Living with the myth of Janis Joplin

Big Brother & the Holding Co. 1965-2008

English Translation by Michael Spörke and Sam Andrew

"Big Brother and the Holding Company was a prime example of a band where the chemistry was right, where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. You cannot buy or manufacture the natural feeling that was in that band. Big Brother played from the heart and soul with the goal of achieving a direct connection with the innermost feelings of the audience." - Sam Andrew

Annotated Table of Contents

Chapter 1: American Society in the Sixties

 How and why the Sixties counterculture began in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, political issues—the Kennedys, the New Frontier program, and the Viet Nam war—and the role of such figures as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and Ken Kesey in the growth of the counterculture.

Chapter 2: Blue Yard Hill - Rock & Roll is King

 Founding members Peter Albin and Sam Andrew, their origins and musical formation, the Haight-Ashbury beginnings of the band in an earlier configuration called Blue Yard Hill, Chet Helms’ role, and how James Gurley joined.

 Chapter 3: Big Brother and the Holding Company: A Legend is Born

The origin of the band’s name, the development of the San Francisco psychedelic scene, the world’s first psychedelic rock concert, the founding of the Psychedelic Shop, the band’s initial musical style and its first gigs, how Dave Getz joined, and the relationship between Chet Helms and Bill Graham, the two main concert promoters on the scene.

Chapter 4: Janis Joplin

How and why Janis Joplin joined, the impressions she made on the others, their first rehearsals and first concert together at the Avalon Ballroom, their first international performance (in Canada), the band’s communal living phase, first band problems, disastrous experience as a “hippie band” during an engagement in Chicago, the capital of blues music, and their first record deal.

Chapter 5: The Monterey Pop Festival

 Their breakthrough at the Monterey Pop Festival, fighting with their manager about being filmed there, and the release of the first album.

Chapter 6: Big Brother/Big Business

 Why they changed management from Julius Karpen to Albert Grossman, how success brought more problems, their first concert in New York, recording their second LP Cheap Thrills, and the fact that Janis Joplin is loved by the press but the band is not.  

Chapter 7: The End of the Big Brother Family

 Why and how Janis left the band and how the others dealt with this difficult situation.  

Chapter 8: After the Fall from Rock Olympus

 What each member did after the band broke up.

Chapter 9: How Hard It Is To Be A Brother - the First Big Brother Reunion

 How the band reunited in 1969 and was joined by Kathi McDonald and Nick Gravenites and others to record two new albums that were acclaimed by critics but not big sellers.  After a second split, the story again traces each member’s path.

Chapter 10: 1987 - 2008: Big Brother Redux

 How the 20^th anniversary of the Summer of Love led to the band reuniting, how they dealt with its history and initiated new projects, including recordings and touring all over the world to the present. 

Appendix: Family Tree, Discography, Concert Chronology