Pamela Des Barres

Pamela Des Barres is most recognized as a “rock ’n’ roll groupie” throughout the 60s and 70s (Wikipedia, 2015). She has built a career as a writer describing her accounts with famous rock stars and music legends. Her book entitled, Let’s Spend The Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies is a collection of stories from different groupies revealing tales on various rock artists. Throughout the anecdotes, relationships are reminisced upon, backstage passes our attained, hearts are shattered, and everyone sleeps with Iggy Pop. By providing a brief summary and critique of this novel, as well as an examination of the rock ’n’ roll culture, I hope to postulate context to stories and opinions I have on them. I thought this

It seemed like Des Barres goal with this novel was to remove the stereotype that surrounds groupies, but instead she just reveals how accurate it is. This book puts an emphasis on how these women were “muses” to these rock stars rather than just one night stands (Doyle, 2010). Even for the women that would have brief encounters with these musicians Des Barres describes it as an inspirational sharing of a connection to artists that spoke to these women’s souls. Sleeping with rock stars was only one component of their devotion to the music (Doyle, 2010). I found this theme repeated in every chapter and it just seemed like a rationalization for promiscuity. Every opportunity Des Barres has she tries to justify others’ actions in this manner. This was a time when there were very few female rock ’n’ roll musicians and Des Barres describes being a groupie as an empowering choice (Nolasco, 2011). She depicts the groupie culture in almost a therapeutic manner. The excuse they give for promiscuity is their role in being the "muse" of these musical poets, which in some cases where sex turned to romance they were. However, what was really occurring was more of a competition among women to see who could sustain the attention of a musician the longest. This would usually end in tears for these groupies, as the musicians would move on. As stated by Des Barres in this book (2007). This quote is just one example of the heartbreak and misery connected to the groupie lifestyle. It exhibits how these women were participating in a one-sided relationship and how that leaves them