I watched one of the Dick Cavett "Legends" DVDs which contained a few appearances by Janis Joplin. She was engaged, engaging and articulate. She really connected with the people she conversed with, she connected with the audience. She was genuine. She'd achieved her fame through sheer talent and rocks. She thought of her work as art, yet she was in awe of others she thought of as artists.

When I think of today's "talent" -- surgically altered within an inch of their lives, blemish free, giggly, stupid, propelled by obsessed parents or by personal contacts within the entertainment industry -- I marvel that for a few years, people like Janis and Jimi and the Beatles were able to pierce the manufactured identities of popular music stars for a few years. And it really was only a few years, for before them were Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Connie Francis, Pat Boone, Annette Funicello. Nice people, I'm sure, but hand picked by image makers and obedient to their handlers. And after the more original, more talented rockers, the rock world itself became chock full of posers who were looking to get famous at all costs --- hang the talent and rely on shock and/or a gimmick (Alice Cooper, KISS, etc).

Oh well, it was nice - and interesting, exhilarating, and inspirational - while it lasted.

I'm sorry, Janis Joplin was not a radical, and neither was Ellen Willis. Neither resembles anything edgy, have nothing to do or say about the DIY ethos or antiestablishmentarianism, or were in any way threatening to the establishment of the time. Comparisons to Riot Girl are embarrasingly naive (writing for the New Yorker is the functional antithesis of anything having anything to do with Riot Girl).

Of the bazillions of people actively working in the 60s, 70s, and 80s to push a meaningful political and sociological agenda you picked one whose major contribution is "pro-sex femenism;" the radical idea that paved the way for a million young girls to put out for whomever, flash their tits for TV cameras, and make out with each other to attract guys in the name of "sexual freedom." This is the woman you called the "original Riot Grrrl." The two ideas are completely at odds with one another.

The Reichian ideas Ellen Willis' arguments about sexual repression are based on were being dissected and thrown away by PHd's at the same time she was championing them. Unfortunately she never let her invalidated ideas go-which is what happens when Pop Critics decide they are psychiatrists and what they have to say about real life is given credibility (by other pop critics mostly).

Ellen Willis' legacy is more apt to be found in Spice Girls' music than Bikini Kill's. Her theories are more likely to find venue at the Suicide Girls' website than anything that actually resembles meaningful equality in the real world.

If you don't think Ellen Willis is radical, try being a woman in 1961. Try imagining what your life would be like if men continuously blocked out your thought, politics, and right to have an orgasm. Willis's legacy is not Girls Gone Wild--it is the brand of feminism and hard-earned freedom women enjoy today.

If you think that Willis's columns were the antithesis of being a Riot Girl, you clearly have never read any of her stuff. Ellen Willis was the first ever New Yorker rock critic -- writing some of the most biting, thoughtful, witty, and unpredictable writing ever to grace the pages of that magazine, at a time when nobody was taking rock criticism, particularly by a woman, seriously. Her piece on Janis embodies everything she wished for women -- freedom, sexuality, and ones particular assertion of beauty.

Finally, re your claim that Willis never threatened the establishment: read "Towards a Feminist Sexual Revolution," think again, and get back to me.

Its amazing that after more than three decades when critics like Ellen Willis called attention to the subversive features of popular culture we are still debating the old issues. Everybody knows that artists like Dylan and Joplin were more than entertainers. They were and remain acute critics of our social and cultural mores in ways "high culture", or straight political commentary cannot attain. By introducing us to their ideas--and their art-- Willis and others changed the landscape of political commentary. Joplin and Willis took on the establishment idea that popular music was profitable but irrelevant to the "serious" political conversation. and only solemn, but boring treatises on policy qualify. Joplin was among a handful who was able to reach out, especially to millions of young people who were otherwise excluded from the mainline conversation. Sadly on the whole they are still excluded but through writers like Willis and Gaines they often find their voices.

...to realize that there's really not a place in pop music today for a woman like Joplin - a woman with prodigious talent but little in the way of appearance (or little in the way of giving a shit about appearance). It seems that Fiona Apple approaches that kind of creativity/rage, but assessments of her talent dissolve all-too-often into meditations on her undeniable beauty.

And, ladies - Ellen Willis and her ilk paved the way for all of us. Show some gratitude.

As a lifelong fan of JJ I had to respond to this excellent article. I think Willis was right on, on just about everything, but there are rough spots(as well there should be, she was a rock critic)and I am compelled to answer them, being a fan...and a man.

I am not surprised that Ms. Willis would write as if Janis had been stolen from her home. When it comes to men a lot of women react in this way. Just the same as the proposed blacks react to whites who love the blues. There is a certain, "Can't we have anything of our own?" mentality that, frankly, I fully appreciate. But this speaks to the fallacy that experience is isolated.

Janis spoke to this white middle class boy like no other. Maybe I'm more "sensitive" than most men. I've been accused of this. But, as a man, she focused on me the pain of a woman's experience when love is lost, or someone just doesn't get that they are getting your all. And it moved me to be a man that could be better than that. Janis made me the man I am today. Believe it or don't. Her pain shot through me like I was the one causing it. And dammit, I was going to do everything I could to make it right again. " All you gotta do is be a good man, one time, to one woman, and that'll be the end of the road, babe. I know you got more to you than this babe..." Was one of the most influencial things I could have heard as a boy starting the journey of love and self. And I have turned to her many times since.

I don't have the time to expound on all things Janis. I don't write for Salon. But I just wanted to answer and try to explain what that incredible woman did for me. I am sure I am not alone. Love you, Janis. Rest in peace, Baby.