One of my favorite songs of all time is Jane by the Jefferson Starship.
I love the soaring vocals and the heavy rock guitar, but Jane wasn't anything but ear candy. The lyrics were pedestrian and Jane was nothing more than a last, brief flickering reminder of the greatness of the Jefferson Airplane.
Everyone has their guilty pleasures, and Jane is surely one of mine, but what I never saw until today was this live video. Uh....
There are so many things wrong with this video, it nearly broke my brain.
First of all the video is introduced by Howard Hessman on the show TV's Super Night of Rock and Roll. How did I miss that? Apparently it was a made for TV Concert in 1984 filled with classic rock artists playing their hits. The Washington Post proclaimed the made for TV event "a rambunctious dud."
Where's Grace Slick? Playing the claves and doing background vocals. She doesn't even look like she's part of the band.
And that screen grab above? If you didn't see the name of the band at the top, would you have guessed the Jefferson Starship? It looks like Charles Manson's Nerdy Brother playing with a member of the Scorpions.
Paul Kantner spent the video jockeying for stage position. Unsurprisingly he would leave the band shortly after this performance.
In 1984, the 7 artists physically looked like a band going in different directions.
Do I have a point today?
Apparently not.
Back to the drawing board tomorrow.
Side Note:
Both the Jefferson Starship and the Starship are still touring today, nearly 40 years after Jane.
What happened to my favorite member of the Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick?
She retired from music over 30 years ago.
Go to her website and buy some of her art:
