Thursday, July 31, 2014

Throwback Thursday: She's With the Band

Kate Hudson as Penny Lane in Almost Famous

Known for hanging around (and having sex with) famous men, the groupie, aka band aid, is something of a lost character, a seductive, often sloppy creature out a bygone era, what would seem to be rock 'n' roll myth. A sexist situation? Of course. But let's put that aside for the moment, if only for the sake of glamorizing a past we are all likely too young to fully grasp.

Their true heyday: the late sixties to late seventies, when the music was fresh, roaring, raucous, and pulse-quickening. Their loves: lavish hotel rooms, a freewheeling life on the move (sure to get old fast for less hearty types) and fringes, drugs both hard and soft, a high degree of shock value, lots of attention. Their purpose: to provide all the comforts and benefits of a girlfriend and none of the nagging annoyance inevitably delivered in the package of a "real" relationship. Their style: whether copping goods from their stage-swaggering guys or inversely, inspiring their looks, it was as wild and uninhibited as their hijinks, at once referencing and personifying glam rock, pre-grunge, tomboy grit, bad-girl edge, stereotypical "slut," and disheveled appeal.

Here, a selection of those who could hang with the best of them (or worst of them, depending on how you look at it):

Lori Maddox
Her Guys: Jimmy Page, David Bowie




Sable Starr
Her Guys: Iggy Pop, Jimmy Page, David Bowie, allegedly others




Bebe Buell
Her Guys: Steven Tyler, Elvis Costello, Rod Stewart, John Taylor, Todd Rundgren, Mick Jagger


Pamela Des Barres
Her Guys: Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Nick St. Nicholas, Gram Parsons




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