Janis was a bright light who was with us for far too short a time.  Of course, her drug use, and the part of her that was self-destructive, should be condemned.  What we're left with is her music, and that is great.  Until Janis, no white woman ever sang the blues with such abandon.

Never was that big of a fan, but she was very unique.

Very unique and talented as a singer. If you hate her for her music you're a dumbass, I mean she did her part in rock n roll and may I recommend Britney Spears or Avril Lavigne for you haters, lol. She did have all the respect from the guys back then though, like Jerry Garcia. And he can't be wrong man.

While I believe Joplin had talent, I've often thought she was a tad overrated and overshadowed by more talented acts during this fascinating era of music. . .

I remember when she died--I was driving along a road in Idaho when I heard the news. I liked Bobby McGee and Mercedes Benz but she was no great shakes, believe me. The world did not go into mourning!

 I've only recently heard some of her stuff and only wish to God I'd delayed this pretty unpleasant experience several decades longer. Quite why this lardy rug munching  moose has classic rock status can only be down to the fact that she croaked early . Why is  it that self destructiveness is seen as a virtue in the rock world?

Janis Joplin had some great songs. I really have to be in a certain mood to get into her songs.   I like her rendition of Summertime, I really like Turtle Blues and of course, Bobbie McGee.  She was fighting some inner demons and a lot of her songs even sound "tortured" but that's what made her sound so unique.  Nothing else ever like it.

Janis was truly the best blues singer of all times-She passed too early. it is a shame she did not have more chance to get her foot in the door of the industry.

Quite simply, the queen of all female rock/blues singers. Her voice is the benchmark by which all others are measured. She was a magnificent talent.

I love janis joplin, she is the perfect role model for being yourself and not caring what anyone thinks! you should alwyas be yourself, no matter what. I watched a biography on her, and she is amazing. anyone who does not think janis joplin is just wonderful, is nuts!!!! i love her and her inspiring music!!!!

Overrated

terrible voice

FAT DEAD DOPEHEAD.

Yes, highly overrated. Nonetheless, she has a few good songs.

Chicken Soup!

I will give her a 2.5. Oh come on, I do not think she deserves to be so high up on this list. The only song I liked from her was Me and Bobby McGee. It seems like it is the only one she did not scream when she sang. why did she abuse her vocal cords the way she sang. I am not one her fans.

I love Janis. She can rock, but she got the blues in her voice too. Rock on.

She looked looked she sang!!!!!!!!!

Janis Joplin was a stunning performer and one of the greatest Blues songstresses EVER.Unfortunately,she never had a backup band worthy of her.(Just Imagine if she had Page,Bonham and John Paul Jones behind her!!!)

Janis had one of the best voices ever.

So misunderstood!!! Janis took old blues and folk songs that everybody at the time had only heard done in passive, slow grinds, and took them to another level! Jaws hung open at the Monterey Pops Fesival. She mixed the soul, spirit, meaning, and history of these well known songs with the passion, anxiety, and experimentation of the Haight Ashbury psychedelic musical growth spurt, and created raw, pure, and inspired art. This woman sang from her soul! She had an extensive range, and she hit notes that most vocalists can only hope to reach. Yet she did it with a raw edge that can only be gained from living a life of struggle. People that don't like her voice are really saying they don't like the grit and authenticity of her delivery. She is so real it bothers people. Many famous female singers credit Janis as an inspiration and an idol. Janis broke the mold, she set the standard, and she paved the way for all female rock singers to come. Sometime lyrics say it best: I don't know, but something like a bird within her sang. She sang a little while and then flew off. and Such a long, long time to be gone and a short time to be there.

No, thanks. I like women that bathe

With the exception of Me and Billy McGee..this woman actually sounded worse than the cats in the back alley ! Janis just couldn't sing.....and I hated her tired message to the world too....who cares?

She had a terrible, grating, voice. All she did was holler and scream.

Janis Joplin died 6 years before I was born and she is still my favorite female singer of all times. Rest in peace Janis.

The pride of Pt. Arthur, TX!

Overrated and excessive. You have to grant her some respect because she revived the approaches of her influences, namely the gutbucket women blues singers of the 1920s-50s, but the black gals did a much better job at it than this imitator. She had pretty bad artistic judgment and never really found a band that was perfectly suited for her. Regardless of what some posters have affirmed here, there was nothing "new" about Joplin's sound and approach, and if anything, her sound is quite derivative and too over the top. And she was hardly the first female rock star, as Brenda Lee and Dusty Springfield had numerous hits long before Joplin came along, and female singers had been part of the rock/pop landscape for over a decade before "Cheap Thrills" was released. Brush up on your music history, folks! Gotta give Janis three stars for trying, however...

I saw Janis live twice, once with each of her bands, and enjoyed the earlier gig, with Big Brother and the Holding Company, more than the later one, with the Full Tilt Boogie Band. With a microphone in one hand and a bottle of Southern Comfort in the other, Janis belted out the blues as well as any white girl has every done.

sung straight from the heart. she set the grounds for all the other female rockers.

Beautiful!!!!!She had a voice like no other in the world and it is a shame that she is no longer with us.

I love her and we truly lost something when she died. I still rock out to her music daily. It's good soul-bearing lyrics and scream-along music.

Absolutely horrible...the woman just plain could not sing.

I don't know how anyone can say they enjoy listening to a skanky girl screeching into a microphone.

Janis Joplin was an original- she spoke for the 60s generation. Although I thought that her wild lifestyle was irresponsible, I admired her rough and tumble singing style. Her hometown, Port Arthur, Texas, never honored her and were ashamed of her antics. I hope the City Fathers eventually erected a memorial in her honor.Just to hear Joplin singing "Summertime", brought up memories of iced lemonade and sultry Texas summers. Her early albums were solid rock 'n' roll. Here's another shot of Southern Comfort, Janis. Rock on.

How could you not love Janis Joplin?

one of the best female artists

She'll always have a piece of my heart. Damn, that girl could wail ... Leonard Cohen wrote his "Chelsea Hotel #2" as a love song/lament to her, and small wonder.

My favourite female artist. Janis influenced me as a child and as a teenager. I have many of her albums in my collection and consider her in a league completely on her own. Janis was raw, emotional, crude, disgusting, can scream like no other - but gave us the Blues and dues. I am disappointed that Janis is not right up there with the rest of 'em...ratings of this kind is very poor. I am one very big fan and appreciate her wonderful persona and am saddened by her death and destructive life in which she lived, but I am thankful to have known her through her music. A 5 star rating is simply not high enough

White trash.

Awful, just awful. Just a drugged up women seriously in need of vocal chords!!!

Janis should get a "5" just to pay due to the fact that she was the first female rock star and she inspired and influenced countless female singers that are popular today. She paved the way, and she paid for it. I think people that don't like her, or realize her contribution to music, probably don't have an extensive musical background. If they did, they might be able to see just how cutting edge her singing was back in the 60's. She took songs that were already well known to most people (through jazz, blues, and folk music) and sang them in a way nobody had ever heard before, and maybe never will again. For example "Summertime" was usually performed in a smooth, graceful way like a lullabye, in the 30's and 40's. But, when Janis sang it, the song took on new meaning. It became edgy and rough, filled with Janis' heart and soul, dripping with desire, pain, envy, and raw emotion. Back in the 60's that was totally new, now Janis' version is the version everybody thinks of when you mention the song. Now that's influence. Every note Janis sang communicated a specific feeling, she was truely gifted. But like so many sensitive artists, she couldn't handle the intensity of her own life, she self-medicated her confusion and pain, and she was taken from us too early.

what can i say about janis...it's a shame she lived in the 60's...a waste of a life

She was Robert Plant with ovaries. Seriously though, you could sense every bit of her raw emotions when you hear her or see her old concert footage. What a treat it is to hear her perform. Too bad her time in the limelight was limited.

She sang the blues like no other white woman ever has. Everybody knows Me and Bobby McGee and Mercedes Benz, but listen to Piece of My Heart and Ball and Chain. This lady was amazing. It's such a shame she left us so early.

I was hoping Janis Joplin would be on the list so I could have the distinct privilege of proclaiming her the worst thing I ever listened to. She was grating, noisy, obnoxious, and tone deaf. Lord help anyone who identified with that "music" (and I use the word very loosely).

Janis Joplin was, and still, the queen of rock, a classical 60's performer, and one of the best blues singer ever. Her music is so full with emotion and passion, she sang the blues like nobody else can, because she just gives her whole soul to the singing.

She was a great performer in the late '60s. You have to love the raw power and emotion that she sings with. She wasn't earth-shattering or breath-taking like Hendrix. They both died very young in 1970 and were only in the spotlight for a brief time period. So, she's not a 5, but she was good in her time. Despite this, she is certainly one of the best and most influential women in rock.

It sucks that she's being commercialized and exploited like every other dead rock star, because she doesn't deserve it. 100% heart, soul, emotion comes through in her music. I could listen to it forever. She's just amazing. The first *real* female rock star.

She was terrific! Maybe not the best singer in the world, but she put her heart and soul into her music! She died way before her time.

I bought 'Pearl' the other day. This convinced me that Ms. Joplin is undoubtedly one of rock's greatest females to this day, though she was on the earth for only a short time. She was born into a poor Texan family, laughed out of her school, laughed out of the state, as she said on the Dick Cavett Show. She was caught up in the spirit of the 60's and got pulled into drugs and alcohol. Music was her only escape from all this anguish. I can understand that many do not see the beauty in her work, but once she opened her mouth and released that power, rock and roll would never be the same, I believe.