Big Brother & The Holding Company
The San Francisco psychedelic band that Janis Joplin fronted for Cheap Thrills, the number one album of 1968.
- Origin
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Years active
- 1965-1972, 1987-present
- Genres
- psychedelic rock, blues rock
- Labels
- Mainstream, Columbia
- Also known as
- Big Brother and the Holding Company
San Francisco
Big Brother and the Holding Company grew out of open jam sessions in San Francisco in 1965. Peter Albin met Sam Andrew, the pair brought in guitarist James Gurley, and the trio played sessions hosted by the entrepreneur Chet Helms. Albin's brother Rod managed a rooming house at 1090 Page Street, where Peter and his friends took rooms, Gurley moved in, and the first dance concert was held in the summer of 1965 with a 50 cent admission. The band got its name at its first gig, the Trips Festival in January 1966. Dave Getz, who had been in the audience, soon replaced the first drummer, Chuck Jones.
As house band at the Avalon Ballroom they felt the need for a strong singer. Helms sent Travis Rivers to Austin, Texas, to bring back his friend Janis Joplin, and she first sang with the band at the Avalon on 10 June 1966. Andrew later said it took her about a year to learn to sing with an electric band.
Mainstream and Monterey
Stranded in Chicago in September 1966, the band signed with Mainstream Records, a jazz label owned by Bob Shad. Their self-titled debut, Big Brother & the Holding Company, was recorded in Los Angeles that December. The band was unhappy with how clean the guitars sounded. It appeared in August 1967, after the Monterey Pop Festival, and peaked at number 60 on Billboard, with Down on Me among its singles.
At Monterey in June 1967 the manager refused to let D. A. Pennebaker's crew film the Saturday afternoon set. The band was asked back the next evening and played two songs for the cameras, Combination of the Two and Ball and Chain. Columbia bought out the Mainstream contract, and Albert Grossman became their manager in late November 1967.
Cheap Thrills
Cheap Thrills came out on Columbia on 12 August 1968, with John Simon producing. It began as a live album, with concerts taped at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, but Simon and Grossman were not satisfied and most of the songs were redone in the studio. Simon added crowd noise, and many listeners took the record for a live one. Only Ball and Chain was recorded in front of an audience. Andrew later called the finished album "a total artifact".
It reached number one on Billboard's Top LPs chart for eight nonconsecutive weeks, and Piece of My Heart rose to number 12 on the Hot 100. Critics were divided. Rolling Stone's John Hardin wrote that it was not "a well-produced, good rock and roll recording", while Robert Christgau called it the band's "first physically respectable effort". Pitchfork later placed it 163rd among the best albums of the 1960s. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007 and the National Recording Registry in 2012. Summertime sits on side one. In 2018 Legacy Recordings issued Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills, under the original title the label had dropped in 1968, with unreleased studio takes.
After Joplin
Joplin announced in the late summer of 1968 that she would go solo, and the band played its last concert with her in San Francisco on 1 December 1968. Andrew left with her for the Kozmic Blues Band but came back in the fall of 1969. With Nick Gravenites, Kathi McDonald and Dave Schallock added, the band made Be a Brother in 1970 and How Hard It Is in 1971, then broke up in 1972. Joplin died on 4 October 1970.
The old line-up, without Joplin, reunited in 1987 and has toured part time since, with a series of different lead singers. Cathy Richardson became the official singer in 2011. A concert recording from April 1968, Live at Winterland '68, appeared in 1998. Gurley, who left in 1997, died on 20 December 2009, and Andrew died on 12 February 2015.
Members
- Janis Joplin vocals (1966-1968)
- Sam Andrew guitar, vocals
- James Gurley guitar (1965-1972, 1987-1997)
- Peter Albin bass
- Dave Getz drums
Records
- Big Brother & the Holding Company 1967 · Mainstream
The Mainstream debut: ten short songs, cut in Los Angeles in three days, that the band thought sounded too clean.
- Cheap Thrills 1968 · Columbia
Janis Joplin's last album with the band: studio takes dressed up as a concert, and one real live track.
- Be a Brother 1970 · Columbia
The first album after Joplin: a sextet with Nick Gravenites and Kathi McDonald out front.
- How Hard It Is 1971
The fourth and last studio album, with a song Nick Gravenites wrote for Joplin.
- Live at Winterland '68 1998 · live
Two April nights in San Francisco, with the Cheap Thrills songs played the long way.
Songs
- Piece of My Heart Cheap Thrills · 1968
A 1967 soul song by Erma Franklin that Joplin and the band turned into a hit.
- Ball and Chain Cheap Thrills · 1968
Big Mama Thornton's blues, slowed into a minor-key set piece and played at Monterey.
- Summertime Cheap Thrills · 1968
Gershwin's lullaby from Porgy and Bess, in a rock arrangement by Sam Andrew.
- Down on Me Big Brother & the Holding Company · 1967
An old freedom song that Joplin rearranged with new words.
- Combination of the Two Cheap Thrills · 1968
Sam Andrew's opener, played for the cameras at Monterey.
Related artists
Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Mama Thornton
Where to go next
Official
- Official site The band's own site, with news, music and the store.
- Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills Legacy Recordings announcement of the 2018 reissue, with the full track list.
Reference
- Big Brother and the Holding Company Encyclopedia article on the band's history and line-ups.
- Cheap Thrills Encyclopedia article on the album, with credits and reception.
Writing and criticism
- The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s, page 2 Pitchfork's entry on Cheap Thrills.
- Cheap Thrills review John Hardin's review in Rolling Stone.
- Christgau column on Cheap Thrills Robert Christgau on the album in a 1968 column.
- Christgau 1968 Jazz & Pop ballot The 1968 critics' ballot that lists Cheap Thrills.
- Big Brother Was Watching Los Angeles Times piece on the 1090 Page Street house where the band started.
- Sam Andrew obituary Billboard's obituary of the founding guitarist.
Interviews
- Sam Andrew interview, part one A long conversation with the guitarist about his early bands and the road to Big Brother.
- Sam Andrew interview, part two Andrew on Monterey, Albert Grossman, the making of Cheap Thrills and its songs.
Sources
- Big Brother and the Holding Company, Wikipedia
- Cheap Thrills (Big Brother and the Holding Company album), Wikipedia
- Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills, restored for the 50th anniversary, Legacy Recordings (2018-09-18)
- The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s, page 2, Pitchfork
- Cheap Thrills, Rolling Stone
- Sam Andrew interview, part two, bbhc.com
- Big Brother Was Watching, Los Angeles Times (1997-10-08)