The avoidance of insufferability

[colgraff]

This is a companion thread to the excellent one "I'd like them if it wasn't for..."

I often wonder about musicians, singers, etc. whose reputations are preserved or enhanced by their untimely demise. So I wonder who you think has made it into the pantheon of greats via an early grave when they showed signs of becoming overly self-important and excessively pretentious while still with us.

My nomination: Jimi Hendrix.

[JTUK]

ooooooo.... spicy..!!!

I wouldn't agree as Hendrix did things that was beyond most gtrs at the time, in a way that was beyond almost all gtrs, IMO, at that time.

I'm not even a fan...

Ian Curtis..?? Sid... ?? depends if you call them great, tho.

[No. 8 Wire]

John Lennon.

He was already a cross between Bono and Brand even before he was tragically shot.

Edit : Actually on second thoughts he doesn't fit the criteria here. As he still would have been a great if he had lived.

Edited November 5, 2015 by No. 8 Wire

[ezbass]

Oh this thread has the potential for some real fireworks (pulls up chair and places tub of popcorn on lap).

Edited November 5, 2015 by ezbass

[Jazzneck]

I saw Jimi Hendrix live 5 times from small gigs like The Crows Nest at Tring through the Marquee up to the Isle of Wight festival.

If you had seen him for a whole performance in person you would have realised pretty quickly that he was a very shy, self effacing bloke with a great sense of fun and humour.

He enjoyed his music and played as much as he could stretching the boundaries whilst he did so.

He used to get pretty pissed off with idiots and bad equipment, though.

Just like I do when people who weren't even born at the time he was playing start over analysing his ability, technique, musical knowledge and his character / personality.

Rant over....

Yes, I'm a Hendrix fan but I would like to say, just like he did, that he certainly played some crap in his time.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Jazzneck

[fretmeister]

Jaco.

[chris_b]

Hendrix only became "great" because he died young?

I wish people would create threads from a position of knowledge, rather than ignorance.

[timmo]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1446746290' post='2902031']
Hendrix only became "great" because he died young?

I wish people would create threads from a position of knowledge, rather than ignorance.
[/quote]It could be true. It also helps that you are in the so called 27 club i guess. Who knows in which direction he might have gone if he never died young. He died as a superstar, but if he had survived, he could have ended up as a washed up has been. He was obviously great before he died, as you don`t get to be the main act for Woodstock when you have all the bands on there.
Although i like Janis Joplin, I am not sure she would have had the same impact if she was still alive today.

[TheGreek]

Marc Bolan - where his peers went on to drag out a living as a caricature of themselves or paedophilia his contributions have lived on as classics ...

[TheGreek]

Elvis???

[ezbass]

Death is great marketing tool for the music biz. As the deceased is in no position to record any new material, the corporations can issue any old tat and the faithful will lap it up and there's no kudos in the media criticising a dead person. In this way, a performers 'star' is elevated higher than it would be had they lived on.

[Roger2611]

Reading his biography sadly Joe Strummer looked like he was losing the plot at times. not got to the end of the book yet so I don't know if he truly pulled it round but certainly in the final days of the Clash he was losing it

[Lozz196]

Meant to be great, but not to my liking, Keith Moon.

[colgraff]

I don't think that I wrote exactly what I meant. It would have been better to say that the qualifications are that they were acknowledged as great for their own achievements but were showing signs of disappearing up their own alimentary canal which would turn people off them.
Example:
So if Bono had died post Under a Blood Red Sky he would be held in much higher esteem than he is today.

And yes, this is inevitably highly subjective but I know we are all grown ups and won't sink to personal jibes..... Chris....

I definitely second the John Lennon nomination.

Edited November 5, 2015 by colgraff

[Jazzneck]

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1446745103' post='2902014']My nomination: Jimi Hendrix.
[/quote]

While I'm a fan but not overly so I have read from two who were there or knew him at the time that he was a mess making uncommercial new experimental material at the time he died. So maybe his bubble had burst by then.

[colgraff]

...and just to avoid confusion, no one (hopefully) is saying that it is a good thing that these people died short of their three score and ten.

[SteveK]

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1446749811' post='2902089']
I don't think that I wrote exactly what I meant. It would have been better to say that the qualifications are that they were acknowledged as great for their own achievements but were showing signs of disappearing up their own alimentary canal's which would turn people off them.
[/quote]
Give me someone who is "showing signs of disappearing up their own alimentary canal" anytime, over an artist that stands still, recycling the successful formula over and over. The "alimentary canal" is where you can often find greatness!

[colgraff]

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1446751007' post='2902106']
The "alimentary canal" is where you can often find greatness!
[/quote]
Fair point, although it is often full of s.... too. I read a review of a recent David Bowie album a few years ago where the reviewer said that he didn't much like it but still respected Bowie for not resting on his laurels and still making new music.

[lojo]

I think if Hendrix had lived he'd have been a bit like Neil Young or Ray Davis, followed his own path and not been to bothered if it pleased the masses or not. Sometimes experimenting with the current trends because he liked and leaving it alone when he didn't.

[Bassassin]

Kurt Cobain. One genre- and era-defining album (Nevermind), bookended by two "difficult" ones.

If he'd cleaned himself up, cheered up and lived to still be touring & recording now, I wonder how iconic he'd be seen as?

Jon.

[spectoremg]

Does dying whilst getting flaky and astronomically over-rated since count?
Syd Barrett.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1446752230' post='2902132']
Does dying whilst getting flaky and astronomically over-rated since count?
Syd Barrett.
[/quote]

Over-rated by whom..? Those that appreciate his stuff don't think of it like that, and the others don't rate him anyway.
Pointless topic of the week, I'd say.

(... and anyway, Cap'n Beefheart and Zappa are out of bounds, so there..! )

[CHW]

It would be interesting to see what Queen would have become if Freddie had never gotten ill.

Would they be still doing the circuit playing the great shows? Would JD have retired into grumpy financials mode? Would Roger and Brian still have appeared on the X Factor?

Queen post Freddie have become a kind of tribute/celebration of what they were. I can't think of any great songs to have come out of the Roger/Brian partnership.

[KevB]

Morrison probably fits the bill though he was showing signs of wanting out of the lifestyle some time before his death.
Modern era - Amy Winehouse?

Edited November 6, 2015 by KevB