(Credits: Far Out / Pamela Des Barres)
Brushing shoulders and locking lips with all the biggest names of the 1960s and ‘70s music scene, Pamela Des Barres stands tall as the queen of the groupies. After the release of her book, I’m With The Band, in 1987, her diaries have become essential writing for women in and around the music scene.
Years on, the diary of 20-something-year-old Des Barres, affectionately known as Miss P, have become a vital historical document. Writing about everything from being Frank Zappa’s nanny to being backstage during The Rolling Stones’ horrifying and tragic Altamont performance, I’m With The Band chronicles the lives of so many musical icons from Miss P’s unique vantage point by their side.
During her life as a groupie, Des Barres was linked to the likes of Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Graham Parsons, Jim Morrison and more. A close personal friend of Frank Zappa, the avante-garde musician saw something special in Des Barres and her groupie friends, forming them into their own band called The GTOs, standing for ‘Girls Together Outrageously’.
Des Barres has lived a wild life, from the band’s wild performance art shows to Miss P’s day-to-day experiences hanging out with musician icons. From the simple love and passion for music, I’m With The Band chronicles her life from her early Beatlemania days to her time in England with Jagger. She met many of her favourite artists, but a few musicians stand out as unique to her, both from back in the day and from the current landscape.
“I still listen mainly to Dylan, who is a God to me,” she told Far Out. “I know I’m not supposed to feel that way about humans, but I do about him”. Discussing her enduring Bob Dylan obsession, Des Barres picks out ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ as her ultimate Miss P anthem. ”If I had to pick a favourite song, it would be that,” she says, “That was a life-changing song with mind-boggling lyrics,” she adds. Leonard Cohen was also raised by Des Barres and received the same godly status as Dylan.
Another artist that stands out as an all-time favourite traces back to her childhood. “I listen to a lot of Dion,” she says, talking about Dion DiMucci, the 1950s and ‘60s doo-wop star. “I like to go back to when I was 13 years old and play ‘Runaround Sue’,” she adds. Dion would be her biggest recommendation, as she asserted: “If you haven’t listened to Dion, I suggest it. If you want to be real happy, play ‘Love Came To Me’.”
As for contemporary artists, it seems Des Barres has roots in the glam rock scene of the 1960s and ‘70s, a time when David Bowie and T. Rex reigned supreme. “I have new bands I like,” she tells Far Out. “I like Maneskine,” picking out the Italian glam rockers that stormed to success after the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.
Similarly, Des Barres says, “I like The Struts very much”, picking out another nostalgia-led rock outfit in the form of the British band.
Having spent so much time around so many of the biggest names in music, Des Barres naturally still listens mostly to her old peers. “The innovation of the music, from The Stones, Hendrix, Zappa and Beefheart, and all those people I knew,” she says, “I just knew they were pioneers”.
