‘Big Brother & The Holding Company’: The one album that changed David Lynch’s life
To be an auteur is to find it almost impossible to create something that isn’t cast in your image. No matter the medium, yours are hands that leave an unmistakable imprint on whatever you touch. Arguably the most iconic directorial auteur of his generation, David Lynch has put his unique and unadulterated style on every project he has ever faced. From TV and film to commercials, everything he touches is distinctly Lynchian.
Though his main field of excellence is behind the camera, Lynch also possessed the mark of a true artist and desired to get in front of the camera, perhaps satisfying a penchant for personal pride. All creators go through it from time to time and being able to scratch that itch is sometimes worth its weight in gold. That said, Lynch’s inspiration to capture art as a point of personal pride stemmed not from his love of film or a keen desire to be an actor beyond the odd cameo but from music and his intent desire to be a songwriter.
Writing as part of the Vinyl Writers project, Lynch eloquently said, “Up to a certain point, art is the satisfaction of personal vanity. That is part of its nature.” However, rather than sttep himself in the complexities of creation, Lynch finds reduction to be the best course of action for finding purity: “Nevertheless, as I get older I find that simplicity is the most complicated and at the same times most worthwhile thing for me as an artist”.
It has never really mattered if you’re a painter, actor or director; music usually reaches us one way or another, and when it does, it has a habit of infiltrating our consciousness to change our cultural makeup. In the same piece, Lynch speaks of the album that changed his life and arguably set him on the path towards the hallowed ground of commercial success and artistic credibility. Music pushed him towards the icons of Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding and the unstoppable Janis Joplin.
“It is the great classics of rock music that inspire me. Who long ago made me want to create something of value, like they themselves did, with imagination and a sense for timelessness.” The director confirmed his point by saying, “There is a reason why these artists are love by everybody: they hit a certain spot within is, their music is so powerful and uncorrupted.”
Lynch goes on to explain that while he wanted to be Elvis when he was a kid, “primarily concerning his looks and style,” it was the unfathomable spirit of Big Brother & The Holding Company and most notably their singer Janis Joplin that really grabbed his attention as a teen. The group are perhaps one of the most underrated outfits of the 1960s. While they were not prolific songwriters, their performances, helmed by Joplin as a Texan titan capable of crushing the entire stadium with one warble, were otherworldly.
An “almost 20” Lynch saw the band’s now-iconic performance of Joplin with her band Big Brother & Holding Company at the Monterey Jazz festival and was left stunned. “The energy of this performance and Janis’ vocal power electrified me,” wrote Lynch. “Really it was like lightning flashing through my body. Since then, I have always searched for the music that triggered something like that inside of me. Most in vain.”
It’s hard to capture the sheer stunning brilliance of prime-Janis Joplin at the top of her game at the Monterey Jazz festival but it would seem the band’s first record goes a long way to inspire him still, “What comes closest is actually the first album by Big Brother & Holding Company, one of the two that they recorded with Janis.” Lynch calls it “A monolith of passion, the essence of rock ‘n’ roll. I keep it like a treasure.”
