Saturday, January 17, 2009

Groupies


The term "groupie" is one that's been hurled at me like a stone over the years. Really the only guys I've been involved with have been musicians, that is true. But I've never claimed it as a REQUIREMENT. In fact my longest relationship was with someone who wasn't in a band of any kind.

In the 1960's and 70's, groupies were just a part of the rock and roll scene. They were beautiful women who simply loved music and the men who made it. Not slutty hangers on, or coattail riders. Somewhere in the late 70's/early 80's the groupies started getting younger, and catty and vicious. Don't take my word for it. Robert Plant said it himself in an interview with Rolling Stone:

"It's a shame to see these young chicks bungle their lives away in a flurry - to rush to compete with what was in the good old days, the good-time relationships we had with the GTO's... when it came to looning, they could give us as much of a looning as we could give them."


The GTO's were a gaggle of groupies who were famous in Los Angeles. They were put together as a band by the legendary Frank Zappa, and immortalized in the best-selling book and groupie bible "I'm with the Band - Confessions of a Groupie" by the lovely Pamela Des Barres or "Miss Pamela" (who is the first girl in the video above, and also featured several times in the montage below).




Love them or hate them, there's something romantic and glamorous about the ladies of rock and roll in the 60's and 70's. People say I was born in the wrong decade. I know it's true...



x and o
-Miss A

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

did you know Bebe Buell also dated Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys, and even dated briefly my old drummer--and now my lawyer--David Quinton? Six degrees of groupies...signed, BP

Nick Villapiano said...

i hope that this new musical revolution we're trying to get going on leads to a groupie revolution as well. as it stands right now, i'd rather sleep with a man than a groupie. such a shame.

loverockfiend said...

Yes I am aware of Bebe's dating history. I'm just finishing "Rebel Heart" right now. She's had quite the life.

Amen, Nick. Lord knows I'm trying to bring it back!

Anonymous said...

Does she mention David Quinton in Rebel Heart?! (He was the drummer in The Dead Boys as well as The Jitters). That'd be cool.

(didn't see the non-anonymous/non-Google-sign-in option for my previous comment)