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Patti Smith: Patti Smith Group
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Patti Smith was in many ways the original punk rock chick. A ferociously inventive artist who was by turns political, inspired, overhyped and underrecognized, Smith came up in New York's fertile early '70s punk rock scene. She'd spent much of the '60s dabbling in the visual arts before she turned to poetry, teaming up with guitarist Lenny Kaye in the early '70s to produce spoken word pieces set to music. The collaboration eventually led to the formation of the Patti Smith Group. Their debut album, Horses (1975), is an undeniable classic, packed with spiralling imagery, contained venom, and Smiths' trademark Dionysian excess. (The title track inspired Jayne/Wayne County's spoof "Horseshit.") Radio Ethiopia (1976) was somewhat less successful, but Easter (1978) made Smith and crew true stars when the Springsteen-penned "Because the Night" became mainstream radio fare.
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After the breakup of the Patti Smith Group, Sohl remained close to Smith, and Daugherty played with a variety of people, from folkies like the Roches and Willie Nile to Tom Verlaine, the Waterboys, and the Church. Ivan Kral put in a stint with Iggy Pop (on the LP Soldier). Lenny Kaye led several bands, beginning with the Lenny Kaye Connection, and produced such artists as Suzanne Vega.
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As the Patti Smith Group toured the United States and Europe, punk's popularity grew. The rawer sound of the group's second album, Radio Ethiopia, reflected this. Considerably less accessible than Horses, Radio Ethiopia received poor reviews. However, several of its songs, notably "Pissing in a River, " "Pumping," and "Ain't It Strange," have stood the test of time, and Smith still performs them regularly in concert.
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Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois. As a child she lived in Paris and London before settling in New York in the 1960s and establishing a reputation as a poet. In 1971 she began public recitations of her poetry accompanied by guitarist Lenny Kaye. In 1973 Richard Sohl was joining these performances on piano, and the following year drummer Jay Dee Daugherty was added to the lineup, named the Patti Smith Group. Smith’s album Horses (1975) was followed by Radio Ethiopia (1976), Easter (1978), and Waves (1979). Easter included the single “Because the Night,” co-written with Bruce Springsteen.
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The Patti Smith Group produced two further albums before the end of the 1970s. Easter (1978) was her most commercially successful record, containing the hit single "Because the Night" – co-written with Bruce Springsteen – which rose to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wave was less successful, although "Frederick" and "Dancing Barefoot" both received commercial airplay.
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Buoyed by an energetic New Band scene centered around CBGB's in New York, the group - Patti, Lenny, and DNV - traveled to California in the fall of `74, playing the Whiskey in L.A. and the Filmore (on audition night) in S.F. When they returned east, they felt their sound needed filling out, recruiting guitarist Ivan Kral, a Czech refugee. It was this combination that played CBGB's for eight weeks in the spring of 1975, honing their concept and ultimately attracting the attention of Clive Davis, who signed them to his fledgling Arista label that summer.
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Patti Smith Group