Behind The Scenes, Pt 1- Groupies

A few weeks ago, I told one of my female co-workers how I had begrudgingly accompanied my boyfriend on a mission to get a treasured album autographed. The M.O. involved hanging out by the side entrance at the Greek Theatre waiting for the tour buses to arrive. "Of course," I added, " I used to hang out by tour buses for other reasons back in the day."

"WHAT!! WHAT BAND!! TELL ME THAT STORY!" The normally straight as a board, sensible type belted zealously as if possessed by the 14 year old Duranie she must have been at one point. Speaking of which, you would not believe what grown women posted on a message board about a Duran Duran reunion concert recently. I hope somebody got the boys out of the building before they wound up as puddles on the floor via a bunch of 34 year old groupies.

The concept of "groupies" and "rock stars" is endlessly fascinating to the public at large, and has been since the phrase was popularized in the 1960s. There was a lot of romance and newness to it the '60s and early '70s. The first batch of famous groupies had a lot more going for them beside good looks and dalliances with famous musicians.

Pamela Des Barres wrote "I'm With The Band" without an "as told to" hack journalist in tow. She sang with Frank Zappa produced band, the GTOs, and babysat Dweezil and Moonunit.

The Plaster Casters, two gals from Chicago, took more to art than writing. They made molds of their guys' penises. Hell, they were sculptresses at heart. At least they had imagination!

Cherry Vanilla, a fiery redhead from New York, worked as a DJ in clubs, did publicity for David Bowie, recorded two albums of her own, and yes, occasionally and unashamedly slept with rock stars.

Even Camille Paglia praised the early groupies. "The way the women looked, the way the groupies looked - how fabulous the groupies were. They were so sexy and so ballsy! It was amazing how those '60s chicks talked."

So what is it about musicians exactly that the little girls understand? Is it the music itself, the power that it portends? After all, actors, athletes and even CEOs have their groupies, as most powerful men do, but why do even frumpy looking, semi-famous musicians cause older, otherwise well-behaved women to swoon like teenie-boppers? I suppose the specifics of attraction vary from woman to woman.

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