Cheap Thrills

Janis Joplin’s raw, powerhouse vocals define this record, turning what was intended to be a live album into a studio masterpiece. The band famously added crowd noise to the tracks to capture the chaotic, electric energy of their performances at the time.

Released in 1968 on Columbia, the album sits right at the intersection of gritty blues and San Francisco’s swirling psychedelic scene. It remains a definitive document of the era’s counterculture, balancing distorted, jagged guitar work with deeply soulful, unvarnished delivery.