‘She got her man. He was the cat they all were after and she got him!... in the culture of rock and roll that makes her something. She had already balled 17 (or 36 or 117) musicians – four (or 12 or 25) of them real stars, names everybody would know – but now her status was elevated again.”
So begins a 14,000-word article in a “Special Super-Duper Neat Issue” issue of Rolling Stone magazine in 1969, which introduced the wider world to the phenomenon of the rock groupie. The scandalous issue explored the difference between groupies and the inferior “star-fuckers”; group sex; the advantages of amyl nitrate; even a lubricious letter from an eight-year-old girl to the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia – and ushered in a wave of articles, books and documentaries about groupies.
The issue was illustrated with brooding black-and-white images of girls dressed in theatrical, elaborate get-ups (flowers, furs and feathers featured heavily), and carefully cultivated make-up styles (dramatic false eyelashes, Pierrot-like eyeliner dots). The pictures were all taken by Baron Wolman, chief photographer for Rolling Stone from its inauguration in 1967 to 1970, the heyday of hippy/rock culture.
During this time, he had unparalleled access to musicians like Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, the Stones – and with that came the girls: “I first saw them backstage, and I noticed this incredible sense of style and uniqueness,” he says.
A new book, Groupies and Other Electric Ladies, brings together Wolman’s photos and contact sheets, the original magazine text – including no-holds-barred interviews with the girls – and new essays. The casual attitude with which the women discuss their pursuit of the most desirable “cats” is matched only by the casually disparaging attitudes of the journalists and musicians towards the girls. The lead article reports that “every band that travels carries either Cuprex or A-200 to kill the crabs groupies lay on them”, and has dubious quotes from musicians such as Frank Zappa (“New York groupies are snobbish and uptight… LA groupies are without doubt the best – the most aggressive and the best fucks”). Today, Wolman is keen to distance himself from these views: “I had great affection for every one of the women I photographed: I learned about their lives, their aspirations. I didn’t hit on any of them. I wanted to share what they were doing with the world.”
Central to the scene was Pamela Des Barres, known as “Queen of the Groupies” and widely acknowledged as the inspiration behind Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous. “We were muses to the bands,” she says. “It wasn’t all about bedding men, it was more about being around that creative force. We understood and appreciated their music, so they wanted us around.” Wolman adds that the influence was mutual: many musicians started dressing like the groupies, with stars and jewellery: “just look back at pictures of the Rolling Stones”.
The origins of the term “groupie” are murky: perhaps a music journalist, perhaps, according to Des Barres, someone jealous of their backstage access. It’s a word infused with sexism: “At the time it had a certain pejorative overtone to it,” says Wolman adds: “But I really wanted to celebrate them. “Let me be clear, these women were not prostitutes: some of them knew more about music than the musicians themselves.” Some went on to become lawyers, start businesses, start families with musicians; Des Barres teaches writing workshops for women. Des Barres is intent on re-appropriating the “maligned and misunderstood” term, and addressing the assumption that the women were simply being used. “It was very equal. I was never uncomfortable with anything and was never asked to do anything I didn’t want to do. I was very much respected by the people I was going out with.” However, there was a hierarchy: the women in the book were the “elite” groupies, says Wolman, and things were probably not as rosy for less established girls.
“Nowadays everybody has a camera, but that was not happening back then,” says Des Barres. “I’m very appreciative that someone had the presence of mind to take pictures of us. I never thought that some day we’d be seen as important.”New generations of groupies have not been held in such high estimation: “There will always be women who follow celebrities,” says Wolman, but it has become “cruder: they have one goal in mind and that’s what they’re going after”.
I ask Des Barres if we over-romanticise music eras past, particularly that of hippies and free love. She disagrees. “The reason it’s been eulogised is that it really was a magical, revolutionary time. Before the hard drugs came into it, there was peace and love in the air. So yes, it’s been mythologised, and of course there are downsides, but in the big picture, it was the most beautiful time.”
Groupies and Other Electric Ladies is published by ACC, £45. Click here to order it for £31.50
Judy and Karen
Baron Wolman: “Judy Wong, on the left, had a clothing store in San Francisco, and all the famous designers wanted to have their clothes in her store. She provided a lot of the clothes for the Cockettes, this group of mostly guys who would perform wearing dresses. She and Karen [Seltenrich] would come to the studio together in these amazing clothes that nobody was wearing at the time. Karen, she knew the bands very well. She had a really great wardrobe; she loved to dress up. Now she’s in LA, she sold real estate for a while. I don’t know what Judy is up to now.”
The Sanchez twins
Baron Wolman: “They were just gorgeous. They hung out with the bands, and at the time they were 17, 18 years old. They were identical twins but didn’t photograph identically. Their mum owned a restaurant that I used to go to all the time, so I’d see them there working, and talk to their mother. You can see they loved to pose.”
Lacy, reading Rolling Stone
Baron Wolman: “Lacy was so sexy. I just fell in love with her immediately. In those days everybody was smoking pot. So she lit up a joint and then I spread Rolling Stone out in front of her, because we wanted to make a Christmas card that we’d send out to all our subscribers. This was after our first year, shortly after we started publishing. I don’t know what Lacy is up to now; she’s one of the few [women] we can’t find.”
Pamela Des Barres
Pamela Des Barres: “There were very few girl groups, so for most girls, all they could do to be around the music was to be with the guys in the bands. In those days it was much easier to meet bands, and there weren’t as many girls trying to do it. So it wasn’t difficult if you were a pretty girl to meet Mick Jagger or Jimmy Page. They were hanging out in clubs in Los Angeles and you could just say hello. There was a different feel in the air: you could just hang out and there was not a lot of judgment going on. As groupies, muses, whatever, we were friendly with a lot of these people. Some of the girls didn’t sleep with the guys, they just wanted to be backstage and be part of the scene.”
The GTOs
Girls Together Only (or Occasionally, or Outrageously, or Orally) were a group, formed by Frank Zappa, of seven girls – the six pictured here (from left) are Miss Sandra, Miss Pamela, Miss Mercy, Miss Sparky, Miss Cynderella and Miss Christine – whose performances in the LA area included dance, theatre and music.
Pamela Des Barres: “The GTOs were one of the first girl groups. We were a really outrageous, loud group of girls who just wanted to turn heads and have fun. Unfortunately most of the GTOs are gone now. There were seven of us, now there’s three. All kinds of things took them off this earth, but Mercy and I are still very friendly, and Sparky is still around. Gail Zappa [Frank’s wife] just passed, which was devastating for me.Things have changed, but I’m still kicking.”
Trixie Merkin
Baron Wolman: “Some [of the girls] could play music. Trixie, for example, was a bass guitarist, and was upset when they called her a groupie. She said, ‘I’m not a groupie! I’m a musician’. For this shoot she came to the studio and decided to wear what you see. I didn’t have any input. What do you say to a topless bass guitar player? She was stylish. We’re still in touch: at 70, she’s still playing with a band.”
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