"Big Brother & the Holding Company" is the debut album by the American rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin as their lead singer. Recorded over three days in December 1966 for Mainstream Records, it was released on August 23, 1967, shortly after the band's success at the Monterey Pop Festival. Columbia Records later took over the band's contract, re-released the album with two additional tracks, and added Joplin's name to the cover. Among the singles, "Down on Me" was the most successful, especially after its second release in 1968.
The band signed with Bob Shad's Mainstream Records after being stranded in Chicago when a promoter ran out of money. Initial recordings in Chicago in September 1966 were unsatisfactory, so they returned to San Francisco. They recorded "Blindman" and "All Is Loneliness" in Los Angeles, but the single released in October didn't sell well. Following a Stanford "happening" in December 1966, they recorded 10 tracks in Los Angeles from December 12 to 14 with Shad as producer. The band was disappointed with the album's sound, which lacked the raw acid-rock distortion and improvisational jamming they were known for. Despite this, they were pleased with Janis Joplin's double-tracked vocals.
