best of blogspot sissydude : Groupies & Star Magazine (for sonja)
The first recorded documentary study of the international groupie phenomenon as reported in Rolling Stone, Time, the Realist, Cash Box and the Village Voice. The girls heard on this LP report their actual life experiences, feelings and opinions within the pop music scene.
“Bringing two girls in at a time, [Lorber] put them in separate booths facing each other for a lifelike stereo effect. I think ‘The Groupies’ will sell for a lot of reasons. For those on the scene but removed from this particular activity, there is a double-edged fascination… For parents of teenage daughters, it will be the scare record of the year.”
Produced by Alan Lorber (1969).
The notorious Star Magazine, undoubtedly the rarest teen magazine of the 70s! This mag was very unusual- it was nationally distributed and came from major teen publisher Petersen (it took its name from a previous Tiger Beat-type mag, but was totally different). However, and this could only have happened in the 70s, it took its look and inspiration from the Hollywood glitter rock groupie scene based around Rodney’s English Disco.
As Dave Marsh wrote in CREEM, Star promoted the Rodney’s girls as “the prototype of the chic teenage female.” Great hard-edged vibe for the aggressively sexy 70s girl, full of inspirational articles advising the budding “Foxy Lady” on how to handle the “Superfox” boys in her high school and generally not take any crap from anybody!
A cast of ultra-Fox “Star Girls”- Shray Mecham, Patty Clark, Karen Umphrey and others- appeared on the covers and in every issue, demonstrating the ultimate in sky-high platform shoes, rhinestoned denim, and vintage jewelry. Unfortunately Star didn’t last, and I believe that only six issues, spanning February through July of 1973, were ever made. These magazines are extremely rare, precious, coveted, and beautiful. This issue features Shray Mecham on the cover, a comic strip called “The Groupies” by Joe Petagno (girls dress up like Bolan and end up onstage with T.Rex!), “Win The Raspberries’ Rollswagen” contest. Great four-page Marc Bolan interview that’s far more down-to-earth than usual, early Rolling Stones retrospective.
“The Evil She Fox- Will She Ruin Your Life?”, “Those Foxy Hollywood High Girls- How They Get Guys!”, article on how to customize your platform shoes, cartoons of Foxes and Superdudes in glitter regalia, reviews of electronic gadgetry and makeup (including the Panasonic Toot-A-Loop radio!), and tons more amazing stuff.
If you could compress everything that was incredible about the 70s into one place, it would be Star Magazine. Tumblr Sissydude Groupie posts HERE (just keep clicking OLDER POSTS)
