Introducing Patti Smith
A punk poet's premiere
Alex Q. Arbuckle
November 1974
In November of 1974, Patti Smith, a relatively unknown poet/singer, posed for a publicity photo shoot in Los Angeles. Just over a year later she released Horses, her critically acclaimed and hugely influential debut album. Born in Chicago in 1946 to deeply religious working-class parents, Smith worked on an assembly line shortly after graduating high school. In 1967, she moved to New York, where she struck up a relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. For several years she wrote poetry and lyrics, performed in plays and contributed to Rolling Stone.In 1974, she formed a rock band, The Patti Smith Group, with guitarists Lenny Kaye and Ivan Kral, drummer Jay Dee Daugherty and pianist Richard Sohl.In June, the band recorded their first single. It included a cover of the rock standard “Hey Joe” and the original composition “Piss Factory,” inspired by Smith’s struggle working in a dead-end factory job, and the ambition that motivated her to “go on that train and go to New York City… be a big star and… never return."
Never let go of that fiery sadness called desire. - Patti Smith
