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Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin
by
Alice Echols
Janis Joplin was the skyrocket chick of the sixties, the woman who broke into the boys' club of rock and out of the stifling good-girl femininity of postwar America. With her incredible wall-of-sound vocals, Joplin was the voice of a generation, and when she OD'd on heroin in October 1970, a generation's dreams crashed and burned with her. Alice Echols pushes past the...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
February 15th 2000
by Owl Books
(first published 1999)
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Alister
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Scars of Sweet Paradise the life and times of Janis Joplin by Alice Echols. I really enjoy this but though its very long to me, who doesn't read as often as I could. Its also one of the most emotionally draining books I have ever read. Between Janis' childhood of being the "black sheep" to her misunderstood attitude, looks, and talent that kept this rebllious artist from being truely fulfilled. Janis' closes friends are interviewed and giving their own oppion on Janis ,how they saw he...more
This is an important book, not only for fans of Janis Joplin, but for anyone who is interested in 60's era, with a detailed background history leading up to what started the whole "counterculture", and vivid descriptions of the most radical decade in America - the music, the politics, the hippies, the "make love not war" years.
One gets a defined and detailed account of Janis Joplin's roots and early years, her home town and her friends, the Austin music scene, and how ...more
One gets a defined and detailed account of Janis Joplin's roots and early years, her home town and her friends, the Austin music scene, and how ...more
I read this back when it first came out & really enjoyed, but my copy wandered away somewhere so when I saw it at Half-Price books in the U-District in Seattle I knew I wanted to read it again.
I love Janis Joplin - both her music & her spirit. I've read Myra Friedman's Buried Alive The Biography of Janis Joplin several times, as well. This book offers a somewhat different perspective as it is striving to place Joplin within her cultural context.
I remembered that this b...more
I love Janis Joplin - both her music & her spirit. I've read Myra Friedman's Buried Alive The Biography of Janis Joplin several times, as well. This book offers a somewhat different perspective as it is striving to place Joplin within her cultural context.
I remembered that this b...more
I wish all biographies were like this, that gave a deep appreciation of the subject without going all hoity-toity and exclusive. I knew little of Joplin beyond listening to her recordings and that whole "choked on her own vomit" rumor (which, thankfully, is debunked here). While I read this years ago, the one thing Echols wrote that stuck with me is that Joplin managed raw, genuine sound with her voice by training it. Every raspy wail and scream was practiced until she got the intended...more
I'm not a Janis-head by any means, so I can't speak to this biography in relation to other works on Joplin. I like her music; I knew a bit about her rise to fame & her tragic fall (& also recently saw some 'supernatural' special on the History Channel where psychics tried to access JJ's ghost in the hotel room where she died...har har). The biography, however, is not a tragedy in any conventional sense. Echols doesn't shy away from the drugs, the booze, the sex, or even what seems to be the p...more
Grant
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Janis fans, anyone interested in the 60s scene
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I'm a big fan of Janis Joplin's music but up until now I didn't actually know very much about her apart from the fact the she was a member of the infamous "27 Club". Scars of Sweet Paradise was a fascinating read not just for all the stuff about Janis but also for providing an insight into the whole Haight-Ashbury scene and counterculture of the 1960s. This is very much a "life and times" book. What was particularly interesting for me was the description of the so-called "...more
After reading about The Grateful Dead I continued my "60s Musical Countercultural Voyage" with this book about Janis Joplin. It was exactly what I wanted: less of a Tabloid Tell-All (although there are plenty of salacious details) and more of a Cultural History. Echols gives Joplin a very even-handed non-judgmental treatment-- even then, I ended up feeling sorry for Joplin. She lived hard but I was left with the impression that she never found what she was looking for.
Basically you shouldn't read this unless you take perverse pleasure in feeling the cracks in your heart grow larger and larger until you're left with a heart that looks like it got hit by an earthquake of historic proportions, or, perhaps, if you like those French movies that show nothing but human suffering on the corporeal and spiritual levels. Save it for a rainy vacation when you have plenty of hot chocolate on hand.
A really interesting profile of legendary 60s singer Janis Joplin - my favourite singer. This biography is well-reasearched and informative, but it's not as good as the biography Love, Janis written by the singer's sister, Laura Joplin.
I love Janis' music, her style and her attitude, and this biography gave me a better understanding of all these things about Janis, who, although a somewhat tragic figure,has in my view often been overlooked as a fantastic feminist icon.
Charlina Lunney
added it
An in depth view of, literally, the life and times of Janis Joplin. Thoroughly enjoyed the scope of information this book covered with insights into Janis' life. I love it and still pick it up and re-read bits and pieces.
Had the pleasure of reading this book while taking "The History of Rock'n'Roll" with Echols at USC. Amazing experience, learned so much through the book and the experience as a whole. Wish I had kept in touch with Echols!
Rebecca eley
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone
Recommended to Rebecca by:
no one
Shelves:
biography
My favourite biography. Tragic tale. She shoulda gone to rehab. I liked the insight it gave me into the struggles faced by women then. It made me glad to have lived now with choices.
The "life" sits awkwardly with the "times" in this book, but the overall effect, one of messy and chaotic excess, fits its subject. Echols is far too detached to be a good biographer, but she is a decent enough historian, and the glimpse we get of 1960's culture in all its squalor and glory is fascinating. I really wish the biographical portion of this book had been more intimate and interesting, because Joplin's story is sad and wild and would have made a great archetypal st...more
I feel like this was too much "the times" and not enough "the life". WHile the auther's knowledge of the scene and era ar eimpressive, there are times when they seemed to be mentioned for the sake of mentioning them...they don't really give any extra insight into Janis Joplin. I also think that after researching so extensively you should be able to make some suppositions, some educated insight into the person...instead, just pages of quotes, many of which conflict, leaving Ja...more
I never got into Joplin's music, but this is really a great book. Kind of goes deeper than the tunes you now hear on car/lottery commercials and details her desire to push the boundaries of her own voice and the music of the time. The really interesting parts in the book are about her on-going connection to where she grew up and the pressures of willingly removing herself from everything she knew in order to become something else completely.
There are quite alot of books out there about Janis life, I just ended up with this one in particular beccause it was the only one available in my local library. It couldnt have been a more better choice. It was very well researched and had an unbiased approach to her life. One thing that I liked about this book, was the coverage of the other bands and venues at that time. Great book for people who love Rock and Roll history and music.
This book is about not only Janis, but the counterculture environment in Northern California that helped shape her career. If you want to learn more about the 60's counterculture, this can be a very useful book. It's intelligently written, and portrays Janis sympathetically. After reading it, I felt like I understood her better. And I admired her even more.
I always thought janice was talented. So it was interesting to see how she made it; especially since there was a lot of background issues on the sixties and seventies. However, I would have prefered this book if it were a memoire. I would've liked to see inside the singer's personal outlook.
Great book! It told all the typical Janis stories but also was very informative on the 60s including the Summer of Love. Very in depth look at janis's life, family, friends, trials and of course addiction. Great great book about someone who never knew how good she really was.
So much about the 60's and 70's changed America. I had never learned this history. It also shows a broad portrayal of Janis, lovely and sad. A really great, interesting book. Also talks about other artists of the time.
Alice Echols is my favorite historian. When I found out she wrote a bio (rare for historians) about Janis, I was stoked. The book was better than I expected... I even read the middles of the chapters!!
Great biopic on her life. It shows the tender side of Janice as well, a side that many weren't often exposed too due to her tough exterior.
Excellent biography. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading about Joplin's life and/or in the Counterculture.
She was a wild thing! if you like her, you will like the book, starts of in childhood and goes on through-out her life!
It's certainly not the authors fault--I didn't like her any more after having read this than I did before.
Susan
is currently reading it
Going to be a thick read. I'm only on pg 33 and it is so jam packed full of information
Fantastic look at Janis' life set against a very clear backdrop of the 60s.
Anna
added it
Haight Ashbury was already played out and overcommercialized by '68.
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Alice Echols is a cultural critic and historian. A specialist of the 1960s, Echols is a professor at the University of Southern California.
Associate Professor of English, Gender Studies and History
More about Alice Echols...
Associate Professor of English, Gender Studies and History
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