Last night I decided to listen to a full collection of Amy Winehouse and it depressed the crap out of me. Such talented lady and such an addiction problem. I love her raw voice and through back music sound but I hate to see the toll it takes on her. To me, this is further evidence that the best music and song writing comes from strife in your life. Be it a broken heart, being mad at you dad like Everclear or just a disliking of the world around. The old blues guys have known it for years... So today's music rambling is in that vain. Life, strife and dieing a legend!
Jimi Hendrix = Drug induced creativity ultimately took his life. There is some speculation that he was murdered, which really just adds to the legend. Hendrix took his music to levels of creative experimenting that no one had yet in mainstream music. Along the way got a legend stamp from the rest fo the music world for it. While his music is good and for its time it was kinda groundbreaking, truth be told, his guitar playing is sloppy he rarely played the same licks.. it more of a style he stays in that leaves a lot of room for error/creativity. There is no doubting the Hendrix broke the mold.. and its a shame we lost him.
Janis Joplin = Again, a good musician/singer but at a cost. She struggled with self image and used the self prescribed medicine as heavy as the boys she partied with. But, she had a texture and a relevance in her music that otherwise may not have existed. I personally only like a couple songs (Bobby McGee.. did you know it was written by Kris Kristofferson?), cry baby, take another little piece of my heart and of course, Mercedes Bens). Janis was great but probably would not be the icon she is had she lived to grow old.
Elvis = Its hard to critique a legend like this.. but lets face facts. Elivis was falling apart and approaching a Vegas show career change.. So, his untimely death may well have made people look back to the younger Elvis and choose that as the memory. Still, I wish he would have stuck around long enough to produce some other acts. I think he would have been great at it. I also think he would have been in politics by now which would be very interesting.
Jim Morrison = What a beautiful train wreck that guy was. So poetic and so drugged. Again, Morrison not living into his own oblivion helped his lasting star status.. I feel like he would have "Amy Winehouse'd" himself into a bit of a joke like Courtney Love.
Kurt Cobain = Like Hendrix, Cobain was a bit sloppy but in the sloppy he was actually pretty profound. He was in the right place at the right time and created a new scene that ultimately depressed him into his grave. He covered a led belly song that many think was is epitaph on MTV unplugged. Its a haunting song that to me, was referencing his disappointment in how people absorbed his music. A classic case of missed expectations. I think he was trying to change the world in his own way, and I think the world took it as pop music for enjoyment. They could not get enough of him and he could hardly stand himself.
Probably the biggest loss in my world is Stevie Ray VaughnFirst, great blue player. He flirted with rock and roll all the time and kept people moving even when it was a song about bad times. Everyone related to him and he was blue color enough to relate right back. He never left the party for most of his career and he payed the price for it. In one of his last shows he was celebrating being cleaned up and and off the booze. Talked to the crowd about it like they were his best friend.. then after the show he got in a Helicopter and it crashed. Sad, dramatic and for those who loved his music.. tragic.
Another one that is up there for me is Bradly Nowell from Sublime. Sublime had tons of good music coming in my opion. They had just hit after years on the punk/ska under card and it looked like it would be a very good decade for Sublime. Bradley left behind a baby boy and a still addicted wife is my understanding. A tragic loss for the music and for the family.Other notables: Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls.
Interesting links:
Sublime in Wikipedia
People how have OD on heroin