Talk:Janis Ian/Archive 1

What does this mean?
"Ian's signature tune "At Seventeen" sold over two million singles in the United States alone yet was never certified." What was "never certified?" The 2 million? Or something to do with the RIAA? Not clear to me. But maybe it's my pet peeve with the RIAA weasels. Blondesareeasy (talk) 05:40, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Lesbian or bi?
I thought she identified as bisexual. Also, regardless of her orientation it's really not necessary to mention it in the first sentence. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.230.170.211 (talk • contribs) 06:27, 21 July 2006

I always thought that she identified as bisexual too? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.78.221.104 (talk) 10:27, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Agreed as to non-necessity. As to the content – I remember hearing her tell Howard Stern in ~1992 that she had had one disastrous marriage and one other male lover, and if she didn't say then "I'm never gonna play with boys again" she pretty strongly implied it. &mdash;Tamfang 16:48, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Janis Ian is not lesbian she's bisexual and even if she never has sex with a man again or never has sex with anyone again she's still bisexual.71.185.238.112 (talk) 03:27, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, you are incorrect. A person's sexual identity is what they describe it as, not a simple summation of all sexual encounters as determined by an outside observer. Commentary as to whether a person is or is not what they claim is commentary, not fact, and may or may not be notable. If someone was in a heterosexual marriage for 50 years, then had a dozen flings with men, then woke up and realized she was a lesbian, then shes a lesbian. a lesbian with a history of sexual contact with men, but a lesbian nonetheless. However, for this article, any description of her sexual identity must be taken from her actual words. if she hinted in an interview that "i used to have sex with men, but sexuality with men is off for me now", thats what is said here, not "she is not bisexual". If she said "i used to think im bisexual, but now im not sure, get back to me on that", we say that, not "she isnt bisexual". if she said "i am not bisexual, im a lesbian" we say that. if she said "none of your business" we say that.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 02:54, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Music history link
I sent this message to User talk:Rkitko regarding a change made to the music history wikilink edit I made:

Thx for catching the edit so quickly. I like how we keep on top of things. I do believe, however, that the link you made is not the best choice.

The reason I linked to a category is that if you look at the Music history article to which you linked, it currently only goes to 1950, which is one year before Janis was even born. If you look at the History of music article, linked to from the Music history page, it is concerned with music history prior to Janis Ian, with the exception of the 20th century music link.

The 20th century link, while encompassing the times of some of Janis' contributions to music history, deals with ONLY contemporary music, and not the totality of music history.

The sentence in which the link appears deals with contemporary music since the existence of the Grammies, so it could be argued that the 20th century link would be appropriate.

However, it is my opinion that the 'Grammy' time frame can be deduced by clicking on the existing Grammy Hall of Fame. This link, although it doesn't link directly to the Hall of Fame, does provide access to Hall of Fame article and the Grammy article, from which the time frame is referenced.

BUT the link in question is simply for 'music history,' in a sentence dealing with the time period from 1972/1973 to present, therefore a link to the Music history category is best suited since it reflects the actual text of the link (music history), and from its contents, one can find the time frame within the context of the sentence in which the link is made.

If there is another solution, I do not currently know.

I think there should be more work done within the music category. I will go check out wikiprojects and see what, if anything, is being planned...SteinAlive 06:48, 3 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the quick reply! Perhaps I'm still too new, but I haven't come across any situation yet where a link directly to a category in the text of an article has been appropriate. When clicking upon it, a user is expecting another article. Is this common practice elsewhere on Wikipedia and I just haven't caught it yet? Otherwise, you're right about the lack of information in this time period, but I suppose that's a failing of the available articles and they need to be expanded significantly. On second look, the music history article doesn't seem appropriate either since it focuses on the academic. History of music seems most appropriate to me, even though it lack a lot of contemporary information. I say this because when a user clicks on that link, they expect to be directed to an article on music history, not a category and not a very specific article on the time frame of music. Per WP:PIPE, I wouldn't want to create a borderline easter egg link. Thoughts? Might I also take this opportunity to say thanks for doing that bit of cleanup and wikilinking? That was excellent. (Now all I need to do is find a good PD photo of her. I have a few, but they're not wiki worthy). Cheers, --Rkitko (talk) 07:04, 3 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Re: PD photo - Put up the the best you have, even if not great. (1) Having something will be better than nothing, most likely.  (2) It might inspire someone to do even better much more than lack of a photo does.  :) -Aleta 00:11, 4 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, when I say it's not Wiki worthy, I mean I'd have to crop in pretty tight to exclude myself and my partner who got our photo taken with her in 2004. I'll see what I can do, but I'm not making any promises! --Rkitko (talk) 00:34, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Jewish?
Is she? I ask only because the only mention in the article is the categories she's in - no text in the article itself. Anyone know? -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 03:19, 15 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Yep, she's Jewish:
 * The singer continues on the Nashville theme, "it's very conservative. There are a lot of things about it that are a little odd for me ", says Janis, " being Jewish and gay... but it's also got that southern tolerance of the eccentric, where people just go, ' well that's just Janis ' ".
 * from
 * --Rkitko (talk) 07:08, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
 * So maybe that can go in the article somewhere? -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 14:13, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Early recordings
Janis Ian, did some of her early recordings at the 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt New York, with Brooks Arthur. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nyackhigh (talk • contribs) 00:08, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * If true, and important, and verifiable, then add it to the article. -- Orange Mike  |  Talk  20:01, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Discography
I took out 4 songs from the Selelcted Singles topic because they did not have any relevant information regarding "Billboard" placement. All the others do. There didn't seem to be a reason for them to be there. The songs were: 1967: "Younger Generation Blues," "Lonely One" and "Janey's Blues." And 1968: "Friends Again." Also, I added some information to the other sub-categories and moved some of the songs from "Albums" to "Compilations," and from "Compilations" to "Various Artists." Bri4daz (talk) 03:03, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

"Various artists" section
My apologies to whoever put time & effort into the "Various artists" section, but it was grossly excessive and needs to be drastically trimmed. It's just not appropriate for a Wikipedia article to go into that much detail. For the time being, I've moved the contents into "invisible text". It probably should be renamed to "Cover versions", or something to that effect. Many articles have that sort of section, but I've never seen anything like this one -- literally too many to count! Come to think of it, cover versions are usually listed in the article for the song, rather than in the bio article -- so I'm really not sure what (if anything) belongs here. Regards, Cgingold (talk) 22:47, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

In the RIAA section there is a sentence that says that the song "Seventeen was never certified". There is no explanation of what it means for a song to be certified, nor a link, and I don't know what it means. Maybe someone can make this sentence a little more clear. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.219.24.118 (talk) 07:19, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * It means that the single was certified with a gold or platinum award by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 or 1 million copies, respectively. Certification by the RIAA doesn't come automatically; the record label has to specifically apply for the award, and the RIAA has an accounting firm audit the sales to make sure they are accurate. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 07:56, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

"Young Janis admired the work of folk pioneers such as Joan Baez and Odetta. "
Joan Baez and Odetta were a few centuries too young to have pioneered folk music.


 * First, to whomever said this, please SIGN your comments. Second, they may not have been pioneers of folk music, but they were at the forefront of both the revival of American folk and gospel music, and certainly the advent of the singer-songwriters who began making their mark at the dawn of the 1950s - 1960s. Let us be positive about our corrections please! --Leahtwosaints (talk) 04:35, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Please leave good references here for use
References do not belong in the external links section. Please leave your references here and then check them off or cross them off once they can't be used anymore.

Here is a great one, an interview with Janis Ian: --Leahtwosaints (talk) 04:30, 30 July 2010 (UTC)


 * More sources left in the External links section (which is not a parking lot, or where links go! I have moved the link farm from there to this talk page where they do belong. Warning: I didn't check them over, so be careful in choosing any references here. Thank you! --Leahtwosaints (talk) 23:16, 9 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Janis Ian's Pearl Foundation
 * [//worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82-139099 Works by or about Janis Ian/Archive 1] in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
 * Janis Ian archive at NPR Music
 * Janis Ian interview on Slashdot, 2002
 * 2006 interview
 * Janis Ian archive at NPR Music
 * Janis Ian interview on Slashdot, 2002
 * 2006 interview

Science fiction writer
she wrote a half dozen short stories, helped edit 2 anthologies, and goes to conventions. I really dont think thats enough to put her sf writing in her ledes first sentence.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 02:56, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Bankruptcy
I heard Janis Ian in interview say she went bankrupt in 1983, owing $1.3m to the IRS. She says her manager ripped her off, and then "had the bad grace to die before I could get my hands around his throat"! Not mentioned in the article.Shtove (talk) 16:03, 24 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Got a source for this information? Doniago (talk) 13:18, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
 * It is in her autobiography Society's Child and also discussed in various of her Performing Songwriter columns. K8 fan (talk) 20:59, 28 November 2014 (UTC)