I read “I’m with the band“ when it first came out as a memoir because I’m interested in pop memoir. I was troubled by the tone of this podcast making this particular moment “fun.“ I agree with the reviewers who take issue with the notion that the groupies self empowered young women. They fashioned themselves that way and the podcast bought into that delusion. Yes, there’s a layer of fun and self discovery, but I think the bigger story is much darker. I wanted to explore questions I had when I read the memoir, why was she so obsessively pursuing rock ‘n’ roll musicians? What role in general did young women/groupies play in rock ‘n’ roll culture? Why did they think their self presentation was innocent and playful when it clearly wasn’t to their male audience. In the 60s and 70s as in the decades that followed they were preyed upon and yet they did exploit their sexuality and fashioned themselves to attract the male gaze. Let’s explore those contradictions please.