Nominations for a poll: worst tragedies in pop music history

Thought about doing a morbid poll, but could only think of a few big tragedies off the top of my head. Throw out some others, and I'll do a poll of the top 30 or so.

My nominations:
22 December 1985 - Death of D. Boon
3 February 1959 - Deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper
10 December 1967 - Death of Otis Redding
1 June 1973 - Paralyzation of Robert Wyatt
8 December 1980 - murder of John Lennon

there's too many tragedies in rock n roll to count

Death of Duane Allman
Rape and murder of Mia Zapata
Murder of Sam Cooke

Zapp and Roger shoot and kill each other

Murder of Marvin Gaye

^^^by his preacher father

shit fell on curtis mayfield

Bobby Fuller commits suicide

Ian Curtis commits suicide

hmmm, yes, this may be bigger than a poll thread can handle

Arcade Fire release 2nd album.

Cancer, religion, Danny Baker conspire to kill Bob Marley

Drowning death of Dennis Wilson

why don't you just go with the first 50 non-joke responses? I imagine the big ones will be covered

Arcade Fire form as a band

Drummer out of Feeder hangs himself.

oh man you guys really don't like the arcade fire!

Nick Drake accidental death/suicide

Michael Hutchence's adventures with autoerotic asphyxiation

Brian Wilson/ Syd Barrett - marbles lost

that guy walks in to the river.

Keith Moon dies choking on his own vomit

maybe we could have a non-suicide division. if you want to do this seriously at all, that is

John Bonham follows suit (or do I have that sequence backwards)

x-post

Badfinger

Death of Brian Jones

Hendrix murdered by his manager allegedly

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/cryingeagle8oq.jpg

Sly Stone - drug intake

Chris Bell dies in car crash shortly after release of first solo single

Marc Bolan wraps his car around a tree

Kaiser Chiefs dropped by record label

sad and pathetic wasting away of Bob Stinson

Kurt Cobain blows head off (can't believe this wasn't one of the first listed tbh)

acquired immune deficiency syndrome

^^^related - death of Freddie Mercury

just poll the 27 club

Susan Boyle admitted to the Priory

Adge Cutler dies in a car crash

ILM re-coded with poll function

Animal Collective is created by/for/on the Internet.

Geir Hongro

death of Eazy-E
Tupac murdered
Biggie murdered

Lady Gaga given a free pass by hipsters

Jam Master Jay murdered

Classic rock act treated with insufficient reverence by snarky anonymous message board posters

Tammy Terrell dying onstage in Marvin Gaye's arms is probably the most dramatic tragedy. But how I wish D. Boon lived into the Bush era.

"Swallowed" inaugurates Bush era.

that guy from Morphine has a heart attack onstage, dies

You're remarkably well-informed on celebrity deaths, Shakey.

Mary Hansen from Stereolab hit by truck

Zapp and Roger shoot and kill each other

― Kitchen Paper Towel (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:48 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i know this was a serious post and that really was a horrible tragedy, but i got guilty lols out of reading it and for a second picturing Roger Troutman and his computer voice alter-ego in a gunfight

Jeff Buckley drowns three years too late, leaving behind a single horrid album that kickstarts the posthumous milking of his short career and a multitude of unnecessary releases in the coming decades.

that guy from Morphine has a heart attack onstage, dies

i thot it were brain aneurysm

i feel like there should be more things in here that aren't just musicians who died young, but it's hard to say what registers as a tragedy besides death -- like how many people have lost the ability to make music in some tragic way? all I can think of is the D.O.C. losing his voice.

"brain" aneurysm is redundant isn't it.

Lemmy ignores the advice of his dermatologist

Tammy Terrell dying onstage in Marvin Gaye's arms is probably the most dramatic tragedy.

except that didn't happen.

wiki says Sandman had a heart attack.

it must've been something Marvin said

Crazy Frog dropped by his label

1 June 1973 - Paralyzation of Robert Wyatt

i guess i don't see this as a tragedy as much as a triumph now, though, wyatt did so much great stuff...and...in a way...maybe the sort of fragility and magic of his music would have never been possible...

not that i'm sure it wasn't horrible, but he seems to have overcome it so greatly.

Def Leppard's drummer loses a arm

"brain" aneurysm is redundant isn't it.

My grandfather died of an aortic aneurysm.

Probably doesn't qualify for this list though.

i'll slightly rep for jeff buckley, he was ok

xp noted!

momus

1 June 1973 - Paralyzation of Robert Wyatt

i guess i don't see this as a tragedy as much as a triumph now, though, wyatt did so much great stuff...and...in a way...maybe the sort of fragility and magic of his music would have never been possible...

not that i'm sure it wasn't horrible, but he seems to have overcome it so greatly.

― i would never want a book's autograph (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, June 11, 2009 1:17 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i dunno, man -- that's dangerous territory, romanticizing something terrible like that just because someone perservered. i imagine he'd live a happier life and probably make just as good music if that never happened to him.

I had to google to remember the story on Roger Troutman. He left behind 10 kids!

Oh, and this:

[i] In remembrance, Roger's nephew Clet Troutman sang "Amazing Grace" through a talkbox at his funeral. <i/>

Momus loses a contact lens

T. Reznor logs off the NIN message boards.

i dunno, man -- that's dangerous territory, romanticizing something terrible like that just because someone perservered. i imagine he'd live a happier life and probably make just as good music if that never happened to him.

― i give a fuck about them haters, young shipple been gettin paper (some dude), Thursday, June 11, 2009 5:21 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah yr right i guess...but still like compared to a lot of these other ones i don't know how you could vote for it.

Every time I listen to early Soft Machine I think it's in the top 5 at least.

But D. Boon is and always will be the top of the list for me.

yeah...i love a lot of what Watt's done since then, but i really wish he and D. could've just kept pushing each other and doing so much more together. he was so young!

Has anyone mentioned the 1977 Convair 240 Crash? (the Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane crash).

"Kurt Cobain blows head off (can't believe this wasn't one of the first listed tbh)"

How can something that was such a cause for celebration be a tragedy?

Dude!?!

Harsh.

BAM

HE WENT THERE

BILL MAGILL DOESNT PULL PUNCHES

HE PAYS SOMEONE TO DO THAT

bill you need a timeout. go in a corner and listen to mob rules until you cool down.

does Coltrane's death count as a pop tragedy? I'd say so and would vote for it.

Ditto for Elvis' death.

Also that Barenaked Ladies album cover.

aaliyah plane crash.

big l's murder.

Big Pun's heart attack.

http://madeinbrazilmag.com/music/hernameisnicole-cover.jpg

Why don't we just make a Most Tragic Musician's Death poll and be done with it?

Hank William dying in the back of a car on New Year's Day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire

The fire at Great White gig that killed 100 people. Since there no proper measure for human life, I'd say a 100 people dying is worse than any death of a single musician.

We're talking Great White fans tho, right?

if we're gonna include fan deaths then you gotta include Altamont, the US Festival, etc.

wow can't believe it took me this long to remember Dimebag Darrell

RIP

cliff burton!

I guess the Varg murder thing was kinda tragic

tragic that they locked poor varg up.

aaliyah plane crash.

― suggestzybandias (jim), Thursday, June 11, 2009 2:56 PM (7 minutes ago)

oh shit yeah duh

pimp c purple drank overdose

Elic Clapton's son and the window.

some of these really aren't tragedies

aaliyah's death is a geniune tragedy... overdosing on drugs, while really sad and unfortunately, isn't really a tragedy...

I was going to second Sam Cooke until I saw Tuomas's post. Agreed. I live in Rhode Island, so that should have been obvious.
Another one for me is the unexpected death of Grant McLennan, who still had a ton of great songs left in him.

and unfortunate****

In the literary sense ODing on drugs is more of a tragedy than a plane crash.

Mama Cass eating herself to death.

(Lennon remains most tragic though)

Well... Besides Tuomas' reasoning, which is certainly a valid point too.

Island Records gives Kevin Shields a shit ton of money, his own recording studio & no deadlines.

I don't think it's that reasonable a point, if he's applying some sort of felicific calculus to death then the death of a talented musician denies a large amount of potential pleasure to a large number of people so I don't think a straight head count is a fair way of assessing this.

Mama Cass eating herself to death.

the reverse > Karen Carpenter.

there's also good tragedies, like 1000000 of slaves brought to the States, teaching the white guys some good rockin' music.

thank u slaves

The Station fire aside, I think of a rock and roll tragedy in terms of how much the fans have lost, rather than how sad or horrible the actual event was. John Lennon's murder was awful and all, but I really think his best work was behind him. Sam Cooke had a lot more great music in him, I'm sure. He also founded his own record label and publishing company, so who knows how far his influence in the black music community could have spread.
And although I've never been a huge fan, you could also argue that Jimi Hendrix showed us only the tip of the iceberg in terms of his creativity.

rip slavery

thank u slaves

yeah about time. somebody should put up a monument for them or something ;)

;^D

In the literary sense ODing on drugs is more of a tragedy than a plane crash.
This is a good point, however. Elvis is the classic American tragedy.

I don't think it's that reasonable a point, if he's applying some sort of felicific calculus to death then the death of a talented musician denies a large amount of potential pleasure to a large number of people so I don't think a straight head count is a fair way of assessing this.

I can't really think of any singular artist who might've produced enough potential pleasure to equal the tragedy of a 100 people dying. There are more than enough musicians in the world, dead artists will be replaced by new ones, so it's not like the death of an artist significally reduces the amount of pleasurable music available to anyone.

there are more than enough people in the world, dead people will be replaced by new ones

I can't really think of any singular artist who might've produced enough potential pleasure to equal the tragedy of a 100 people dying.

+ there's a chance one of those 100 would've done something more worthwile than Dimebag himself.

Let's say that Artist A gives X amount of pleasure to 1 million people during the remainder of her lifetime. The legacy of her music then continues to provide pleasure to another 5 million people over the following 30 years. That could easily outweigh the amount of pleasure x people given pleasure created by 100 nobodies. I'm not saying this is an absolute, but it seems as reasonable as your assumption.

there are more than enough people in the world, dead people will be replaced by new ones

Yes, but 100 deaths is still worse than 1 death.

Are 100 dead Nazis worse than 1 dead Gandhi?

+ there's a chance one of those 100 would've done something more worthwile than Dimebag himself.

its sad, they were the audience

Let's say that Artist A gives X amount of pleasure to 1 million people during the remainder of her lifetime. The legacy of her music then continues to provide pleasure to another 5 million people over the following 30 years. That could easily outweigh the amount of pleasure x people given pleasure created by 100 nobodies. I'm not saying this is an absolute, but it seems as reasonable as your assumption.

Yes, but this works only if you assume that the amount of pleasurable music the fans of an artist will hear after his death is automatically reduced by the number of his potential future recordings, whereas in reality other artists will most likely replace the dead artist in the fans' listening repertoire, and the amount of pleasure they get from music will remain roughly the same.

Also, let's not forget that the worship of a martyred icon might give the fans more pleasure than watching their hero become fat and old and irrelevant.

Also, let's not forget that the worship of a martyred icon might give the fans more pleasure than watching their hero become fat and old and irrelevant.

lol nice one :)

But we're talking about classic artists here whose loss to the musical world is widely considered irreplaceable. Once again: not saying this is certain one way or another, merely questioning the blanketness of your assertion that 100 parasitic do-nothings who have stolen from others their whole lives are worth more than Mozart.

Even if they're irreplaceable, the rough amount of pleasure people will get from music will remain the same, because there's always plenty of other artists to provide pleasure, even if it's not exactly the same pleasure that you get from a particular artist.

So you're saying that all musicians are wasting their time then?

I don't think there are too many fans so hardcore that they automatically start listening to less music because their idol has died.

there are more than enough musicians in the world, dead musicians will be replaced by new ones

Music is just some faceless commodity where we have no interest in the drones who churn it out as long as product continues to flow?

So you're saying that all musicians are wasting their time then?

No, all I'm saying is that you can't use an utilitarian approach to justify that the worth of one great musician is more than 100 regular people.

100 parasitic do-nothings who have stolen from others their whole lives
Uh, what?

But you used a utilitarian approach to justify that the worth of 100 regular people was more than 1 great musician.

Yes, it works that way around, but not the other way around.

In fact you reduced both musicians and regular people to faceless statistics who could be stacked against each other on the scales of mortality, denying them their individuality or any notion of worth.

Also you have a shaky grasp of Utilitarianism.

D. Boon was already fat. Another point for him!

Well, how can you say that one human life is worth more than another? How do you measure it? I just tried to explain that the utilitarian way of measuring it doesn't work in this case.

(xx-post)

If by "the utilitarian way of measuring" you are referring to Felicific Calculus, then it is a complex and finely-balanced formula which does not lend itself to a base weighing of pounds of flesh.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

All people may be created equal but all lives are not of equal value. The unemployed, the stupid, the anti-social do not contribute equally to the sum total of human happiness with creators of art and wealth and beauty.

worst tragedies in pop music history thread bringin the lols

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicific_calculus

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/2/tunnelofhorror.gif

this thread is so philosophical the real tragedy is that i dont have a clue what u r talking about!

Felicific Calculus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrm-rPSCIBw

Invented by Jeremy Bentham. In short, 1 Drummer out of Feeder is worth 1000 sweaty gig-monkeys

All people may be created equal but all lives are not of equal value. The unemployed, the stupid, the anti-social do not contribute equally to the sum total of human happiness with creators of art and wealth and beauty.

But you have no way of knowing some of those 100 people would've not become great artists themselves. Also, I think most people agree that the unhappiness caused by death of a musician is still better than 100 people dying. Most people can live with that unhappiness without massive trauma, but 100 people dying will produce massive trauma for thousands of people.

Without statistics that argument is untenable.

But you have no way of knowing some of those 100 people would've not become great artists themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_O%27Neill

Without statistics that argument is untenable.

So is your argument.

Facebook Group Jim Morrison: 134,131 fans

Facebook Group Great White Fans: 12 members

QED, Man.

as a parasitic do-nothing i can't help but get the feeling that noodlez is insulting me.

Don't take it personally Matt, I include myself here in recognising that we're so much chaff in the wind compared to a Cliff Burton.

will be voting aaliyah

Among 100 people, chances are some of them will eventually produce something that a lot of other people appreciate. Doesn't neccessarily have to be music, you know.

I vote Donna Godchaux's vocals on "Playing in the Band", July 7, 1974.

billy squier's "rock me tonite" video

heheh xpost

1 June 1973 - Paralyzation of Robert Wyatt

In the states, only 50 people know who Robert Wyatt is, and that's because they heard of him via Pink Floyd. Also, they all post here.

OH WELL FUCK HIM THEN

Actually, the paralyzation of Robert Wyatt was obviously a tragedy for himself, but proved to be a blessing for his musical career.

why doesn't he learn to fucking walk

BECAUSE NO AMERICANS CARE ABOUT HIM

As far as the cataclysmic effects, it doesn't hold a candle to the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens.

That plane crash probably wasn't the worst tragedy, but it went down in history as the first tragedy.

Mozart - 35
Schubert - 31
Chopin - 39

all musicians are wasting their time then?
Pretty much, but what else are you going to do in the hours between puberty and death?

OK..

The death of Princess Diana, which led to the issue of "Candle in the wind" with mawkish new words, which becamethe biggest selling song ever. Which means that for all the work and creativity of all music ever, none of it is as important as one popular member of the Royal Family.

Michael Jackson's face

Going back to Tuomas' argument, I think it's a mistake to equate loss of pleasure of potential great music due to the death of a musician with the loss of pleasure due to the death of a close friend or family member.

Jackie Wilson laying in a coma bed for eight years.

Yes let's all go back to Tuomas' argument.

the lolz of the many outweight the lols of the few.

clifford brown, dead in a car crash @ 26
booker little, kidney failure @ 23

Think you should probably just save the poll a massive clusterfuck and cut out the suicides and ODs really.

Would you leave in the autoerotic asphyxiations?

Autoerotic asphyxiation is usually too funny to be a tragedy.

Has there ever been a high profile case of death by autoerotic asphyxiation that wasn't funny? I'm only aware of three and they're all hilarious.

roy orbison's kids dying in a house fire? or his wife (motorcycle accident, i think?)

(Think it's probably best to stick to actual musicians here, see also Eric Clapton's son and whatever it is Tuomas is wittering on about).

Hey, the guitarist from Great White died in that fire too.

(Lennon remains most tragic though)

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, June 11, 2009 7:21 PM

Awww bless.

Kirsty MacColl getting decapitated by a speedboat in front of her family strikes me as pretty tragic

also all those guys in Mayhem who shot/bludgeoned/blew up/ate each other :(

/stabbed

That plane crash probably wasn't the worst tragedy, but it went down in history as the first tragedy.

Glenn Miller's disappearance in 1944 would probably qualify as the first.

Django Reinhardt died early too - brain hemorrhage I believe.

Robert Johnson, murdered at 27, 1938.

Eddie Cochrane, died in a road accident aged 21, 1960.

Eddie Cochran rather.

Sandy Denny, brain haemorrhage aged 31, 1978.

Bix Beiderbecke, died from "alcohol withdrawal" aged 28, 1931.

Mozart - 35
Schubert - 31
Chopin - 39

Defining them as "pop music" may be a bit borderline though. Particularly considering the first two didn't become really popular until after their deaths.

neither did diana

The Kirsty MacColl death I found to be particularly terrible, horrifying and cruel, especially considering she saved her child in the process of being ripped in half

although that fucken Pogues song pisses me off, I might vote for her

I didn't actually know she saved her child, fuck :(

Actually, listening to "Fairytale in NY" and watching the video and all, it seems pretty weird that the guy would survive the girl.

a speedboat to the head is one of those things that even the top doctors can't predict

xpost I always thought that also, re: Ivor Cutler and John Peel.

Jeff Buckley goes for an evening swim in the Wolf River: June 4, 1997

Obv I should have caffinated, and expanded the thread, before doing page searches.

Actually, listening to "Fairytale in NY" and watching the video and all, it seems pretty weird that the guy would survive the girl.

they were truly the Hart Foundation of popular music

"Bix Beiderbecke, died from "alcohol withdrawal" aged 28, 1931."

Whoah, holy shit.

My second vote is the assassination of the Bag.

Who gives a shit about tragedy. Who had the coolest death? Anyone explode? Hacked to pieces?

That drummer from Toto.

'Coolest' ?

Ricky Nelson, I believe.

I'm still upset about Eddie Cochran.

'Anyone explode? hacked to pieces?'

Bobby Fuller -

"Just after "I Fought The Law" became a top ten hit, Bobby Fuller was found dead in his automobile, which was parked near his Los Angeles home. The police considered the death an apparent suicide/accident, however, many people believe Fuller was murdered. The investigation was botched from the start. The crime scene was not secured and no fingerprints were obtained. A witness also claimed seeing a police officer throw a can of gasoline found at the scene into the trash. Fuller was found with multiple wounds all over his body and covered in gasoline leading many to speculate that the perpetrators fled before they could set the car on fire."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fuller

jesus Bix was only 28!?!

tragedy
when your mom's in bed with your uncle fred
tragedy
when your balls get stuck to a moving truck

tragedy
when you need a poo and it won't come through

Greil Marcus devised something called the "Rock Death Meter" in an old Creem (Voice?) piece, where he applied a (mostly ironic, I think) rating system based on past contributions, future contributions, and manner of death. I can't find an online link to the original piece--I think maybe Sam Cooke came out on top--but here's a link to an update by somebody else. My real answer would be somebody obvious like Cobain or Hendrix, where there was probably lots of good stuff still to come. My wiseguy answer would be the time I left an import copy of White Light/White Heat in a friend's trunk overnight and it came out looking like a sponge.

WTF @ thread.

Was going to mention sandy denny, but someone already did.

Dolly Collins, Randy California, eh.

Many many years ago when I was laid up in bed with a bout of Asperger's I tried to replicate Marcus' chart for 90s rock deaths. Quickly realised it wasn't worth it. Seem to recall I shoehorned in Bill Hicks to make it more 'interesting'

Keith Moon's death was boringly uncool compared to the many wild things he had done previously which did not kill him.

Styx's Live Debut of the enitrety of Kilroy Was Here at Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont IL. 10/20/83