Written by Jillian Lauren Illustrated by Hannah Kristina Metz

I PURSUED MY GOAL WITH keep my husband happy in every sense of the word - sexually, emotionally, socially - ABANDON, AND BY THE TIME I WAS 17, I to make him feel more like a man and boost him up higher in every sense,” she says. HAD MADE OUT WITH BILLY DUFFY, HAD Perla clearly subscribes to the Pamela Des Barres school of ALMOST DRUNKENLY THROWN UP ON AXL thought regarding the role of the muse. Pamela says, “I know firsthand that relation- ROSE, AND HAD PARTICIPATED IN A FRISKY ships - especially muse-type relationships, where the girl has a groupie heart that THREESOME WITH DEBORAH HARRY THAT I encourages, uplifts, inspires, and exalts the man - those relationships deeply touch STILL REMEMBER FONDLY. ANY TIME YOU the creative process.” Pamela, at almost 60 years old, still flaunts the sparkling blue GET A CHANCE TO HAVE A THREESOME eyes and girlish charm that once captivated the world’s greatest rock revolutionar- WITH SOMEONE WHOSE POSTER HUNG ON ies. Her boyfriend, country artist Mike Stinson, has written seven songs about her, including “Beauty Queen Eyes,” in which the lyrics state, “She is the flagship of her YOUR WALL IN HIGH SCHOOL, I SAY GO FOR gender, full of grace and plendor.” This is a woman who knows how to elicit a tribute. IT. The power to inspire comes with responsibility. Afew of the Pamela Des Barres agrees: “I would sit on Jimmy Page’s amp on most famous muse-induced anthems emerged from painful and turbulent circum- the stage and look out over the audience, and they all hated me. They wanted to be stances, such as Cat Stevens’ “Wild World,” which he wrote during a split with me. It is a very exalted reality and everybody should give it a try.” girlfriend Patti D’Arbanville, and “Layla,” inspired by Eric Clapton’s unrequited love Not every rock muse however, had such dubious beginnings as for Pattie Boyd, who was, at the time married to George Harrison. Most artists, I did. Quintessential blond bombshell Susan Holmes-McKagan, wife of Duff McKagan however, prefer a stable home life in which to safely explore the limits of their from Guns N’ Roses and now Velvet Revolver, traveled a more illustrious road, creative impulse. Slash says, “In my relationship, as far as inspiration is concerned, beginning on the catwalks of Paris and New York. Thrasher Magazine journalist and probably the biggest thing is when everybody is at peace and I’m enjoying my wife’s punk-rock politican Jon “Stain” Stainbrook set her up with Duff. “Stain knew I had company and everything is serene.” moved to L.A., what we call in the modeling world ‘the last bus stop,’” Susan says. “It Perla herself is aware of the pivotal role she plays. was kind of a blind date. I had seen pictures of Duff and I had pictures out in Allure “NO MATTER HOW TOUGH THEY ACT, MU- magazine that month... this is eleven years ago. I didn’t know when I met him that I’d SICIANS ARE VERY EMOTIONAL AND marry him, but I felt the chemistry, If there is such thing as love at first sight, it was that FRAGILE MEN. YOU CAN MAKE OR BREAK The for me.” Like Susan, many rock muses get their start in the pages of top THEM IF YOU’RE A STRONG WOMAN AND fashion magazines. The rock and fashion worlds have shared a strong connection YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING. HOPE- since the sixties, when models such as Pattie Boyd and Edie Sedgwick were immortal- FULLY YOUR INTENTION IS ALWAYS TO ized in the songs “Something” by George Harrison, and The Velvet Underground’s HELP THEM GROW.” odern “Femme Fatale,” among others. Rock stars often marry models not just becasue of M According to Pamela, the role of muse is more suited to the their obvious physical beauty, but also becasue they are natural catalysts for creativity. female than the male character. “There are male groupies but it isn’t the same type of Amanda Moore, girlfriend of songwriter and producer Linda Perry, says, “When I think adoration. In general, women are more likely to wilt and fawn over someone on stage of the word ‘muse,’ I immediately revert back to what I was doing for a living. I was a than a guy is.” muse many times for designers and I guess the difference is my personality didn’t have I too, have stood at the side of the stage and witnessed the much to do with it; it was just the way I looked.” Germanic booby flasher4s at massive beer-soaked European rock festivals. I’ve also M Amanda served as the inspiration for the song “The Thing seen my husband, Scott, play grungy Japanese clubs and cavernous American hockey EXPLORING THE LEGACY OF ROCK-’N’-ROLLuse GROUPIES about Love,” which Linda co-wrote and co-produced for Alicia Keys’s latest album, As I rinks. We have woken dazed in St. Louis, Toronto, Paris, and Osaka. during sound check, Am, and it was more than just her trademark edgy beauty that stirred Linda’s creative I have wandered the 8th Arrondissement, the red-light district of Hamburg, downtown juices. “[Amanda] has made a difference because she eases my spirit and I’ve been able Detroit and Disney World. I have watched throngs of sweaty, ecstatic kids clamor for A muse inspires. In classical mythology, the Muses How did I begin my career as a muse? I can trace it all to write full-on melancholy type of love songs,” says Linda, who is perhaps best known guitar picks. As the sun set over a Caliornia festival, I perched on he edge of a flight were nine sister goddesses who inspired poets and philosophers with back to the fateful teenage moment when I read I’m with the Band: Confes- as the lead singer of 4 Non Blondes. “I was never able to write those kind of songs case with a clear view of the enormous crowd. Columns of light shot up from all sides their beauty and grace. Much has changed since Zeuus wielded the sions of a Groupie, by Pamela Des Barres, a classic memoir of groupie life in before.” of the grounds and a desert wind blew swirls of smoke around the band as they played lightning bolt, but muses sill carry the torch, igniting the creaive genius of the sixties and seeventies. Pamela promised me a scintillating life warmed Being a model might be an excellent training ground for the opening notes of “The Good Life.” At the moment, I truly felt honored to play my our most infamous rock legends. by the edges of the spotlight: drunken giggles with a decadent Mick Jagger, becoming a rock muse, but it isn’t a prerequisite. Curvaceous Cuban beauty Perla small part in the transformative magic that is rock’n’roll. As rock muses, we maintain What’s it like when your daily grind includes passionate hearbreak from a sadistic Jimmy Page, dirty dress-up games with Hudson, wife of guitarist Slash, initially started out in modeling, but soon progressed the legacy of everyone from Dante’s Beatrice to Paul’s Linda to Chris’s Gwyneth. making sure that Slash is stoked to shred? How does it feel to be the a lunatic Keith Moon. I knew from her book that I lacked her infectious to pandering. “I got over the whole modeling thing. I got sick and tierd of everyone “So the dream lives on?” I ask Pamela, after a reading from her lesbian-supermodel studio mascot of iconoclastic writer and producer joyfulness, her definant innocence. I was hardly suited to lovingly bolster the trying to hit on me and bullshit me, so I became a madam. And, of course, I got busted new book, Let’s Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Linda Perry? How is it to be, well, me: wife and humble muse to Weezer fragile ego of every tragic genius who crossed my path. But I’m with the and then retired.” Perla is now negotiating a development deal for a TV drama called Supergroupis. Ironically , the reading is being held at Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard, bassist Scott Shriner? We muses number well over nine today. Here, I Band still had me convinced that the life of a rock muse was a career well- Madam Teresa, loosely based on her life as both a rock wife and as a professional across the street from the very clubs -The Roxy and The Wiskey - she used to haunt in speak to my sacred sisters (and one brother) about their role in the suited to my interests at the time - music, travel, drugs, and drama. madam. How did her former career influence her role as a rock muse? “It’s my role to the days when The Doors and Led Zeppelin played there. creative process of their significan others. “Definitely,” says Pamela. “There will always be groupies.”

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