Groupie

by Jenny Fabian, Johnny Byrne

A cult novel, first published in 1969, this book views the rock scene of the 1960s through the eyes of 19-year-old Katie. She introduces the reader to a variety of characters from the pop scene and describes the clubs, art galleries, drugs and uninhibited sex.

Genres: Music, Fiction, British Literature, 20th Century, Rock N Roll, Biography Memoir

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1969

Reviews

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering I only picked this up because I was curious how Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett were going to be portrayed, I enjoyed this more than I thought it would. The Syd scenes (or whatever pseudonym she gave him) were rather sad and made me a little uncomfortable, but for the rest the book was an absurd almost stream of consciousness account of the author's love life. I wouldn't necessary call her a "groupie", really, although she is mostly with musicians and band managers, but she has a job and doesn't travel with them and all that. This isn't really well-written in the traditional sense, but entertaining and kind of absorbing. Most of all, it really gives you a feel for a certain time and place and scene, and a lot of the characters are fascinating. But you do end up shaking your head and wondering why she wastes her time on so many chauvenistic idiots. Then you might remember she's 19.

[Pat Zilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Groupie von Jenny Fabian (und Johnny Byrne) erzählt einen fiktionalisierten Lebensausschnitt der Autorin und handelt von dem Aufstieg der Protagonistin (hier: Katie) zu einem angesehenen Groupie in der Londoner Musikszene gegen Ende der 60er Jahre.

Leider schaffte der Roman es – für mich – nicht, eine mitreißende Atmosphäre um die Szene zu erzeugen. Vielmehr las er sich für mich wie ein plumper Sex-Roman. Katie berichtet zwar von Affären und Beziehungen zu pseudonymisierten Rock-Stars der Zeit – die relativ einfach zu identifizieren sind – doch spinnt sie kaum interessante Geschichten um diese Figuren.
Mein größtes Problem war jedoch, dass ich Katie als sehr unsympathischen Charakter empfunden habe und daher kaum Identifikationspunkte zu ihr fand. So denkt und verhält sie sich einerseits, bspw. in ihrem Umgang und ihrer Haltung, extrem oberflächlich, lässt sich aber andererseits von ihren Männern degradieren.
Die Beschreibungen um Katie’s Freunde sind dagegen sehr gelungen und fast schon interessanter als der eigentliche Plot. In den Erzählungen um ihre Lebensgemeinschaften, Drogenerlebnisse etc. fühlt man sich dem Zeitgeist nahe und findet spannende und groteske Momente wieder.
Der Roman ist nicht sehr anspruchsvoll geschrieben und liest sich daher schnell runter. Alles in allem fühle ich mich persönlich von dem Titel wie auch der allgemeinen Beschreibung leicht irregeleitet, doch könnte der Roman unter einem anderen Titel vielleicht mehr Spaß beim Lesen machen.

[Lily Wren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Groupie tells the tale of 'Katie' , a 19 year old chick of the 60's, and her encounters with sex, drugs and rock and roll. The book is said to be a "thinly fictionalised chronicle of Jenny Fabian's adventures with underground rock heroes of her day" and whilst it does suceed in creating the atmosphere and setting for the 60's underground rock culture, this is from 'Katies' view point, a 'groupie' and a rather selfish, spoilt, arrogant and shallow one at that.

We witness 'Katie' move from one job to the next, one sexual encounter with 'almost' famous rock stars (hints of the Ben character being Syd Barrett) to another and treating people with disregard and contempt, especially if they don't have the right clothes, look or money.

The books description tells us how it 'caused a furore for all kinds of reasons' including;
'ruffled feathers with its matter-of-fact descriptions of drug taking and sexual high jinx;
prompted guessing games about the true identities of its principal characters;
was highly explicit about a phenomenon that had never before been documented"

These points may be so, however, what stood out for me was the way in which the 60's era, one that pointed to 'flower power' 'love' and 'peace', did, in fact, come across as a shallow, careless and selfish era of our times. If that was what the book set out to portray, and what ultimately the 'feel' of the 60's underground movement was, then Fabian and Byrne do an excellent job in documenting this.

The book itself is entertaining and offers some of the great phrases and terminology of the time. So, if you can cope with 'chicks' 'happenings' 'dudes' and lots of 'totally mans' then Groupie is the one. I did enjoy reading the book but, ultimately, wanted to give Katie a good ole fashion talking too!!
But maybe that is a sign that I am getting too old to dig!

[Kaylea Syrjanen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in our caravan when I was younger and absolutely obsessed with all things 60’s and 70’s so to me, this book was perfect. Re-reading it now I do still love it and find it has a certain charm to it and just what I like in a book, a raw look into real lives of people and all different things the character goes through and the journey they go through and where they end up.

[kasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

im not gonna recommend it to anybody because its silly and my guilty pleasure but i loved it

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrible lot of people. Empty life. Sex drugs and bad relationships.
I like these real life tales though.

[Ruth Capoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fun read about the life of a groupie called Katie. She tells the stories of her ", conquests". You can tell by the language what era it was in.

The names were changed of course but I found it fun to try and guess who she was talking about.

I totally related to some of her stories! Been there, done that! Haha!

I wish that it didn't end so abruptly. I thought WTF? That's it??

[Sanne Hendriks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The feminist leaving my body when i am reading a book about groupies and identify with it.

‘I wondered whether I'd become so hung up on the status thing that group members were the only guys I could dig, and that I couldn't appreciate a guy for himself, only for what he stood for.
Was I on an ego-trip?’

[Stephanie]

Spoiler alert... badly written twaddle!

[Larry DiGioia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess you had to be there.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this book several times .Its a fun interesting book,for those easily offended don't read.

[Yasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible book: poor, stupid, time wasted.

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt unbelievably long

[Chiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute guilty pleasure book

[nini · Rating 3 out of 5]

a girl has to go back to her wattpad roots once in a while to remember where she came from

[Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Groupie is a thinly-disguised survey of the late '60s London music scene from the point of view of Katie, a girl who claims to not want to be a groupie, but who acts a hell of a lot like one.

It's pretty easy to decode which bands are which (if you've a little knowledge of the scene of the time). While the references to Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd are the easiest to interpret, nothing's particularly elusive.

As far as the book goes, it's a fairly trashy page-turner about a girl who takes a lot of drugs, sleeps with 11 men (and one woman) and who doesn't really care much about anything. The slang is hilarious ('plating', 'hanging up', etc) and Fabian is very much at pains to namedrop the period's literature heavyweights - Koestler, Leary and Canetti - to try and communicate that there's much more to Katie than meets the eye.

It's unsuccessful, however; she seems like a fashion-obsessed starfucker. And that's probably the point.

You'll power through Groupie in a couple of hours. It's rock-n-roll airport literature, with lots of freaks and freak-outs, and is perfectly acceptable as such. It doesn't illuminate why Katie acts as she does - but by the end, that's not so much of a problem.

[Chris Sudall]

I've given this a three purely because it was a quick read and has a bit of history.
The story of a rather vacuous young lady who thinks she's special (we've all been there) and yet clearly has rather low self esteem. Her life, and this is like a diary, isn't really that wild. She does take a lot of drugs and have the odd sexual encounter, but she is also in a rather submissive relationship for most of the book. It makes you want her to stick up for herself a bit more.
Anyway, it does highlight how bad the sexism was in the 60s, no matter what the benefits of free love were it mainly played into the hands of men who expected women to do what they want.
It's interesting to read about Syd Barrett (Ben), who comes across as beautiful but drug addled, and Andy Summers (Davey), neat wedding tackle and kind if a bit egocentric but that is about the limit of the interesting rock stars.
Worth a read to get a slice of history and be amused by the comedy hippy language.

[Cindi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when i was researching my article about famous groupie Pamela Des Barres. "Groupie" is an out-of-print, 70s-era trashy read from England that is surprisingly sincere. Needless to say,the only place I could find it was used on Amazon.com. But for anybody who is interested in an obscure piece of music lore, it's a must-read.

[Christina knox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about this groupie in the 60's British psychedelic scene. It's written in this drugged out, half snapped structured stream of conscious voice that I tend to like from work of this era. It's also hilarious.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I knew enough to figure out which bands feature in this book - they all have made-up names!

It seemed a little superficial but then I became interested again. Good vicarious-living stories of drug-taking, promiscuity and vague ambition.

[Coquille Fleur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is sort of a trashy novel, which I read in high school. It turned me on to Timothy Leary and the book, Psychedelic Experience thereby changing my life. I followed the Grateful Dead around for years, possibly due to reading this book.

[Rob Wiltsher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allegedly based on the real-life rock band, Family, this is the deal of a starry-eyed groupie who sleeps with those she considers worth it to allow her to climb the ladder of respect amongst her peers. Sad but a snapshot in time....

[Shanan Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

It was an interesting read. COVID has been a bore and this read was just what I needed. The abrupt ending was rather odd. Was there talks of a second book, maybe? Peering into the life of a groupie back then truly captured my attention.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best groupie-related book ever.