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After being rejected entry backstage to interview Black Sabbath for the third time by the strict doorkeeper, 15-year-old William Miller begrudgingly walks up the ramp, joining a group of young girls. One of the girls acknowledges him and asks which band he is with, to which he explains that he is a journalist here to interview Black Sabbath. With hesitation he adds that he is not a groupie, which causes an uproar amongst the group. Penny Lane, clad in her fur coat, steps forward and says, “‘We are not groupies…. Groupies sleep with rockstars because they wanna be near someone famous. We’re here because of the music. We are Band Aids…. We don’t have intercourse with these guys. We inspire the music. We’re here because of the music.’”
Cameron Crowe’s 2000 coming-of-age film Almost Famous is a prime example of groupies in modern media. While Crowe’s interpretation of the groupie scene was mostly positive in that Penny Lane and her fellow Band Aids are all young women who are confident in themselves, historically the term “groupie” has been used as a derogatory term. Usually used to downgrade women to a starstruck and mindless fan with only the goal to meet and sleep with their rockstar idols, it is no wonder why the Band Aids chose to adopt another title for themselves. And though the definition of a Band Aid and a groupie oftentimes becomes blurred throughout the film, Penny Lane and her friends embrace the groupie culture and lifestyle, much like the women these characters were inspired by. By reclaiming “groupie” for their own, the real-life groupies of the 1970s have chosen to become empowered by this term, and emphasize their significance and influences on the music scene of the time.
Before examining the groupies of the 1970s music scene further, it is important to establish groupie culture as its own subculture, and how their lack of acknowledgement as a subculture continues to perpetuate “groupie” as a derogatory term. The perpetuation of the negative connotation associated with this word is in part due to the withstanding issue of invalidating and ignoring subcultures that are dominated by girls. As critiqued by Bennett and Kahn-Harris, the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) fails to include girls when discussing subculture. And while Bennett and Kahn-Harris reference McRobbie and Garber’s 1976 study “Girls and Subcultures,” in which they discuss how a domestic space can cultivate a subculture for teenage girls like the Teeny Bopper culture, “teenybopper” has also been used in a way to belittle young girls for having interests of any kind, supported by Danny Fields insulting Jim Morrison’s writing by calling it “garbage disguised as teenybopper.” “Groupie’s” derogatory connotation is also present in Almost Famous as evidenced by William’s hesitation to even say the word, and later on where Penny Lane is referred to as “that fucking groupie.” Recognizing the history around this word is the first step to understanding why groupies are a subculture, and how pushing forward the idea that all subcultures are a male dominated scene can further diminish the validity of the groupie culture’s status as one.
Defining factors of a subculture are fashion and music, as well as shared ideologies or beliefs amongst those taking part in the scene. Music is an obvious element for groupies, as they wouldn’t exist without it, but an equally important part was fashion. Much of the fashion of the 1970s groupie scene pulled inspiration from different sources. Almost Famous’ costume designer Betsy Heimann put a lot of care into researching and designing pieces that would fit each character, and especially for the Band Aids. Polexia’s outfits are an homage to 1930s vintage romanticism and embraces her femininity through pinks and soft lace, serving her character of being Stillwater’s (the band the Band Aids are “with”) lead singer’s muse well. On the other hand, Sapphire's loud style and personality translates through her glam rocker look of black lace and leather, as well as her rainbow vest made of feather boas. Then there’s Penny Lane’s iconic afghan coat––which has since been dubbed the Penny Lane coat––that became a staple item for her character. The coat along with her Janis Joplin-esque fur hat, and embroidered floral boots, are influenced by the 1960s and 1970s interest in the “Oriental”–– textiles and fabrics inspired by the Middle East –– which especially was trendy amongst hippie fashion. Although these characters were all at the same show for the same reason, they never lost their sense of individuality through their clothes, much like the actual groupies these characters were inspired by.
The GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously) was an all-girl music group started by Frank Zappa and consisted of seven members: Miss Pamela, Miss Mercy, Miss Cynderella, Miss Christine, Miss Lucy, Miss Sandra, and Miss Sparky. Aside from being in this band, they were also famous for being groupies––as well as for their eclectic style––in the 1970s on the Sunset Strip. Miss Pamela Des Barres, author of I'm with the Band, described getting ready for shows as, “‘... quite an event. There were times I would spend an hour or two just decorating my face…. It was fun, it was glamorous, it was exciting. Like I said before, it was a reflection of what was going on within me.’” The outfits of these seven friends were often thrifted or altered. They would cut vintage gowns to make the hemline shorter, layered different head scarves and hats, and wore clashing colors and patterns, resulting in ensembles that made the GTOs look like “‘well-dressed rag dolls’” that resembled fabulous results of playing dress-up. And while the group all inspired one another, each of the seven GTOs had their own individual and personal look that the others did not copy. However despite all their different styles, what truly brought them together was their love for fashion. Their clothing was a physical and visual manifestation of their self-expression and, “They were the performance of everyday life, for to live was to celebrate, and to celebrate was to live.”
There is no doubt that the 1960s hippie movement was a big influence on the 1970s mindset, and the GTOs were no exception to its influence. Stemming originally from the Beats, the hippies continued to preach free love, which carried over into the 70s. With open spirituality and sexuality being encouraged, women also became more free to express themselves sexually, which played a big role in establishing groupie culture. However, despite this, sexuality, especially when it comes to women’s sexuality, has always been seen as taboo. Whereas men can freely express their sexuality and be congratulated for their “conquests,” women would be slut-shamed and be seen as self-deprecating whores.
Miss Pamela blames jealousy of the GTOs and other groupies’ abilities to express their sexuality freely for one of the reasons why “groupie” became a slur overtime. The groupies were unapologetically themselves, not caring about what society thought of them. By instead making a show out of the fact that they were different, this ultimately gave them the ability to look past the negativity and reclaim “groupie” as something empowering. Miss Pamela, who was one of the inspirations for Penny Lane’s character, had much to comment about Cameron Crowe’s portrayal of groupies. She has said that Penny Lane, “was not owning herself, not owning groupie-dom and what it actually means…” and found the correction from “groupies” to “Band Aids” insulting as she has been trying to reclaim the word for most of her life. Furthermore, she particularly disliked Penny Lane nearly dying from overdosing on Quaaludes, after being rejected by Russell, Stillwater’s guitarist, because she felt that it was extremely misogynistic, calling her “pathetic” and explaining that the groupies she knew during that time would never do such a thing.
Another famous groupie was Sable Starr who was known as the “queen of the groupie scene” in Los Angeles in the 1970s. She is credited as being the first “baby groupie,” which is appropriately named as she was only twelve-years-old when she first got into the scene. Though she has since passed, fellow baby groupie Lori Maddox (sometimes referred to as Lori Mattix or Lori Lightning) who was introduced to this lifestyle by Starr, has discussed her experiences by offering personal critiques. Maddox––who lost her virginity to David Bowie when she was just fifteen-years-old, and was in an infamous relationship with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page––now as an adult has said “‘I don’t think underage girls should sleep with guys. I wouldn’t want this for anybody’s daughter.’” Her perspective on the groupie lifestyle has changed as she has gotten older, and likely due to present day social changes and norms.
However, while Maddox has not explicitly stated that she is reclaiming the word “groupie” in a form of empowerment, she has spoken about her experiences in a positive light. She has said she had a “great time” and that she fell in love with Jimmy Page and has no regrets about that relationship or her experience as a groupie. It simply was a different time where experimentation was encouraged, and the groupies took advantage of that opportunity.
Groupies also had an incredibly important influence on the 1970s music scene. While bands with a mostly female fan-base are oftentimes belittled for their music, without those fans, popular bands likely would not have been as successful as they were and are known for being today. Looking towards The Beatles, for instance, their success would not have been possible without their female fans. That is not to discredit their male fan-base, but when thinking of Beatlemania, screaming and crying teenage girls usually come to mind, and the Fab Four are comparable to modern day boy bands, who similarly wouldn’t be as successful without their female demographic.
However the groupies’ contributions to music do not just stop at these bands' success. It is true when Penny Lane says, “We inspire the music,” as many songs have been written about groupies––Led Zeppelin’s “Sick Again” and The Rolling Stones’ “Some Girls,” just to name a few. However, groupies also were muses to these musicians in other ways. The GTOs, for one, were responsible for several of the bands’ iconic looks. Miss Pamela, for instance, recalls making shirts for Jimmy Page and Mick Jagger, and taking their bands, along with the Jeff Beck Group and many others, vintage shopping for their stage ensembles. She would also swap clothes with them, particularly with Page and Jagger, before they would leave to go back to England. Additionally, the GTOs created Alice Cooper’s signature look. It is unclear whether Miss Mercy or Miss Christine are solely responsible (it could likely be both) as Miss Pamela says Miss Christine, who was his muse, did Cooper’s makeup and created his dark clown eye look, whereas Miss Mercy says it was with her makeup and Miss Christine’s clothes that he became Alice Cooper. Either way, the GTOs were heavily involved in creating the “visual rock ‘n’ roll aspect” that Cooper, as well as everyone else they styled, is known for today. It is easy to overlook the contributions these women made to the music industry during the 1970s, especially if they are reduced to arm candy for these rockstars, but without them and their creative visions, the rock and roll scene would not have been the same.
The music industry has been and likely will continue to be a toxic and male-dominated scene, and the romanticization of the glitz and the glamour of the 1970s rock culture often overshadows these issues within the industry. These problems not only affect the musicians involved, but branch off to and affect the fans just as equally, which is one of the root causes of the stigma around groupie culture, and why even today retired groupies are still being slut-shamed. It is possible that the big shift in the social climate has many critiquing the groupie scene, but it is important to establish that the culture was different back then. Although that’s not to say that the power balance of an (underaged) fan/idol relationship is not at least a little questionable and at most extremely problematic and would not be acceptable today. However, groupies have always had control over what they did, whether that was going to hear the music they loved, sleep with the people who created that music, or even just taking birth control pills out in public on the Strip to make a statement.
All that the groupies wanted was to be around music and the creators of the music––to be around something they loved––and overtime their presence and contributions were ridiculed and disregarded. A once innocent word that got turned into a slur to slut-shame women, former groupies are now finding it within themselves to reclaim that word to mean what it is supposed to mean: a lover of music. The whole idea behind groupie culture can be perfectly summed up by Sapphire of the Band Aids: “You know, to truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts.” And that’s exactly what the groupies did.
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