Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Music»Artists - A to K»Artists - J
    Artists - J Music - 1970s 2 Mins Read

    Janis Ian

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    Janis Ian was born Janis Eddy Fink. She was only 15 when she scored a hit record in 1967 with her depressing interracial love song Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking).

    janisian_004

    The song entered the US Top 40 on 17 June 1967 making #14 but was banned by many radio stations as subversive (since the lyrics dealt with an interracial relationship forbidden by the white girl’s mother and frowned upon by her peers).

    DJ s who broadcast the song ran the risk of being fired or attacked by outraged members of the public: indeed, one Louisiana DJ was allegedly murdered after playing it on air.

    The song failed to provoke the same furore in Britain, where it was given a powerful Vanilla Fudge-style hard rock treatment by Spooky Tooth.

    Not wishing to rest on her teenage laurels Janis outdid herself in a big way, breaking #3 in the US in 1975 with At Seventeen, a self-loathing lounge song that tempted a whole generation of teenage girls to shove their heads into a trash compactor . . .

    janisian_633At Seventeen relates how, at the age of 17, Ms Ian made the startling discovery that physically attractive people are more popular than unattractive people (at 18 she found out that gravity makes things fall).

    It remains one of the few – if not only – anthems for gawky adolescent girls who spend evenings alone gazing at the phone hoping some boy will call them.

    Amazingly, the song failed to chart in the UK, despite a fair amount of radio exposure.

    By the time she really was 17, Janis Ian was appearing on the Tonight Show, being written up in Time magazine and shopping for clothes with Janis Joplin.

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Jamie Redfern
      Jamie Redfern
      Over a three year period during the early 1970s, Australian child star Jamie Redfern scored four Top 40 hit singles…
    • John Paul Young
      John Paul Young
      Born in Scotland, John Paul Young's family migrated to Australia when he was in his teens. After recording a single…
    • Hot Chocolate
      Hot Chocolate
      This highly commercial UK pop act was formed in Brixton, London, by percussionist Patrick Olive, guitarist Franklyn De Allie and…
    • Barry White
      Barry White
      Barry White was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1944. He joined a group called The Up fronts in 1961- the…
    • Clout
      Clout
      Clout formed as an all-female group in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1977. Their first and biggest hit, Substitute, was a…
    • Marvin Gaye
      Marvin Gaye
      Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (inspired by Sam Cooke, he added the "e" to his surname when he began his musical career)…
    • Janis Joplin
      Janis Joplin
      Janis Joplin - 'Pearl' to her friends - sang the blues like no other white woman before or since. Born…
    • Al Wilson
      Al Wilson
      Al Wilson was born in Meridian, Mississippi, in June 1939 and sang in a church choir and his own gospel…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleJanet Jackson
    Next Article Japan

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Delltones, The
      Australian vocal harmony group The Delltones formed in Sydney in […]
    • Jobs For The Girls
      1 9 9 5 (UK) 5 x 40 minute episodes This BBC1 series featured […]
    • Date Bait (1960)
      Too young to know. Too wild to care. Too eager to say “I […]
    • Dogs of War, The (1980)
      Jamie Shannon (Christopher Walken) is a veteran sickened by his […]
    • Bank Shot (1974)
      Career thief Walter Upjohn Ballantine (George C. Scott) is stuck […]
    • Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
      Alec Guinness is Adolf Hitler trapped in his bunker while Berlin […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.