RP233 Groupies

 RP233 Groupies

Power, fame, and celebrity are alluring. For some people, chasing fame or power themselves isn't satisfying, but chasing someone famous or powerful is. These people are groupies.

The word "groupies" is sometimes used to describe anyone who hangs around a certain group of people, usually celebrities. Primarily, however, groupies are women who attach themselves to musical groups. The era of the modern groupie seems to have begun in the sixties with big rock bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin.

Groupies would tell you that they are more than just unimportant playthings. They are nurses, friends, and support systems. They were sometimes called "road wives" for those reasons. Not all musician-groupie relationships are floating. Some groupies develop deep emotional bonds and even marry band members. Groupies pop up in songs: "Sweet Connie" in the song "*We' re an American Band*" refers to Connie Hamzy; "*Plaster Caster*" by Kiss is about Cynthia Albritton. And groupie Cassandra Peterson hung out with or was involved with some famous musicians, but only as a friend.

Author Pamela Des Barres is outspoken about her time as a groupie. "The groupie is just a girl who loves music and loves to be around the people who make it. She is the fan that takes it to the next level to experience the whole shebang, "she said at the screening of a documentary about one of her books.

For many groupies, forming a relationship with a musician is about getting close to the music. Des Barres says, "Any good groupie loves the music so much that it's part of the bloodstream. "Getting close to a band member was simply about trying to get as close as possible to the creative force behind the music they loved so much.

Of course, try telling that to their parents.