Jefferson Airplane/Starship et al were affected by AW lies
Posted: May 21st, 2012, 10:57 pm
During the Summer of Love '67, the band Jefferson Airplane arose on the vocals of Grace Slick, who along with Janis Joplin, were considered the two primary American female rock vocalists of their generation. Ok, I'll concur with that statement ... at least from Airplane's "Surrealistic Pillow" till their breakup in the early 70s. Think of 'White Rabbit' and 'Someone to Love', if you want to recall the classics.
Afterwards, once hippydom was in decline, the band needed to go along the lines of actually being a business of sorts. The subsequent band, Jefferson Starship, was founded by Paul Kantner/Marty Balin and was pretty much "successful" (I guess in a 'Supertramp' West Coast style way
) throughout the 70s and into the early 80s, with Balin as the primary lead vocalist. Personally, I think that they're mediocre and have limited talents in terms of writing moving tracks but that's my own personal take on 'em. I regret having actually bought two of their albums from a yard sale 
Throughout this time period, Grace Slick was kept around for "backup" vocals and the fact that for some reason, they needed to always showcase that she was around. Slick, however, was dealing with substance abuse issues and never lived up to her expectations of her role as America's first lady of rock. Thus, for the most part, Marty Balin, along with Kantner, was holding up the business throughout the years, since the 60s had ended. His voice is the lead on all of Jefferson Starship's recordings.
Well finally, when Grace did start singing in the limelight again, they re-formed into Starship and put out even cheesier music during the 80s as a Marty/Grace duet. I guess she'd finally cleaned up her act before it was too late for posterity sakes.
So while I don't really care for the above band and its history, I do recognize one thing. If Marty Balin was not holding down the fort for all those lean years, Grace Slick today would have been a forgotten derelict in a Methadone clinic, not a famous retired rock star. Her legacy from the 60s would have been completely erased, due to years of drug issues and the fact that on her own, she was worthless without an entire organization around her. Once again, an ordinary "soprano" man, Marty Balin, made an AW look good for the history books.
Afterwards, once hippydom was in decline, the band needed to go along the lines of actually being a business of sorts. The subsequent band, Jefferson Starship, was founded by Paul Kantner/Marty Balin and was pretty much "successful" (I guess in a 'Supertramp' West Coast style way
) throughout the 70s and into the early 80s, with Balin as the primary lead vocalist. Personally, I think that they're mediocre and have limited talents in terms of writing moving tracks but that's my own personal take on 'em. I regret having actually bought two of their albums from a yard sale Throughout this time period, Grace Slick was kept around for "backup" vocals and the fact that for some reason, they needed to always showcase that she was around. Slick, however, was dealing with substance abuse issues and never lived up to her expectations of her role as America's first lady of rock. Thus, for the most part, Marty Balin, along with Kantner, was holding up the business throughout the years, since the 60s had ended. His voice is the lead on all of Jefferson Starship's recordings.
Well finally, when Grace did start singing in the limelight again, they re-formed into Starship and put out even cheesier music during the 80s as a Marty/Grace duet. I guess she'd finally cleaned up her act before it was too late for posterity sakes.
So while I don't really care for the above band and its history, I do recognize one thing. If Marty Balin was not holding down the fort for all those lean years, Grace Slick today would have been a forgotten derelict in a Methadone clinic, not a famous retired rock star. Her legacy from the 60s would have been completely erased, due to years of drug issues and the fact that on her own, she was worthless without an entire organization around her. Once again, an ordinary "soprano" man, Marty Balin, made an AW look good for the history books.