Famous Dead Rockstars
 

Who of all the famous dead rockstars do you think would've made the greatest contribution to music had they not died when they did?

I was going to do a poll but I'm sure I would've missed someone key. So ...

Hard to point out one but I'd probobly go with Bob Marley




Reggae music has been put into every other kind of genre of modern music in some capacity since his death, be it rock or hip-hop, or some other style.

He made his mark and was gone. I may be wrong, but reggae is reggae is reggae, not much diversity in sound (cue flaming by Suchfriends (and possibly others) in 3....2...1....)

Thinking about those that are still alive, Clapton, Macca, Page, Townsend, Jagger, Richards, Dylan, etc, none of them have really contributed much past the seventies, making me think it's unlikely that any of those that died so relatively early in their careers would've done that much of any interest. I'm not sure point I'm trying to make here, if any. Maybe that the death of someone like Lennon or even Hendrix was obviously a tragedy for him and those around him, but probably no great loss to music after that point.

That's obviously not taking into account post-60s figures like Ian Curtis, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Kurt Cobain, Dimebag Darrell, etc.

Buddy Holly?

Coltrane, Hendrix, Curtis, D Boon, Sam Cooke, Jhonn Balance, Elliott Smith...basically a bunch of people that died when they were still producing great music and probably had a shit ton more worthwhile releases to give to the world.

Thing about Hendrix is that by all accounts (his included) he was really getting burned-out with his career. He wasn't happy with the majority of the records he put out and was hoping to go into another direction. of course, when you listen to his final recordings you can obviously tell he wasnt at the same place he was at for axis or electric ladyland. This new direction that he was heading, while perhaps in the end would have been cool, at the time and now, doesn't sound that good.

Really? "Machine Gun" on Band of Gypsies is a totally awesome foray into heaviness in my book. Hendrix had set some rather high standards for himself to top, but given the time to do it, he might have invented whole new genres of music.

Hendrix going into a more free jazz direction/hooking up with Miles Davis would have been amazing. Worst case scenario would be if he turned into Santana or something.

Not a rockstar, but I really think Albert Ayler could have reached even greater heights.

michael jackson

Biggie

Bob Marley introduced regaee to America and that music like I said has influence both the rock genre and the hip-hop genre. Nobody can't deny that Bob Marley's music influenced bands like The Clash, and pretty much any other politically minded artist like Public Enemy. You say reagee is regaee is reggae. So many artists have taken elements of reggae music and incorporated them in rock and hip hop music. And have Bob Marley to thank for introducing them to that type of music. Certainly he's not the only one who was making that kind of music at the time but you can't deny that he introduced it to the wider world.

I'd agree with his impact and influence but I'm not sure if he'd have made any great contribution in later years. He'd have more likely been the same kind of figurehead that he is now, only a living rather than dead one.

is steve perry dead?

ha ha ha!

My answers

if only....

Cobain
Hendrix
Cash
Coltrane
Stayley
Lennon
Presley
Mercury
Joplin
Easy E
Curtis
Harrison
Boone
Carptenter
Crash
Nico
Sargent

soooo many :(

Kurt Cobain
There were hints that Nico could have turned good again before she died, who knows?

Maybe Ian Curtis..?

Peter "James" Bond, the third spinal tap drummer.
cliff burton.
the term indie music
richie valens
buddy holly
ian curtis

Bob Marley introduced not just America, but the ENTIRE WORLD, to Rastafari music and culture, particularly the concept of ONENESS and REVOLUTION to those masses who needed a voice to articulate their feelings of unity through struggle and the power of socio-cultural revolution. For this, we should ALL be grateful. How many artists do you know wrote the songs that became the anthems for national liberation movements like in the Caribbean or in particular in Zimbabwe ? Bob Marley preached this message all over the world. rich and poor folks and all those in between have enjoyed bob's music and also heard his message from South and Central America to the heart of Africa, Europe to China, all over the world "everybody loves bob marley everywhere I go its the same ol story, people of all nation they love the rastaman vibration"

In regards to reggae being not musically diverse, that is simply a person's conclusion based upon ignorance. If you listen to more reggae, you will find all the diversity which it possesses. There are so many different subtle variations to the guitar work, the chord structures, the melodies, even the simple ca-chank ca-chank skank is not one kind of pattern, but several varieties which good reggae musicians sync together. When you begin to play or seriously listen to reggae music with a musician's ear you will hear all these variations.. it is a truly original, and wide variety of music, much more so than it gets credit for.

and good point with Bob Marley on this thread, I didn't even think about him because his contributions in life were already so fucking great, I couldn't imagine what he could have done further.

I think that above all else, BOB MARLEY TAUGHT US TO BE OURSELVES, and TO LIVE FOR SOMETHING GREATER THAN OURSELVES!





no onto Jimi Hendrix who was my choice for this thread..

Jimi was not going out, jimi was coming up. If you listen to the studio recordings and live tunes that had yet to be released (approx 12-14 cuts)
tunes like Freedom, Coming in From the Storm, Astroman, Room Full of Mirrors, New Rising Sun.. shit these are the BEST hendrix tracks which were YET TO be released proving how much Jimi had left to do for us abd these were perhaps his FINEST, most diverse and best crafted tunes. Their lyrics were more cutting, more of a personal and socia commentary, and the music was more demanding, more experimental, more complex...

in other words, Jimi Hendrix was far from done when he passed away, and I feel that the things he could have brought to music would have been beyond revolutionary. His style is unmatched, and I think we most definitely lost him too soon..

of all the dead rock stars, Jimi died with the shortest career, but yet paradoxically it was one of the biggest and most relatively prolific, and I think that he didn't get HALF HIS chance to change the face of music and culture like he wanted too.. hendrix could have been the distorted guitar version of Michael Jackson had he lived a bit longer..

Hendrix taught us to ENJOY ourselves!







"I used to live in a room full of mirrors.. and all I could see was me.. than I take my spirit and I crash those mirrors, and now the whole world is there for me to see.."

bang!
get up off the floor.... cuz there is no arguing that post!

hendrix could have done something really fantastic. i mean, i'm hopin' he would have kept blowin' minds, and not sunk into some commercial blooze-rawk MOR/AOR mediocrity.

kurt probably had some great songs left in him. i don't know. he seemed like he really had come to the end of his life when he did, and he drew a lot of his intensity from that.

nico. ):

... i don't reckon that lennon and strummer would put out much in the way of interesting music, but i kinda wonder what it would be like having them around anyway. (john and yoko as way cute old people!)

I'd say Jim Morrison, except everybody knows that he's not really dead.

strummer was done making interesting music years before he died

so was lennon really, which is sad, but it is true.
any influence lennon would have had these last 29 years woudl have been political and social,. not musical.

Hendrix would have done amazing things. With "Band of Gypsies" he was already turning into the Fela Kuti of loud psychedeic guitar rock, and I really think his records would have only gotten more interesting.Another one that comes to mind is Kayce (can't remember his name really) somethin from Flying Canyon. He died a year after thier amazing debut self-titled full length. It's in my top ten records of the decade, with a great fuzzy and hypnotic electric guitar-laden folk music that recalled both accoustic and electric Neil Young simultaneously.Also, the dude from SPK died after a few awesome ep's and one lp. After they became a lame synth-dance band, insread of awesome dada-industrial post punk awesomeness.

I was talking more about his First Rays of The New Rising Sun/Cry Of Love albums. Yes, Machine Gun is still astounding, and I know what you mean about high standards and new genres. I'm just saying when you listen to the last things he recorded before he died, its hard to say if he would have gone the jazz route,(he actually did play with Miles Davis on several occasions, but never got him to record because Miles wanted 50,000 for an hour), but probably more into the forays of jamming, which done with the proper musicians is great, but the majority of the jamming Hendrix managed to record sounds less than standard for him. He probably would have told Mike Jeffrey to fuck off, paid him a bunch of money and started doing things independently.

I guess a good example is Miles Davis. A musical superstar and genius but a lot of his fusion era records aren't that good, especially the shit he recorded in the 80's.

Hah, yeah Nico kicked ass. Then her last two albums were a little, meh. I bet she could have turned it around if she hadn't died so soon.


haha, that's a good one.

yeah. drama of exile isn't so great, but camera obscura has its moments... if she kept working with cale, i'm sure she would have turned it around.

For sure

Brian Jones might've potentially been an interesting one. Arguably among the most instinctively experimental of the big 60s figures (certainly more than any of the other Stones) he was hinting at an interest in electronic music quite early on, hanging out at the BBC radiophonic workshop, etc.

I could see being a radical and experimental producer.

^ sounds excellent. shame he didn't get into more of that.

Nico is a good answer, I think. I mean, Scott Walker was kinda mediocre in the 80's as well (he only did one album, but still), but then did Tilt and The Drift much later, which are fucking amazing. I always imagined Nico could have made something of the same caliber if she lived longer and surrounded herself around the right people.

Morrison, really? Drunken buffoon posing as a misunderstood poet, or no?

everyone gives Jim Morrison grief, but his songs are the best songs about death written in the rock n roll of the 60's.

and his poetry is not all bad, just very allusive and romantic, like Baudelaire (sp?)
not my thing to read but singing the shit makes me feel amazing.


I'll tell you this...
No eternal reward will forgive us now For wasting the dawn.

Curtis Mayfield


Kurt Cobain


Nick Drake


Michael Hutchence


and Elvis Presley ......each an influence on their own genre.

Fuck yeah! Morrison was great!