Dear Landlord mp3 at Town Full of Losers
Janis Joplin - Summertime mp3 at Port.-US Law Library (?)
Janis Joplin - Little Girl Blue mp3 at David Foucaud
Janis Joplin - Get It While You Can mp3 at Port.-US Law Library (?)
Janis Joplin - Ball and Chain (Live) mp3 at Port.-US Law Library (?)
Janis Joplin with Johnny Winter - Live, 1969 (streaming, audio only) at YouTube
Erma Franklin - Piece of My Heart mp3 at SoulMusic.com
Big Mama Thornton - Ball and Chain mp3 at BobGentile
Oddball:
Janis Joplin v. Kraftwerk - Mercedes Benz Auf Der Autobahn (mashup, streaming) at YouTube
Video:
Janis Joplin - Ball and Chain (Live 1967, Monterey Pop Festival) at YouTube Very early
Janis Joplin - Little Girl Blue (Tom Jones TV show 1969) at YouTube
Janis Joplin - Try (Live 1969, Woodstock) at YouTube
Janis Joplin - Half Moon (Dick Cavett Show 1970) at YouTube
Janis Joplin - Cry Baby (Live 1970, Canada) at YouTube
Janis Joplin - Summertime (Recording session) at YouTube
Visit:
Janis Joplin - Official site
Janis Joplin at Wikipedia
Fuck Yeah Janis Joplin - Fan site, mostly photos