Patti Smith was a central figure in the early 1970’s New York pre-punk scene

She was a poet, an actress and a musician

Patti has been influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin & Harry Smith who introduced her to American folk & blues

Her music has a haunting quality to it

She had a very manly look about her- she didn’t have a feminine body, or feminine style

She often sang in deep manly tones

She originally always wanted to be a poet, but her aspiration took her in a musical direction and she seems to apply her poetry to her music

In her song ‘Piss Factory’ she doesn’t sing but speaks, as if she is reciting poetry over the music

In particular she was fond of applying cut-up methods to her songs. Cut-ups in literature is when randomly selected writers can be cut up, juxtaposed, and sampled in a form of collage writing, which had already influenced David Bowie

She sang a lot of covers, and from a range of genres that you perhaps wouldn’t expect from her, for example:

‘Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana‘Gimme Shelter’ by The Rolling Stones‘My Generation’ by The Who ‘Pastime Paradise’ by Stevie Wonder‘When Doves Cry’ by Prince‘Wicked Messenger’ by Bob Dylan‘With or Without you’ by The Beatles

Postmodern because:• Her music reaches a range of genres from folk,

blues, rock & punk• She challenges sexist stereotypes with her

masculine persona• Portrays her fascination with language into her

lyrics, in the form of poetry and the lyrical collages

• Never shy of controversy or stirring up a crowd