‘The Groupies’: The 1969 album on the life of “star-fucking”
Back in the 1960s, there was one phrase more powerful than any other: “I’m with the band”. While history often belittles the phenomenon of the groupie, the starry-eyed hoards of horny women were equally as notorious as the rockers they were bedding. No velvet rope could possibly hold them back – groupies understood their feminine power, confidently waltzing into dressing rooms, tour buses and penthouse suites without a second thought.
Groupies also made their mark on the bands they pursued. From Van Halen to Mötley Crüe, rock stars were hooked on young women who liked to be with the band. Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant was particularly fond of his adoring female devotees—he even used to keep each conquest’s blouse as a trophy and walk out wearing it at the next show.
Over the years, many groupies have come forward to discuss their promiscuous antics. From Pamela Des Barres’ autobiographical I’m with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie to the acclaimed 2000 movie Almost Famous, there’s plenty of groupie-centric media out there. However, perhaps the most intriguing is the 1969 LP, The Groupies.
The Groupies is an insightful, raw glimpse into the life of a groupie back in 1969. Producer Alan Lorber rounded up a slew of proud groupies and asked them to discuss their experiences with bands. The sonic confessional, pressed onto 12-inch vinyl and stored alongside Sticky Fingers, feels more like a documentary than anything else.
The girls explore every corner of groupie life with zest, from military-like plots to sneak into hotel rooms to discussing the ‘professional’ side of the lifestyle, whereby some members of the subculture relied on bands to provide them with food and money.
But it’s not all about the money or the fame. “I don’t just run after a group because they’re in a group,” one participant emphasises. “I run after them because I like him, I think he’s cute, I’m attracted… if he’s got a nice body, he’s thing… he’s wearing velvet pants. If I like the way he sings, I like the way he moves, his long hair…”
‘Long hair’, in particular, is a real draw for the groupies, noted throughout the record. One girl notes that, at age 14, she would be out taking drugs every night and flirt with the guys that had “long hair”. Though she didn’t make any serious moves until 16 or 17. Nevertheless, her comments highlight the troubling side of the trend.
“I said, ‘This is it. I don’t want to be a virgin anymore’,” she recalls. “I went downtown to a doctor… I got birth control pills… the first person I met, he was in a group, he said come back[stage] after. The rest is easy. I had the pills. What did I have to lose?”
Of course, some groupies touch on the dodgier side of things in more exacting terms. One interviewee explains: “It’s a full-time thing because you have to be out to 4 and 5 in the morning… some people can be violent, some people are gentle, some people can be black and blue marks.”
While The Groupies may be a gossipy confessional, the release is a vital piece of music history. It allows insight into how groupies navigated the rockstar market, but also how they interacted with one another. Certain girls seemed to work in cliques, looking down on the “slaggy groupies” with disdain. Others were just happy to be involved in the thrill of it all.
There are some intriguing snippets of slang thrown in, too, that really add to how authentic and raw the conversations are. From getting the ‘creamies’ (catching an STI), to ‘making piggies’ (having sex), these ladies certainly never mince their words. With that in mind, The Groupies never overly romanticises the lifestyle.
1969 was truly the year of the phenomenon became widely known. In the same year, Rolling Stone released a feature on ‘The Groupies and Other Girls’, and groupie-lover Frank Zappa even shared some thoughts on his lusty admirers.
“New York groupies are basically New York chicks,” he said. “They’re snobbish and uptight—they think they’re big. San Francisco groupies are okay, but they think there’s nothing happening outside San Francisco. L.A. groupies are without doubt the best—the most aggressive and the best fucks, and the only drawback is the incredibly high rate of venereal disease.”
Over the years, many artists have sampled snippets from The Groupies. Electronic duo Propellerheads sampled the LP extensively on their 1998 track Velvet Pants. Elsewhere, DJ Shadow’s remix of Depeche Mode’s Painkiller also has some key phrases thrown in. This has ensured that it remains a vital part of modern cultural history—but whether it is a practice that asks the right questions about its damning dark side is another matter.
