"Groupie" By Jenny Fabian

I finally got round to reading Groupie by Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne. This book, first published in 1969 quickly achieved cult status for more than one reason. Not only it was the first detailed insight into the groupie phenomenon and the world of sex, drugs and Rock n' Roll, but it was also the first  time the quintessential sixties slang was used in English literature. As Jonathon Green wrote in the preface to the 1997 edition: "Groupie" gets 22 citations in the Oxford English Dictionary from "downer" to "trippy" and "spliff" to "uptight", a mini-lexicon of Sixties-speak (p. iv).
The book itself is a fictionalised account of London's sixties underground music scene by  real-life groupie Jenny Fabian. I say 'fictionalised', but there's very little actual fiction in the novel - the names of bands, members, places,etc. are probably the only departure from reality. And everybody knew who the musicians in the novel were, anyway...Here's a list of the names in the book and their real life equivalents...

Satin Odyssey = Pink Floyd (Ben = Syd Barrett)
Big Sound Bank = Zoot Money's Big Roll Band
The Transfer Project = Dantalian's Chariot (Davey = Andy Summers)
The Savage = Eric Burdon & The Animals
The Dream Battery = The Soft Machine
Jubal Early Blowback = Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation
Relation = Family (Joe = Ric Grech, Grant = Family's manager Tony Gourvish)
The Elevation = The Nice (Andy = David O'List)
The Shadow Cabinet = The Spooky Tooth
The New York Sound And Touch = The Fugs
The Jacklin H. Event = The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Sam = Mitch Mitchell)


Unlike Pamela Des Barres's I'm With The Band, which was written from a perspective of a few decades, Groupie was written and published within few months in 1969. It can be seen as an advantage - all the events were still fresh in author's memory. But it can also be a disadvantage. The book is almost like a diary - there is not much of a story developing here, and the plot does not progress towards any sort of conclusion. It is strictly an account of what Katie (Jenny Fabian, obviously) does, without much of an introduction or ending. The book does not end - it cuts off, more like. Still, it provides a great insight into psychedelic underground of Swinging London. Most of the events in the book take place in 1968. It starts off with a graphic description of Katie's one night-stand with Ben of Satin Odyssey - Syd Barrett, literally days before his departure from Pink Floyd, who was already in a very bad mental state. Throughout the book, Katie has many one night-stands with various musicians, but she also has three 'regular' boyfriends - first it's Davey (Andy Summers), and then, when she moves in with Relation (Family) she has a love triangle with Joe (Ric Gretch) and Grant (family's manager Tony Gourvish). Some of the musicians are portrayed by Fabian in a quite a positive light, others less so. She was clearly infatuated with Andy Summers (Davey in the novel) - and she describes their affair as happy and harmonious.

 Andy Summers circa 1968

1968 was a busy year for Andy Summers. He played guitar for Zoot Money's Big Roll Band and their psychedelic side project, Dantalian's Chariot, with whom he scored a small underground hit, 'Madman Running Through The Fields'.

Dantalian's Chariot, 1968

Around the summer 1968, Andy Summers joined The Soft Machine as a touring guitarist, and went with them to America, which put an end to his relationship with Jenny Fabian (although he was writing her passionate love letters). After the tour ended, he stayed in America,where he briefly joined late incarnation of The Animals. He reappears at the end of the book - him (Davey) and Jenny (Katie) decide to stay friends and he contemplates quitting music and going to acting school (which didn't happen - he stuck to music, eventually achieving stardom in the late 1970's as the guitarist of The Police).

After Davey's departure to America, Katie starts a relationship with Joe from Relation (Family's Ric Gretch). Now, if there's a villain in the book, it's Joe. Fabian portrays him as misogynistic, manipulative and generally rather nasty (and at the same time weak-willed and rather insecure).

Jenny Fabian (left) and Ric Gretch (centre), circa 1968

  She dumps him for Relation's manager, Grant - probably the most complex of all the characters. Very masculine, dominating and also quite misogynistic, yet at the same time with a surprising soft side. Him and Katie have a pretty complicated relationship (which doesn't stop Katie from her pastime as a groupie).

Although she gets mistreated by a lot of men, surprisingly, you never hear Katie moaning about how rubbish men are - in fact, she enjoys mind games, which clearly shows in her relationship with Grant. Still, a lot of things written in the book indicated that sexual liberation and free love did not work as well as young people wished.

Katie is also quick to mention that she is not just a groupie - throughout all the time she works - first as a journalist, and then as booking agent/door girl for the hip club The Other Kingdom - Middle Earth, in real life.

Logo and poster for a gig at Middle Earth, 1968

Middle Earth was a club in Covent Garden, famous for the psychedelic light projections. Anybody who was anybody played/was seen there between 1967 and 1968.  In Groupie, Jenny Fabian provided some interesting insight into how the club operated. 

 In 1968, Middle Earth moved from Covent Garden to a bigger venue - Roundhouse in Camden. There, it hosted even more high profile gigs - here's a poster for Doors/Jefferson Airplane concert, which Jenny Fabian mentions in the book - exceptionally using real band names.

Poster by Alan Aldridge for Led Zeppelin's gig at Middle Earth

Poster by Michael English for an event at Middle Earth, 1968

Jenny Fabian was also involved in organising the ill-fated International Pop Festival in Rome,  about which she talks extensively in Groupie.

Poster for International Pop Festival in Rome by Michael English, 1968.

Jenny Fabian in 1968

All in all, Groupie makes an enjoyable reading, especially to those who are into 1960's. It gives a fascinating insight into the scene, the music and the language of 1960's Swinging London. What struck me most about it was how clear the divisions between 'us' and 'them' were. You could tell  (as Katie in the book often does) almost instantly by somebody's clothes, language which category a newly met person was falling into. It was a kind of generational unity which does not seem to exist today. What a shame...

Dutch edition of Groupie, that's what I call a cool cover..

Source of the images: London Live by Tony Bacon, London Grip,tumblr, The Groupie website, Magic Mac  

     

Permissive (1970)

The film Permissive, directed by Lindsay Shonteff and released in 1970, was another British movie penetrating the promiscuous Rock scene of late 1960's and early 1970's. Just like Groupie Girl (also made in 1970), Permissive, focuses on the groupie phenomenon. The film tells the story of Suzy (Maggie Stride) - a shy and slightly naive teenage girl who comes to London to stay with her old friend Fiona (Gay Singleton). Fiona is an experienced groupie, who hangs out with prog band Forever More (who were a real-live band signed to RCA). She introduces Suzy into a world of scuzzy toilet venues, musicians on the rise, dodgy roadies, grubby hotel rooms and of course, sex and drugs..

But soon, the student beats the master. Initially shy Suzy quickly finds her way in this new, promiscuous world, which inevitably lead to a conflict with Fiona, since they both fighting for attention of Forever More's lead singer Lee (unbelievably hairy Allan Gorrie).

   There are interesting similarities between Permissive and Groupie Girl. Both films were made with an intention to cash-up on notoriety of groupies and rock musicians. Both sought to explore - not necessarily exploit - counterculture. Both were made by directors known for making sexploitation flicks, which resulted in Permissive and Groupie Girl being unfairly branded as such. Although sex exploitation is depicted in both films, it is not a main focus point of either. It would be wrong to put them in the same category as, for example, Confessions Of Pop Performer (1974). Neither Groupie Girl nor Permissive try to glamorise the scene or a lifestyle.But although the films were aimed at the older audience, they don't overly try to moralise or condemn the choices of protagonists (something American films of the era often did). Permissive and Groupie Girl are characterised  by their brutal realism which brings to mind kitchen-sink dramas of early 1960's (such comparison is furthered by unmistakably British sets -  gray skies, rain etc. and the depiction of grubby, un-swinging London in Permissive).

But there are substantial differences between two films as well. Unlike Groupie Girl, Permissive almost aspires to be an arthouse film which is particularly visible in the way film was shot. There is a generous use of flash-cuts, clearly inspired by Easy Rider (1969). Just like in Easy Rider, where you can see a flash-cut premonition of Peter Fonda's and Dennis Hopper's death during a scene at the brothel, in Permissive, the viewer is teased with the flash-cuts of future (and past) scenes all throughout the film, but without major disruptions in film chronology.

 But the biggest difference between the two films is whom the films vilify. In Groupie Girl,, it was the musicians.In Permissive, it's the groupies.As  film critic IQ Hunter writes in his essay about Permissive, "If not exactly feminist, the film echoes feminist disillusionment with the counterculture's ideology of free love. As in "Groupie Girl", the men are arrogantly misogynistic and possessive and women are tolerated insofar as they are useful for sex or chores. (...) Suzy succeeds as as a groupie because she understands the band's misogyny(...) and learns to beat the men at their own game of strategic promiscuity (...) What is missing of course is any sense of female solidarity, and it is Fiona who pays the price for Suzy's own icily methodical exploitation of men's fecklessness and lust.

The original score in permissive is really good - a mixture of heavy psych and prog. Acts that contributed songs to Permissive (apart from Forever More) include prog rockers Comus and Titus Groan.

And, of course there are some great 1960's and early 1970's fashions, both male and female. That alone is a reason enough to watch Permissive...
      

Permissive was recently released on DVD by BFI Flipside. One of the bonus features on the disc is an hour- long comedy from 1971 titled Bread. This film, dug out from a deep obscurity by BFI, was directed by Stanley Long and written by Suzanne Mercer (who, incidentally, were both involved in Groupie Girl - Suzanne Mercer wrote a script based on her own experiences as a groupie). The film follows the misadventures of a group of hippies, who decide to organise a rock festival on the grounds belonging to rich businessman. It is a pretty funny comedy of errors and while watching it, I couldn't help wondering whether it inspired short-lived (but much - underrated) 90's sitcom set in 60's titled Hippies, which starred young Simon Pegg... 

Stills from Bread (1971)

I recommend both, Permissive and Bread to anybody who is interested in music and fashion of late 1960's/early 1970's counterculture.

Source of the quotation: Essay "Permissive" by IQ Hunter in a booklet  - part a BFI Flipside DVD release of "Permissive".

Groupie Girl (1970) - The Original Almost Famous?

I was pleasantly surprised, when I recently watched this British drama from 1970. Usually described as 'trashy' or 'exploitation film' , it actually does not fall under neither category, and is much better than posters advertising it suggest. It is a film about...you guessed it, a groupie. Do not expect however, fun or glamour of Almost Famous. It is in fact, a bleak and pretty depressing movie that was definitely taking a critical view of the whole groupie phenomenon.

The film follows the misadventures of Sally (Esme Johns), who, bored with her life in a provincial town, decides to run away from home and sneaks into the van of a rock band that just played her local dancehall. Lads agree to take her with them - why wouldn't they? From that point  on, she is used, abused, subjected to various tasteless pranks and generally treated worse than dirt - and that's putting it mildly. She gets passed on from one band to another, until the inevitable tragedy occurs.

In America,  the film was released as I Am a Groupie. I don't know who that girl on the poster is, but it's definitely not Esme Johns.

The script was written by Suzanne Mercer, who wasa former groupie herself. Make no mistake, this IS a B-Movie. The acting could be a bit better and the script tries too hard to portray musicians as almost inhumane monsters (although, having hung out with struggling musicians for the large part of my life, I can vouch that they are not generally the nicest of people). But it shows the reality that is all-too-well known to anybody who has ever been in a touring band - dodgy managers, grotty B&B's , traveling in vans with no heating, ego wars and petty fights. At this point I must mention that arguments between band members portrayed in the film, for some reason reminded me of the infamous Troggs Tapes (In 1972, shortly before they split up, The Troggs had a fierce argument in a studio, not realizing that the tape was left running. The tape circulated for years in the underground achieving a cult status and apparently served as an inspiration for This Is Spinal Tap)

.

   

  Opal Butterfly - band which appears in Groupie Girl - (from Marmalade Skies)

Another downside to the film is godawful soundtrack. For some bizarre reason, all the bands in the film, seemed to have had a Badfinger obsession. Well, I guess Badfinger were quite big in 1970...

The original soundtrack. If you ever see it, don't buy it.

Costumes in the film are quite interesting. 1970 was a moment in fashion history when two decades stylistically clashed, therefore we get examples of sixties fashions - frilly shirts for men, mini skirts and go-go boots for girls, and premonition of what was about to come in the seventies - Flares, big fur coats and platforms (for both sexes). It is worth to point out that none of the groupies in the film dresses in a style which today is referred to as 'boho chic' and often associated with 60's/70's groupies. Clothes worn by everybody during a party scene are quite amazing - most of them look quite cheaply made, but it gives you a chance to see what 'real people' wore in 1970.

Overall, I would say that the film is definitely worth watching. It gives you a chance to take a look at the English groupie scene of late 60's/early 70's with certain amount of cold realism, and without heart-warming nostalgia.

And you don't even have to buy it. Some kind soul has uploaded the whole film on YouTube.