Exclusive: GROUPIES writer Helen Mullane sends the series off with a playlist

Comixology Originals series Groupies concludes with issue #5, available now. To send the series off before its trade paperback release from Mad Cave Studios this fall, writer Helen Mullane has compiled a playlist for the series with additional commentary. Read on for Mullane’s picks and a preview of Groupies #5.

Playlist: “Heavy Psych” by Hellen Mullane

Listen to the full playlist on Spotify.

In the world of Groupies, music is everything. The girls are not passive, idle music consumers. They are the girls who know what’s hot. And to a large extent what they think is hot, is what becomes hot. They are tastemakers. 

1. “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” by Led Zeppelin

No Groupies playlist would be complete without the ultimate groupie-loving band. Led Zeppelin’s exploits were notorious. Their rise to fame was stratospheric, and their electric live performances attracted some of the world’s most beautiful women. They were long rumoured to dabble in the dark arts, with Jimmy Page even buying ‘the wickedest man in the world’ Aleister Crowley’s old house!

2. “Time Is On My Side” by Irma Thomas

There are so many artists who could have taken this slot. The Valentinos, Big Mama Thornton, Big Maybell, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and so many others were shortchanged (to put it mildly) by the bands, labels and press of the classic rock era. Case in point, the above Zeppelin classic is actually by ’50s folk singer Anne Bredon. With modern eyes, it’s impossible to miss the far less wealth-creating labour that Black artists put into creating rock and roll, and the forgotten women who wrote some of the genre’s great classics. 

3. “Kosmic Blues” by Janis Joplin

One of the most spectacular vocalists of this or any other era, Janis Joplin stood beside icons like Grace Slick and Karen Carpenter as women making it, uncompromising in this male-dominated scene. Her success was dizzying but ultimately lonely. In the end for her, the price of fame was incredibly high. 

4. “I’d Love to Change the World” by Ten Years After

A central question of Groupies is how come some bands reach the stratospheric levels of fame of Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones, while other bands who are also incredibly talented never quite become legends? Bands like Ten Years After had success in their own time, but not to an iconic level. 

5. “Foxey Lady” by Jimi Hendrix

One of the ultimate groupie scores, Jimi Hendrix was known to love the girls and groupies, and like other stars like Kris Kristofferson he had a groovy reputation among them. He had a famous run-in with the Plaster Casters, Chicago groupies who would take moulds of pop stars penis’s and create plaster of Paris sculptures of them. Hendrix’s model was known to be Cynthia Plaster Caster’s most beloved sculpture.

6. “I’m in Love with the Ooo-Ooo Man” by The GTO’s

Groupie band The GTO’s (Girls Together Outrageously) were a project led by Frank Zappa at the end of the ’60s. Comprised of seven of the most famous LA groupies at the time, including Pamela Des Barres and Miss Mercy, their Ultimate Damage album is absurd and chaotic, and a whole lot of fun. This song, about Nick St Nicholas from Steppenwolf, shows the humour and personality the girls brought to the scene. Their collective, free-wheeling spirit belies any idea that the groupie scene didn’t hinge on the friendships and connections of women. 

Groupies #5 Preview

Groupies #1-5 is available now via Comixology. Groupies, Vol. 1 will be available everywhere books are sold on November 4 from Mad Cave Studios. Pre-orders are available now.