We Love: Patti Smith

Mother. Artist. Activist. Poet. Singer. Songwriter. Most of us would long for just two or three of the previous sobriquets, but the “Godmother of punk” Patti Smith holds them all. Melding the beat tradition of spoken-word poetry with garage rock, the Patti Smith Group burst onto the scene in 1975 with the release of their classic album, Horses, and the world of music has never been the same. With her androgynous and decidedly anti-disco look and her injection of poetry and literature into her songs, Smith’s influence has loomed large over the careers of dozens of female singer/songwriters over the years, paving the way for women from Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Sioux to Courtney Love and Liz Phair to make their voices heard in the music world. Apart from a 1980s sabbatical that she spent raising her family in suburban Detroit (and time following death of her husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith, in 1994), Smith has continued to work, composing poetry, writing books, and recording music. This month sees the release of her seventeenth album, The Coral Sea, a tribute to her late longtime friend and fellow trailblazer, Robert Mapplethorpe.

As if her many accomplishments needed rounding out, she was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. In October 2006, she was the last performer at the legendary CBGB in New York City, before the night spot closed its doors for good, and in 2007 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She’s even braved questions about her hair-care regimen. But most of all, Smith has served as mentor to many and muse to countless more, and for that we applaud her.