‘The women who figured out their sexuality, or should I say the power of it, have always been punished. Patti believes the slut-shaming she’s received is directly linked to how women’s sexuality has been treated throughout history.‘It’s all part of this misogynistic tapestry,’ she says. They’ve said, “If you want to think it was purely sexual, that’s on you, I know it was more.”’ But the women who have owned it – Pamela Des Barres, Dee Dee Keel – they’re brave. ‘They don’t want the assumption to be that the sole reason these people hung around with them was because of their bodies. ‘It’s interesting how people have put a sexual term on it, when it’s so much more than that,’ say Chanty and Lynx, who both proudly call themselves ‘groupies,’ but say they understand why some of the women they interview distance themselves from the label. These salacious stories are captivating, and sex does play its part, but why – when groupies have influenced so much – is that the first thing people think of when you utter the word? It’s still the presumption today – when I told people about this feature, the response was often, ‘Oh, those women who’ll do whatever a rock star tells them to.’ The one-night stands, and the (at times) exploitive and wild tales of outrageous acts detailed in rock stars’ memoirs (such as Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt) have now overtaken the public’s idea of what it means to be a groupie. Yet, she found that many people could only focus on one thing: sex. but I didn’t want to be the ringmaster I didn’t really want to be on the stage.’ Building bonds with the bands she worshipped (touring with Mötley Crüe and Motörhead working for Van Halen) was a way to do that. ‘I wanted to be a part of the band, a part of the circus. they’re more elevated, they’re integral to the experience of the band.’įor Patti Johnsen, back in 1981, when she first became a groupie, it was the urge to be a part of the magic. They might be the first person dancing, bringing the energy, spreading the word they just want to see the bands they love succeed and be a part of that success. It’s someone who wants to be in the music scene, but maybe doesn’t have the talent of the musician. ‘I don’t think it just applies to women, it isn’t solely sexual. ‘A groupie is a music-loving person,’ explains Lynx, one half of the podcast Muses, who – alongside her friend Chanty – has been, for the past five years, interviewing and delving into the lives of groupies. The article described a groupie as a ‘chick who hangs out with bands’ and stated that ‘becoming a good one is not an entirely simple matter.’ Since then, groupies have cropped up in movies ( Almost Famous), been authors of bestselling memoirs (Pamela Des Barres’s I’m With The Band) and influenced everything from song lyrics to catwalks. ‘If we tell you what a groupie is, will you really understand?’ It was the tagline used to describe a 1969 special issue of Rolling Stonemagazine, which introduced the underground term and the counterculture of women who embodied it into national consciousness. I set out to meet self-proclaimed groupies, past and present, to find out. But the term has gone through so many iterations, from ‘music lover’ to ‘slut’ and even ‘victim’, so what does it mean to be a groupie today? Especially in a world in which we no longer follow the tour bus but, instead, the social media pages of our favourite stars and bands. She is (alongside other things) a groupie. Now 21 and resplendent in vintage furs, a bleached blonde mullet and hands that are either rolling a cigarette or gesturing wildly as she tells her own stories of backstage passes and renowned lovers, Faye is living that dream. It was her style! She was everything I wanted to be.’ She decided, there and then, what her own future could hold. Standing beside her at the side of the stage, Faye Moore could only look on in awe. The band were so close she could see their stubble aglow with the stage lights, and the crowd, vast and seemingly endless, were chanting, screaming his name – the name of the rock star this woman was going home with that night. She was sipping a margarita, the salted rim coating her lips the guitar solo vibrated through her body as she moved.
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