How the hell can anyone think that Janis Joplin is ugly?

[otherlander]

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2004/11/26/janis,0.jpg





I told someone I thought she looked like Janis Joplin. I think she got offended. IT'S HIGH PRAISE, DAMMIT!

[TK421]

1. Not ugly, just....homely

just not pretty in the sense that most people think of pretty or attractive these days, I guess

She certainly wasn't ugly

[billyskank]

42. I thought homely was a euphemism for ugly.

:shrug:

[pitohui]

53. in standard american english homely means ugly

i've read it used otherwise in english english but considering joplin was an american...she would probably be pretty pissed to be described as "homely" as any girl from texas would be

[peruban]

2. I believe I read somewhere

that she was voted "Ugliest Man on Campus" in her college. That should say at least something.

[fed_up_mother]

3. Compared to someone who looks homely, stoned or drunk?

NOT a good comparison!

[elshiva]

4. I think she is hot. The people who called her "the ugliest man

on campus" were assholes. She's sexy. Some people just can't stand a tough mama.

Anyone seen the topless pics? HOT!

[mitchum]

5. I really like her intelligent and frank expression in the topless pictures

I honestly mean that

[elshiva]

6. I know what you are talking about.

She was a great woman to photograph. :)
BEAUTIFUL:

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

23. The one that called her that probably were "Hippie republicans"

kinda like LogCabin republican.



Don't matter what any else says about her.... she could sing!!!

[Ptah]

25. one of my favorites

[otherlander]

55. *swoon*

[FloridaJudy]

7. She was what the French call a "belle laide"

More striking than conventionally pretty. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belle%20laide

I'd consider it a compliment.

[LeftyMom]

8. She was beautiful, but not conventionally "pretty"

Any woman who is offended by the comparison probably just sucks as a person, because Janis was full of win.

[ACTION BASTARD]

9. Ahhh yes, Hmmmmm I'd say she's probably has a great personality.

[Common Sense Party]

10. Not my cup of tea. n/t

[MrSlayer]

11. Fugly is more like it.

She was not an attractive woman. Great voice though. In today's style over substance video age she would have never made it.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. Janis was beautiful because she was 100% herself...

If someone else's beauty reminds you of Janis, the best compliment you could give would be to say, "You look like you...beauty that is so unique is a rare find."

[livetohike]

13. She was natural - she made it okay for all of us teens/young women

to go without makeup, bras, and girdles and all the other trappings of "looking good". I just loved her. In many of her pictures, especially when she's smiling or laughing, I think she looks great.

[hippywife]

14. I think she was very beautiful.

She also had an incredible sense of self and style. I would not have been insulted. :hi:



ETA: Nearly every response to the contrary on this thread were so far made by men. :eyes:

[Symarip]

15. Because some people have their own opinion?

Not everyone agrees on aesthetics.

[Common Sense Party]

28. And because some people have eyes.

And discerning tastes.

[lightningandsnow]

16. Janis Joplin = teh awesome.

[JVS]

17. When someone dies after extended use of drugs and alcohol, they often look shitty on the way.

Look at Amy Winehouse, once very attractive, now looks like shit on rollerskates

[JitterbugPerfume]

18. Janis was one of a kind.

I think she was a rare beauty, and very tragic.

[Blue_In_AK]

50. I agree with that.

Even after all these years, I still get kind of choked up when I think about her. Her loss was a tragedy, gone too soon.

[Deja Q]

19. She did drugs and/or was anorexic

Good voice, but she really wanted to die.

[Danger Mouse]

20. I'd imagine that these days she's looking rather...boney.

[LaurenG]

21. Had she been born in the late 70's or 80's she be considered good looking

she would have had all the tools the other actors and singers have available and make-up would be "in."

She would have had the hair people and the makeup people and the costume people had she wanted them.

poor baby - I wish she would have hung around.

edited to clarify that I think she was attractive the way she was.

[RagAss]

38. So true...Ugly is the new sexy since the 80's !

[LaurenG]

43. That's not what I meant.

I look pretty bad without makeup but no one has ever called me ugly, homely etc when I wear it.

The current 20 and 30 year olds don't think hippie is pretty, had they been born during the 40's and 50's and come of age in the 60's hippie might have looked fine.

Janice looked fine to me.

[Enrique]

22. someone told me I looked like Steve Buscemi

and wondered why I was offended. :shrug:

[Common Sense Party]

29. You look rich and talented?

Congratulations!

[Danger Mouse]

33. i wouldn't be offended...much.

:P

[redqueen]

34. The difference is lots of women think Buscemi is hot.

Not a lot of guys think Joplin is hot.

[davsand]

44. Buscemi's look is quirky hot.

Kinda like Willem Dafoe is hot. There is an impression of intensity there that would be really cool to have focused on you. Very alluring. I look at them both and think 'he doesn't look exactly like every other man, but he looks like he'd be really cool to be with.'

Alas, forming opinions of anyone's personality from pictures is so very full of peril. Imagine how awful it would be to finally meet someone like that and find out they were terribly mundane and completely boring.


:shrug:



Laura

[Ptah]

24. I think she was beautiful.

Janis Joplin - Summertime (Live Gröna Lund 1969)

Summertime, time, time,
Child, the living's easy.
Fish are jumping out
And the cotton, Lord,
Cotton's high, Lord so high.

Your daddy's rich
And your ma is so good-looking, baby.
She's a-looking good now,
Hush, baby, baby, baby, baby now,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Don't you cry, don't you cry.

One of these mornings
You're gonna rise, rise up singing,
You're gonna spread your wings, child,
And take, take to the sky,
Lord, the sky.

But until that morning,
Honey, n-n-nothing's going to harm ya,
No, no, no no, no no, no...
Don't you cry — cry.

[datasuspect]

26. amazing that a soul as beautiful as hers could form in such a place

as port arthur, texas.

or, as my uncle refers to it: port puke.

a vile contaminated backwater of a city.

granted, in the 40s or 50s it was still a viable town, with a commercial district and transit, it deteriorated over time to become a ghost town.

procter street, the main drag, is a shell of abandoned buildings.

[RetroLounge]

27. I think she's absolutely gorgeous!

I've crushed on Janis Joplin ever since the first time I saw her picture and heard her sing...

Damn, how can you not?

on edit: We shared a deadly love for Southern Comfort too...



RL

[davsand]

30. I think she was too real for a lot of people to deal with at that point in time.

Mainstream woman were pretty "sanitized" back then (as mentioned up thread think girdles, bras, lots of hair spray, makeup, etc.) and that was just not Janice's thing. She scared hell out of a lot of people just by how she looked, let alone her lifestyle. I remember reading an interview with Janice one time and the interviewer wrote in the article about one of Janice's braless nipples erecting during the time they were doing the interview. She just freaked people out--ya know?

Something that it kinda tough to step back from, is the fact that she was cutting edge for her time. I think that her raw talent would still put her head and shoulders above 99% of the rest of the people out there singing, and I think the sheer power of her voice would stand the record industry on its ear even today. Her looks were a big deal back then, but I honestly think that in today's less structured fashion environment she would probably be a lot better accepted.

I know an entire generation of women that were influenced by the look Janice and all the women of her day. Frankly, I find her beautiful, but I am one of those women that were a product of the 60's and 70's.


Laura

[Ivan Sputnik]

31. I think she was called "ugly"

because she wasn't conventionally pretty in the way female entertainers were supposed to be in the 60s. (Even rock singers: think Grace Slick.) She was no raving beauty, but not ugly either, in my opinion.

[redqueen]

32. I dunno... it's a matter of taste I guess...

but I fell in love with her at 9 years old, because I knew just how she felt.

However beautiful she was or wasn't to others, I love her.

[wartrace]

35. Especially when you actually LOOK like her!

Why would she think Janis was ugly when she favored her so much? Gheez.

[redqueen]

37. What's so hard to believe about that? (nt)

[Lucian]

36. I don't find her attractive at all.

That doesn't make me a bad person.

[Genevieve]

39. Ditto....I think her looks were average.

[mokawanis]

45. Same here

Never thought of her as being attractive.

[graywarrior]

40. She was real. That's better than beauty.

[Midlodemocrat]

41. Never really thought about it, actually.

:shrug:

[PittPoliSci]

46. i'd one up that with "ass-ugly"

And her music is obnoxiously shitty, so she loses on all fronts.

[JVS]

47. She sounds good for someone who just swallowed a pineapple.

Or is her voice always that scratchy.

Seriously, though, she can sing. Some of her songs are great.

[redqueen]

48. You're super nice!

I like you!

[buzzycrumbhunger]

49. Maybe it's a generational thing

She was kind of outside her time (simultaneously before her time and decades after), so lots of people then were awed or scared of her and people now (mostly guys without a clue, it seems) are judging her against the plastic, photoshopped wimmenz today, no clue as to what a real woman looks like.

As a fairly natural woman myself (largely shaped by that era), I guess this explains why the relationship outlook is so dismal. Men apparently don't recognize real beauty. Too bad I can't get into the idea of turning lesbian, because it looks like my prospects would be much better. :eyes:

Even as a kid, I recognized her vulnerability, loved her strengths, and was jealous as hell when my big brother (after his junior year in HS) was allowed to hitchhike across the country. I believe he saw Big Brother in Boulder, and managed to rush the stage and kiss Janis. Saw them again in SF, as well as the Doors and anyone else playing the Fillmore. He was eventually taken in by Hell's Angels, and one of their womenfolk insisted on piercing his ear with a knitting needle. When it got infected, he got nervous and my folks had to wire him airfare. Probably not two weeks later, the Manson murders made the news and I think he was damned glad to be out of there. I think it was all worth it in the end, if only for that one kiss.

[iamincali83]

51. I don't think that shes really attactive.....

but that's just my opinion I mean everyone has different taste. She was a great singer though.

[pitohui]

52. never tell anyone that they look like someone else, you just can't win that game

i would definitely be offended if you said i looked like janis joplin, because she's pretty much got the trifecta -- unattractive face, bad hair, white trash body -- but even if you're personally attracted to the lady's image, it is never high praise to tell someone they look like someone else unless it's someone like i dunno, marilyn monroe (except she thinks you're calling her fat, so scratch marilyn)

trust me, it just don't work

if you think someone is pretty, just say they're pretty, haven't you ever heard the phrase comparisons are odious?


i am a woman and, trust me, you do not compliment a woman by saying she looks like someone else

well, one time someone said i looked like grace kelley and i'll accept that, but the dude was pretty drunk at the time so i'm not sure it counts

you certainly don't win by saying someone looks like a woman who looks "unique"

women don't want to look unique, they want to look beautiful, and if they can't, they don't want to be reminded of it, okay? our visual society is cruel enough

what you said wasn't intended to be hurtful but believe me it hurt the lady, very much so

(i like the music but a statement about looks isn't a statement abt music)

[struggle4progress]

54. Well, I always liked her music and thought she was attractive, but she managed to OD

so when I see those old photos my reaction now really isn't so much good lookin kid but something more like sorrow

[Archae]

56. She wasn't ugly.

She was HUMAN.

A friend of mine used to roadie for some west coast groups during the 60's and 70's, and he saw his share of assholes and angels.

Jim Morrison was 100% asshole.

While Janis Joplin was nto an angel, she wasn't an asshole either.
She just indulged too much.
She'd get plowed a day before a concert, and do that concert with a hangover that would kill any of us.
She'd literally be doing one or two songs then puking her guts out.

And she did WAYYYYY too much heroin.
(I know, any is too much.)

But people said, "That broad's headed for the grave."

We like to look at how she sang, which was great, and how much of a free spirit she was.
But she didn't know when to slow down.

[be here now]

57. She had her own natural looks and anyone who doesn't get it

is most likely into that plastic, boring 'beauty.' Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[Aristus]

58. I wrote a poem once which mentioned Janis's beauty.

The poem was about Kurt Cobain, and other musicians who died at age 27. It included a description of what Heaven was like because they are there.

"Janis, with her too brief moments of
Earthly beauty infinitely prolonged..."