Janis: Her Life and Music

By Holly George-Warren

It’s been said Janis Joplin was second only to Bob Dylan as the ‘creator-recorder-embodiment of her generation’s mythology’. But how did a middle-class girl from Texas become a ’60s countercultural icon?
 
Janis’ parents doted on her and promoted her early talent for art. But the arrival of a brother shattered the bond she had with her intellectual maverick of a father, an oil engineer. And her own maverick instincts alienated her from her socially conformist mother. That break with her parents, along with the rejection of her high school peers, who disapproved of her beatnik look and racially progressive views, and wrongly assumed she was sexually promiscuous, cemented her sense of herself as an outcast. She found her tribe with a group of offbeat young men a year ahead of her, who loved her intellectual curiosity, her passion for conversation, and her adventurous search for the blues. Although she never stopped craving the approval of her parents and hometown, she left Port Arthur at seventeen determined to prove she could be loved.
 
She tried college twice, and dropped out both times. She ran off to California, but came back when her heavy drug use scared her into it. She almost signed up for a life as a domesticated, hang-the-curtains wife. But instead, during a second stint on the West Coast, she launched a career that would see her crowned the queen of rock and roll.
 
What no one besides Holly George-Warren has captured in such intimate detail is the way Janis Joplin teetered between the powerful woman you hear in her songs and the little girl who just wanted to go home and feel emotionally safe there. The pain of that dichotomy fuelled her music – and ultimately killed her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Oct 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781471140952

Holly George-Warren

Holly George-Warren is a two-time Grammy nominee and the award-winning author of sixteen books, including the New York Times bestseller The Road to Woodstock (with Michael Lang) and the biographies Janis: Her Life and Music, A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, and Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry. She has written for a variety of publications, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Entertainment Weekly. George-Warren teaches at the State University of New York in New Paltz.

Reviews for Janis

[over.the.edge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Janis: Her Life and Music by Holly George-Warren due 10-22-2019 Simon and Schuster 4.0/5.0 #netgalley #JanisChronicling Janis Joplin´s extensive music career, and provocative lifestyle, Holly George-Warren´s extensive research and innate ability to connect to the essence of Janis´s iconic personality and flair, has given us a peek into the motivations and the soul of a woman and performer who has meant so much to so many. Janis fascinated me with her vivacious energy and amazing musical voice. Her ability to never give in or give up is a large part of her success. Unfortunately, the road this curious and rebellious spirit chose to find acceptance, also included alcoholism and a heroin addiction. What gave her energy also stole her soul, and ended her life. Holly George-Warren has done an excellent job of reviving her energy and spirit.Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for sending this e-book ARC for review.

[tytania-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Janis Joplin and love being immersed in her story. I can't say I really learned anything in this bio that I hadn't from the several others that I have read. This one leaned heavily on Janis' copious written correspondence with her family; and seemed less focused on her relationships with men, and more on those she had with women. Janis here is presented as frankly bisexual, if not lesbian with a daddy fixation.I took issue when lyrics were misquoted. The most egregious example was the part in "Piece of My Heart" where Janis sings, "Nowma nowma nowma nowma nowma HEAR me when I cry-y-y-y, and baby I cry all the time!" This was transcribed on paper as "Never, never, never hear me when I cry." I can only think that when another artist wrote or transcribed the song, the word was "Never." If so, tell us what you're quoting. Because you're not quoting Janis. On no planet does "Nowma" mean "Never." (It means, obviously, "Nowma".)My thoughts on the medical nature of addiction have evolved since I last immersed myself in Janis' life story. With so much attention to the opiate crisis, so many obituaries of young people in my local paper, and a harrowing recent book club meeting covering DOPESICK by Beth Macy accompanied by a gut-wrenching story of the addiction-related death of the son of one of the members of my own book club, I now more than ever consider addiction to be a brain-altering medical condition. And this makes me ponder in a new light the narrative of Janis Joplin. How would it be different if she had lived? Luck played a huge part in who among her cohort lived and who died in the 60s. What if she had lived, cleaned up, moved on; would we still dwell so much on the "tortured soul" angle of her early years? She indisputably had a lot of difficulties in her background. She tried to kick heroin multiple times, sometimes seeming to come oh-so-close, only to relapse - how it always goes. In the past, I would think, "What tortured her soul so much that she had to keep going back to it?" Now I simply think, "She was an addict. The addiction kept her coming back."What is it about Janis? Right in the introduction, George-Warren nails it: "Janis was a walking live nerve capable of surfacing feelings that most people couldn't or wouldn't." When I'm asked what it is about Janis that so enthralls me, the only phrase I can come up with it "out there," accompanied by expanded arms. "She was so out there." It was all out there. Being "14 with no tits," as she put it. The acne, the high school hall put-downs that didn't seem to end with high school. She puts it all out there in a way I can't or won't. Janis is my live nerve.

[janarose1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book outlines the life and career of Janis Joplin. Born into a conservative Texas town, Janis always stood out as different from her peers. Her parents, typically conservative, struggled with Janis drug use, liberal views and unconventional lifestyle. Janis forged a new life and family with the Holding Company. However, as she grew into herself, she outgrew her new family.This was a well written and engaging story. I knew very little about Janis before reading this book - Wow, what a wild and crazy ride. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

[ozzer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a well-crafted and thorough biography of Janis Joplin. In less skilled hands, it could have been just another cliche of "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" dooming a very talented young artist. George-Warren avoids that trap, however, with a scholarly exploration of the aspects of Joplin's background and psychological makeup that help to explain her struggle and ultimate success in developing her prodigious talent. Using her own words from letters, as well as journals, memoirs and interviews from people who surrounded her, George-Warren captures, in an intensely personal way, both Janis' drive and her self-destructiveness. Like most talented artists, Janis was extremely sensitive. She doubted her talent and success. This led to behaviors, characterized by fear of rejection, intense personal relationships, acting out, and a need to please her family and fans. Like so many of her peers, she treated her feelings of inadequacy with alcohol and drugs, solutions that sadly were her undoing.

[pomo58 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Janis: Her life and Music is a very well-researched and readable biography from Holly George-Warren. Whether you know very little about her life or think you know it all already (trust me, you don't, and even after reading this you won't, so don't fool yourself) this is a book well worth reading.This is likely to be as comprehensive and complete a biography as we will ever get about Joplin. Whether a biography or an autobiography we have to remember that the story, even if no falsehoods are told, are from the perspective of those telling the tale. Not the author so much but those agreeing to be interviewed and share their "true" accounts. Like all "true" accounts, they must be taken with a grain of salt. In the case of an often controversial, always outspoken deceased subject, those telling their side are as much interested in presenting themselves and family members in better light than they may have previously been shown. Truth usually lies some where in between the various accounts. Having made that qualification, George-Warren presents a balanced and fair biography incorporating previous material from Janis' own mouth as well as more recent accounts from family members offering their "true" perspectives on events of the past. I remember listening to her when she was first coming up and was taken with the very different sound, to my young ears, that Big Brother and the Holding Company had. I have been a lifelong fan of her music. This book does a wonderful job of contextualizing Joplin's life both historically and, for lack of a better word, psychologically. I do not mean that there is a lot of psychobabble here but that when we can understand what motivated her we can then go beyond making puerile judgements lumping every person who took drugs or had sex into the same bin. One doesn't have to condone these actions but to be unable to empathize says far more about the reader than it does about Joplin. This biography goes a long way toward providing some understanding beyond simply being a product of the counter culture.George-Warren blends telling about Joplin's life and her music very well. While these things are inseparable in most musician's lives, many biographies tend to treat them as separate and usually to the detriment of one of them. Here, the interplay between what is happening in her private life and what she does musically is illustrated very well, along with placing that whole thing in the historical moment as well. Unfortunately for Joplin, the music side of the coin also included many people who were more than willing to take advantage of her and her talent. But the private side included some family that was equally self-centered, even well after her death.I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in Joplin, late 60s culture, or music in general. Also for anyone who simply enjoys reading well-written biographies.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.