The Groupie Archives

Groupies personify the intersection of music and feminism.  Groupies emerged in the 1960s on the cusp of Second Wave feminism as the avant-garde of the sexual revolution, navigating old-fashioned double standards with daring independence. Backstage antics and hotel-room lore from the golden era of groupies (1965-1978) established a cultural mythology based on fact, featuring groupies who became famous. But groupies were (and are) often dismissed as playthings in the power ballad of music history.

The Groupie Archives holds creative work by or about groupies, including magazines, ads, books, clothing, jewelry,hotel swag, a lunchbox with thermos, cosmetics, films, lobby cards, business cards, albums and album covers, the original manuscripts of books, book proposals, and songs by legendary groupies, an original signed record contract, plaster casts, original photographic prints of groupies signed by the groupies and/or photographers, and zines. It also includes the Groupie Feminism Art Series and an oral history I made about groupies.

Two art assemblages I created contain some of the Groupie Archives in miniature: the Music Groupie School Desk and the Music Groupie School Locker
 from the Groupie Feminism Art Series.

album cover collage art, Some Grrrls Riot,by Lucretia Tye Jasmine, cut and paste of the Rolling Stones 1978 album, Some Girls, 12” x 12” 2014

The Riot Grrrl Archives

Riot Grrrl is a Third Wave feminist, music, and art movement that began in the mid-1980s. Riot Grrrl’s do-it-yourself infrastructure allowed grrrls and women to create their own art and music scenes. Making zines, forming bands, and holding meetings, benefits, rallies, and national conventions were ways Riot Grrrls took collective action.

It's usually just two females and their bands who've told the story of Riot Grrrl. Riot Grrrl was a large collective of a diverse group of people. I'd like for their stories to be collected, shared and preserved, too. My Riot Grrrl Archives includes zines, flyers, stickers, clothing, jewelry, books, magazines, photographs, and cassette tapes. It also includes art such as sewing patterns and a poster, and an oral history I made about Riot Grrrl.

I began building both archives because of my fascination with groupies, and because I was a riot grrrl in the early 1990s. I deeply believed in the political promise of those countercultural feminisms.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is that the stories of groupies and the stories of Riot Grrrls be heard and preserved. It’s why I recorded an oral history about groupies and an oral history about riot grrrl, and it’s why I created the archives. Because women's experiences are often belittled, insulted, disregarded, or erased. My Groupie Archives and my Riot Grrrl Archives preserve the legacy of groupies, and the legacy of riot grrrl, showcasing their importance to music and their multi-dimensionality as fans, as musicians, and as active agents of culture.