LibGuides: Janis Joplin: Home

Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin's star rose fast, burned bright and burned out too soon.

The blues-influenced rocker had one of the most powerful voices of the Sixties. Her voice is equal parts tough and vulnerable, a shout into the void that resonated with a generation. She has been called “the greatest white urban blues and soul singer of her generation.” Joplin’s vocal intensity proved a perfect match for the high-energy music of Big Brother and the Holding Company, resulting in a mix of blues, folk and psychedelic rock. Moreover, her performance with Big Brother at 1967’s Monterey International Pop Festival, a highlight of the film documentary Monterey Pop (1968), is among the great performances in rock history. More on rockhall.com...

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Books

Janis: Her Life and Music by Holly George-Warren
Publication Date: 2019
Pearl by Ellis Amburn
Call Number: ML420.J67 A43 1993
Love, Janis by Laura Joplin
Call Number: ML420.J67 J67 1992
Buried Alive by Myra Freidman
Call Number: ML420.J67 F75 1979
Piece of My Heart by David Dalton
Call Number: ML420.J67 D35P54 1991
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 10th Induction Dinner
Call Number: ML44.C54 R63 1995

Audio

Pearl by Janis Joplin
Call Number: CD JOPL PEAR 1990
I Got Dem 'Ol Kosmic Blues Again Mama! by Janis Joplin
Call Number: CD JOPL I-GOT 1986
Farewell Song by Janis Joplin
Call Number: CD JOPL FARE 1989
Love, Janis: The Songs, the Letters, the Soul of Janis Joplin by Janis Joplin
Call Number: CD JOPL LOVE 2001

Video

Janis
Call Number: VHS JOPL JANI 1989
Nine Hundred Nights: Big Brother and the Holding Co. with Janis Joplin
Call Number: VID BIG-BRO NINE 2004
Festival Express
Call Number: DVD COLL FEST-E 2004
Woodstock: 3 days of peace and music
Call Number: VID VAR WOODS 2009

Performances

Janis Joplin performs "To Love Somebody" on the Dick Cavett Show (July 18, 1969)

Janis Joplin live performance of "Piece of my Heart" in Germany, 1968

Podcasts

Rock Hall Video

Rock Hall curatorial director Howard Kramer shares the full story behind 1995 Hall of Fame inductee Janis Joplin's famously psychedelic 1965 Porsche 356C Cabriolet.

Laura and Michael Joplin accept for Janis Joplin at the 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions.

Melissa Etheridge inducts Janis Joplin into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Songwriter Jerry Ragovoy remembers his first meeting with Janis Joplin.

Melissa Etheridge performs Janis Joplin at the 1995 Rock Hall Induction ceremony.

Archival Collections

Listed below are notable collections and items from the Rock Hall's Archives. You can find more by searching our catalog here.

Music Masters 2009. Kosmik Blues: The Life and Music of Janis Joplin - Songwriters to Soundmen series with John Byrne Cooke
Interview with Joplin's road manager and filmmaker John Byrne Cooke, discussing his experience as the road manager for Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company. Presentation includes 8mm films of Joplin shot by Cooke during tours, and a live performance.
ARC-0029 Herb Staehr Collection
This item features Janis Joplin live at the Fillmore East in New York, NY on 1969 February 12; Other audio available with Joplin in this collection.
ARC-0267 Collection on Janis Joplin
Spans the years 1948 and 1966 to 1970. Comprised of handbills from concerts Joplin personally attended, including Bo Diddley, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane; handwritten song lyrics; promotional and candid photographs of Joplin, both individually with Big Brother and the Holding Company, on and off stage; a poster for Janis Joplin at Royal Albert Hall from 1969; and printed materials Joplin collected.
ARC-0401 Invitation to Janis Joplin's Wake
The Invitation to Janis Joplin's Wake was sent to donor Charles Pattie, who attended the event on October 26, 1970 at the Lion's Share, 60 Red Hill Road, San Anselmo, California. Pattie was a friend of Joplin and manager of the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco, of which Joplin was a supporter. He remembers the wake as invitation-only and that the bulk of the attendees were Hell's Angels, Haight Clinic staff, and band members from the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Quicksilver, among others.

Interviews

Janis Joplin interview on the Dick Cavett Show (July 18, 1969)

Articles - Rock's Back Pages

Free articles are available on Rock's Back Pages through the Free on RBP link. The articles below may require you to be on-site at the Library & Archives in order to read them.

Big Brother And The Holding Company: Cheap Thrills
Simon Frith, Let It Rock, April 1975