''Cheap Thrills'' is the second studio album by American rock band

Big Brother and the Holding Company Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After som ...

. It was their last album with Janis Joplin as lead singer before she started a solo career. For ''Cheap Thrills'', the band and producer John Simon incorporated recordings of crowd noise to give the impression of a live album, for which it was subsequently mistaken by listeners. Only "

Ball and Chain A ball and chain is a physical restraint device historically applied to prisoners, primarily in the British Empire and its former colonies, from the 17th century until as late as the mid-20th century. A type of shackle, the ball and chain is ...

" was actually recorded in concert at Winterland Ballroom. ''Cheap Thrills'' reached number one on the charts for eight nonconsecutive weeks in 1968.

History

Big Brother obtained a considerable amount of attention after their 1967 performance at the

Monterey Pop Festival The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix ...

and had released their debut album soon after. The followup, ''Cheap Thrills'', was a great success, reaching number one on the charts for eight nonconsecutive weeks in 1968. Columbia Records offered the band a new recording contract, but it took months to get through since they were still signed to

Mainstream Records Mainstream Records was an American record company and independent record label founded by producer Bob Shad in 1964. Mainstream's early releases were reissues from Commodore Records. Its catalogue grew to include Bob Brookmeyer, Maynard Fergu ...

. The album features three cover songs (" Summertime", "

Piece of My Heart "Piece of My Heart" is a romantic soul love song written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns, originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. Franklin's single peaked in December 1967 at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles char ...

" and "Ball and Chain"). The album also features Bill Graham, who introduces the band at the beginning of "Combination of the Two". The album's overall raw sound effectively captures the band's energetic and lively concerts. The LP was released in both stereo and mono formats with the original monophonic pressing now a rare collector's item. The album had been considered for

quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...

format in the early '70s and eventually in 2002, was released as a Multichannel Sony

SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows mul ...

. The original quadraphonic mix remains unreleased.

Artwork and title

The cover was drawn by underground cartoonist

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

after the band's original cover idea, a photo of the group naked in bed together, was vetoed by Columbia Records. Crumb had originally intended his art for the LP back cover, with a portrait of Janis Joplin to grace the front. But Joplin—an avid fan of underground comics, especially the work of Crumb—so loved the Cheap Thrills illustration that she demanded Columbia place it on the front cover. It is number nine on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''s list of 100 greatest album covers. Crumb later authorized the sale of prints of the cover, some of which he signed before sale. In an interview for the

AIGA The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

, Columbia Records art director John Berg told design professor Paul Nini, " anisJoplin commissioned it, and she delivered Cheap Thrills to me personally in the office. There were no changes with R. Crumb. He refused to be paid, saying, 'I don't want Columbia's filthy lucre.'" In at least one early edition, the words "HARRY KIRSHNER! (D. GETZ)" are faintly visible in the word balloon of the turbaned man, apparently referring to a track that was dropped from the final sequence. The words "ART: R. CRUMB" replace them. Initially, the album was to be called ''Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills'', but the title was not received well by Columbia Records.

Release and reception

''Cheap Thrills'' was released in the summer of 1968, one year after Big Brother's debut album, and reached number one on the Billboard charts in its eighth week in October. It kept the top spot for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks, while the single "

" also became a huge hit. By the end of the year, it was the most successful album of 1968, having sold nearly a million copies. The success was short-lived, however, as Joplin left the group for a solo career in December 1968. Outtakes originally to have appeared on the album have since been released on Janis Joplin compilations such as '' Farewell Song'' (in which Big Brother's original instruments were replaced with studio musicians from 1983, angering the band) and the '' Janis'' compilation box set featuring all original studio songs and live recordings. The 1999 re-release of ''Cheap Thrills'' features the outtakes "Flower in the Sun" and "Roadblock" as well as live performances of "Magic of Love" and "Catch Me Daddy" as bonus material. In 2018, Columbia released ''Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills'', an album of outtakes, etc., from the ''Cheap Thrills'' sessions.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review, ''

'' magazine's John Hardin panned ''Cheap Thrills'' as living up to its title and being merely satisfactory: "What this record is not is 1) a well-produced, good rock and roll recording; 2) Janis Joplin at her highest and most intense moments; and 3) better than the Mainstream record issued last year." Robert Christgau was more enthusiastic in his column for '' Esquire'' and called it Big Brother's "first physically respectable effort", as it "not only gets Janis's voice down, it also does justice to her always-underrated and ever-improving musicians." He named it the third best album of 1968 in his ballot for ''Jazz & Pop'' magazine's critics poll. In a retrospective review penned in the 2000s,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's William Ruhlmann hailed ''Cheap Thrills'' as Joplin's "greatest moment" and said it sounds like "a musical time capsule

oday Uday or Odai is a masculine name in Arabic as well as several Indian languages. In many Indian languages it means 'dawn' or 'rise'. The Arabic name (عدي) means 'runner' or 'rising'. List of people * Uday Benegal, Indian musician * Uday Pratap S ...

and remains a showcase for one of rock's most distinctive singers." Marc Weingarten of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' called it the peak of blues-rock, while Paul Evans wrote in ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (2004) that the record epitomizes

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, d ...

"in all its messy, pseudo-psychedelic glory". ''Cheap Thrills'' was ranked number 338 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of

the 500 greatest albums of all time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...

, and later ranked number 372 in the 2020 edition. The magazine previously ranked it #50 on their ''Top 100 Albums of the Past 20 Years'' list in 1987. It is also listed in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''. On March 22, 2013, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

and thus it was preserved into the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

for the 2012 register. The album was named the 163rd best album of the 1960s by ''Pitchfork''.

Track listing

Personnel

Big Brother and the Holding Company * Janis Joplinvocals *

Sam Andrew Sam Houston Andrew III (December 18, 1941 – February 12, 2015) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, composer, artist and founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company. During his career as musician and composer ...

guitar, bass on 'Oh, Sweet Mary', vocals * James Gurleyguitar *Peter Albinbass, lead guitar on 'Oh, Sweet Mary', lead acoustic guitar on 'Turtle Blues'. *Dave Getzdrums Additional personnel * John Simon – piano, producer *Vic Anesini – mastering, mixing *Nicholas Bennett – packaging manager *Steven Berkowitz – A&R * Fred Catero – engineer *John Byrne Cooke –

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

– cover artwork *David Diller – engineer *Mark Feldman – project director *

David Gahr David Gahr (September 18, 1922 – May 25, 2008) was an American photographer. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Russian immigrant parents. He enlisted in the US Army the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served in the infantry in Eu ...

– photography *Diana Reid Haig – digital editing, mixing *Jerry Hochman – engineer *Bob Irwin – producer, reissue producer * Elliott Landy – photography, tray photo (gatefold photograph) * Jim Marshall – photography *Patti Matheny – A&R *

Elliot Mazer Elliot Mazer (September 5, 1941February 7, 2021) was an American audio engineer and record producer. He was best known for his work with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, and Janis Joplin. In addition, he worked on film and telev ...

– producer, mixing, assistant producer *Nathan Rosenberg – digital editing *Roy Segal – engineer *Smay Vision – art direction *Thomas Weir – photography, back cover *Jen Wyler –

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, o ...

, mastering, assembly, authoring

Chart positions

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1968 albums Big Brother and the Holding Company albums Albums produced by John Simon (record producer) Columbia Records albums Live at the Fillmore East albums United States National Recording Registry recordings United States National Recording Registry albums