10 Greatest Female Singers In Rock History
4. Janis Joplin
For all of the guys that have pioneered rock and roll in the early days, are we all just going to forget that the genre was practically started by a woman? Long before the Chuck Berrys of the world claimed to get the ball rolling, you had Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who threw caution to the wind and shredded an electric guitar while pumping out blues belters. That was still rooted in the blues though, and the most logical next step was what we got from Janis Joplin.
Right off the bat, Janis was never one to really sugar coat anything for you. When she was in Big Brother and the Holding Company, you can practically hear her vocal cords being torn to shreds on songs like Piece of My Heart. Much like the rockers around her, Janis was the kind of female mirror to the rock badass, swigging booze and pulling some of the most showstopping performances once she took to the stage.
That's not to say that she didn't have a sensitive side as well, with her only solo album Pearl showing the more innocent aspects of her on Me and Bobby McGee and Mercedes Benz. Even though we lost her way too young, Janis will always have a special place in rock history: pure power that ended up being a bit too good for this world.