The eighties may have brought her a pile of money, but she will always belong to the sixties. Sixty years ago she stood as a pillar of West Coast counterculture, and it's often forgotten how pioneering she was on a male-dominated rock scene. As the focal point of Jefferson Airplane, she bypassed all the pop conventions of the time placed on women onstage and set against them a contralto voice that was both sensual and commanding. Far Out Magazine ↗
When the hippie dream faded, the band followed guitarist Paul Kantner's direction. Jefferson Airplane played their last show in 1973, and a year later Kantner and Slick launched Jefferson Starship — a name Kantner had first used back in 1970 on his side project Blows Against the Empire. American Songwriter ↗ With each subsequent album they sounded more and more like soft rock. After Kantner's definitive departure in 1984, Slick and Mickey Thomas had to continue, despite lawsuits, under a new name — the third chapter of the "Jefferson lineage." Far Out Magazine ↗
It's this chapter she has a clear opinion about. "I don't care if they use the name. I didn't care for Starship anyway. Like, the ’80s version of Starship was just all… songs were written by other people and ah, God, it was just dumb," she said in 2007. From Woodstock to adult contemporary pop is quite a fall — and We Built This City and Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now were behind it. Far Out Magazine ↗
"We had a lot of number ones, but I don't really care about number ones," she added. "I'd rather do music that's interesting and different and is written by the band, not somebody else."
Illustrative photo: Grace Slick in 1976. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Grace Slick on her own band Starship: "It was just dumb"
🔥 You might also like
Music
Woodstock Was Crosby, Stills & Nash's Second Concert Ever
Far Out Magazine asks whether there has ever been a scarier start to a career. The trio took the stage at three in the morning.
Music
After two years, Mig 21 release the single Nestálá and set off on an autumn tour
After two years, the band releases Nestálá, produced by Adam Karlík. The PODZIM 26 tour opens 9 October in Ostrava and closes at Prague's Lucerna Music Bar.
Crime
Albania is pursuing the former intelligence chief. She returned to house arrest, and messages to a fugitive businessman leaked from the case file
Former SHISH chief Vlora Hyseni is under house arrest for allegedly helping a businessman in the AKSHI case. She returned via Kosovo, and her messages with him …
From our newsroom original
All →
German media link Prešov attack to Russian GRU
EU to release €710 million in humanitarian aid, mainly for Africa
Seoul and the UN investigate mine explosion in the demilitarized zone
Leo XIV Celebrated Mass in Paris for 700,000 People
Aleksandar Vučić Announces Departure from the Presidency
What Slovakia is writing about: The General Prosecutor’s Office closes the MiG case, Fico calls a press conference against Žilinka. The coalition recalculates its MPs
French publishers grapple with their first AI scandal. There is no proof yet, but the author’s old texts contain sentences taken from elsewhere
René Benko's Two-and-a-Half-Year Sentence for Fraudulent Bankruptcy Is Final. Neither Prosecution nor Defense Appealed
