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Big Brother & the Holding Company
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Big Brother & the Holding Company · Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band from San Francisco, formed in 1965 in the same psychedelic scene as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. The bassist Peter Albin and the guitarists Sam Andrew and James Gurley first played at jam sessions run by the organiser Chet Helms. At the start of 1966 they gave their first performance, and the drummer Dave Getz soon joined. As the house band of the Avalon Ballroom they played loud, experimental instrumental rock.
Music and breakthrough
Helms felt the band needed a strong singer and brought in his friend Janis Joplin from Austin, Texas. In June 1966 she stood on stage with the band for the first time. According to Andrew she still had to learn to sing with such a loud electric band, and the band had to learn to play with a female singer. Because of Joplin the songs began to take tighter forms. The 1967 debut album sounded polite and clean, very different from the wild performances. The breakthrough came at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The second album Cheap Thrills (1968) did capture the band's raw power, with distorted guitars, long jams and Joplin's hoarse, soaring voice. It reached number 1 in America and is regarded as a high point of the psychedelic sound of San Francisco.
Influence
Still in 1968 Joplin left for a solo career. Big Brother made two more albums with other singers and stopped in 1972. Joplin died in 1970. Later the band reunited without her and kept performing with changing female singers.
Listening
Piece of My Heart · Big Brother & the Holding Company, 1968Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1967Big Brother & The Holding Company
- 1968Cheap Thrills
- 1970Be a Brother
- 1970How Hard It Is
- 1998Do What You Love
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 10: Women in Pop MusicNL Reader