#372 Big Brother and the Holding Company, 'Cheap Thrills' (1968)

Previously #338

Janis Joplin was one of the most iconic and unique singers that ever lived. There had never been anyone like her before, and there hasn’t been anyone since. Sure, there singers as good as her, even better, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone that sings with the raw, gritty power that she did. She grabbed songs by the proverbial horns and made them her own. Taming them in an untamed way. Case in point, this album features 3 covers, one of which was a major hit. Bet you didn’t know that Big Brother and the Holding Company’s ‘Piece Of My Heart’ was a cover. Why would you need to? Their version was so perfect and so original that no other needs to exist, even if there was one before this (incidentally it was originally by Erma Franklin released just one year before their version). Similarly, they took ‘Summertime’ and made it an original. 

The album starts with Grateful Dead manager and Fillmore East impresario, Bill Graham introducing the band in amongst crowd noise. It sounds as if a live set is just about to begin, but the crowd noise was added in to give that impression. To many people’s confusion, this is a studio album. The album would go on to take the #1 spot for 8 non-consecutive weeks and by the end of 1968, it was the most successful album of the year after selling over a million copies. Joplin left the band 4 months after its release to embark on a solo career. Less than two years later, she would be dead at the age of 27 years old, just 16 days after another famous member of the 27 Club, Jimi Hendrix.

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