Obsessed, fucked up and insane: groupies
World famous stars are often surrounded by young women who follow them on their concerts and tours and are willing to do anything to be near their idols. But who are they and why are they ready to follow their objects of adoration for many years? These are groupies: young, cheerful, bold fans who simply are not ready to give up on their love.
If you want to fully understand who are groupies, it’s best to find the roots of this phenomenon and look back in history. The term ‘groupie’ firstly appeared in 1965, and in those years it meant women who followed famous rock musicians on their tours and journeys. In the minds of many the word ‘groupie’ simply means á girl who slept with musicians’. However, many of the groupies deny this label, claiming they just follow their idols and inspire them psychologically. Although we can’t know the truth, one thing is for sure: groupies usually spend a lot of time with musicians.
One of the first things to say — groupies were obsessed with their favourites. They chase rock stars, travel the world for bands, have parties with them in bars and clubs. It is as if they live the life of rock stars, except for the fact that they aren’t actually stars. Even if you are not a star, you can at least be close to one, isn’t it?
Let’s peak on of fangirls. Take for example Laurie Maddox and Sable Star, so-called ‘baby groupies’, who were from 12 to 14 years old at the time they were involved in a rockstar lifestyle. Laurie and Sable became the most popular baby groupies in the early 70s. They had sex with musicians who were in their 20s and 30s, despite the fact these girls were underage.
Laurie gave her virginity to David Bowie, who also had threesome that same night with her friend, Sable. In addition, Laurie dated Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page when she was only 13, did drugs with Iggy Pop and had sex with Mick Jagger. Sable was called a ‘queen of the groupies’ and had illegal affairs with a lot of popular musicians. She was also 13 when she lost her virginity to Iggy Pop, who was 23, and he wrote a song for her later.
However, their lives were inside far less glamorous and luxurious than it might seem. Laurie and Sable were oversexualized, psychologically unformed children who were drawn to musicians by their fame and charisma. It’s unimaginable that nobody paid attention to their age during those days, but that’s exactly what happened. The girls regularly attended parties, drank alcohol and abused drugs, and it was certainly fun. But they also had love-hate relationships, full of jealousy and conflicts. Now, you start to get a better picture of groupies’ lives.
In addition to this, rockstars’ lifestyles are mostly hard and fast, full of drugs and alcohol. One of the first things groupies encountered were the abusive attitudes of their idols. It’s not that rock stars were some kind of monsters, it’s just the inevitable result of a rich lifestyle, full of parties and substance abuse. Not only can this be said about musicians, but also about any famous person.
Given the pace of musicians’ lives, the amount of fans and fame, it’s quite surprising some rock stars of the 60’s still had wives and children, thought. Rockstars were often abusive and violent; they might hit their fan girls or even kick them out. Groupies were involved in alcohol and drug abuse, which given their age, was terrible. For instance, Sable had an abusive relationship with Jonny Thunders, who was addicted to drugs and was a violent and controlling person. Sable got pregnant from him but later had an abortion because she couldn’t bear to live with him.
Also, it’s critical to note that not all groupies have a chaotic and rockstar lifestyle. Of course, some of them were followed by their idols because of pure adoration and love. But stars always value their freedom and fame higher than anything else, which is not surprising. Therefore, many groupies end up miserable and dependent on their loved ones — literally, with no valuable prospects in life.
At the end of the day, some groupies went back to their normal lives and ended the past. Many of them still recall their youth as an invaluable experience and are grateful for the chance to hang out with celebrities and rockstars. While some of us may view their experience as intense and chaotic, it’s still their lives and their choices. This, above anything else, helped them to stay in history and hang out with the best people of past times. And who knows, maybe some of us wouldn’t mind having the youth which truly might be called ‘rockstar life’?
