Musicians who committed suicide and no one seemed to care

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The one that got me most was Jim Ellison from Material Issue. Though I did not love the band I did like them. I was shocked when I found out recently that Mr. Ellison had commited suicide. He's been dead quite a long while and I have not even known about it.

― Roman (Roman), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

The guy from Big Country. Stuart Adamson I think his name was? Very very sad. He'd been an alcoholic for like ten years.

― Evan (Evan), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

epic soundtracks

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick Drake. For 20 years!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

material issue guy did it in a very unrockstar way, starting his moped in a closed garage.

― keith (keithmcl), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

material issue guy did it in a very unrockstar way, starting his moped in a closed garage.

Geeze... it really was sad!

― Roman (Roman), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought there would be more of a response when Michael Hutchence of INXS did himself in also but he also seems to have gone without much fanfare.

― Roman (Roman), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:56 (twenty-two years ago)

vh-1 did a behind the music on him.

― keith (keithmcl), Thursday, 29 May 2003 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, I really loved their singles. I had no idea, this makes me sad. And what is weird is that it makes me genuinely sad, not sad in a "that's too bad but I will get on with my day in 20 minutes" sad.

They were a band with potential who just came out at the wrong time and got lost in the mix.

I was thinking about Michael H. a couple days ago at a family gathering. My family was trying to relate to me and discuss things they think would interest me. I appreciated it, but it just struck me as weird how they assumed things that mattered to me in the past were still vitally important. They did not see me, they saw what they thought was me.

It has to be horrible to go through your middle adult life being defined by an image that you created when you were 17.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Thursday, 29 May 2003 03:03 (twenty-two years ago)

also it must have been real tough for him to understand that Material Issue was initially receiving a lot more attention from MTV/120 Minutes than another Chicago band that started getting the hype about a year later. That band was called Smashing Pumpkins. SP became huge, and MI is a footnote band for music geeks.

God, I cannot get over how sad this makes me. I never had the albums or was a huge fan, but Valerie Loves Me and Diane came out right as I hit high school and started getting seriously into music. They were both huge hits in the pre-Nevermind sense of Alternative hits. They both received a lot of play from 120 minutes and 89x back in the day. Those two singles really meant a lot to me, in a very pivotal soundtrack of youth sort of way. They were both pop, but they always came across as bittersweet, and they some how made you feel uplifted and sad inside. It is such a pop cliché, but it is so totally applicable in this case.

They always gave me a very specific feeling. I am having a bit of trouble putting it into words. It is just a sub verbal feeling that accompanies a set of images of being about 14. Driving down certain streets in a car listening to Valerie, talking about covering it at a band practice when I was 14, thinking about it in high school, taping them on 120 minutes and watching it on video tape years and years later.

I never took a step towards those songs, those songs stepped towards me. They are a part of my musical life and I cannot shake them. I don't understand why his death, especially 7 years after the fact, is bothering me so much. The melancholy of those songs and the time in my life is washing over me. I do not know why it is bothering me so much, but it really is bothering me.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Thursday, 29 May 2003 03:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah... I dug "Diane" a whole lot.

― Roman (Roman), Thursday, 29 May 2003 03:28 (twenty-two years ago)

does Shannon Hoon count?

by the way, as I understand it, Nick Drake overdosed, and it's never been confirmed that it was on purpose. No note.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 29 May 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Richie Lee, bassist and vocalist for Acetone.

So sad, as Acetone was surely one of the most overlooked bands of all time. Especially their last couple of albums.

― blutroniq (blutroniq), Thursday, 29 May 2003 04:16 (twenty-two years ago)

that guy from milli vanilli, if he counts as a musician.

― todd swiss (eliti), Thursday, 29 May 2003 05:07 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't want to start any false rumors, but didn't the guy fronting skinny puppy intentionally overdose in his mother's basement where he was living?

― j.a.e., Thursday, 29 May 2003 05:38 (twenty-two years ago)

jim shepard. fucking genius.

― jack cole (jackcole), Thursday, 29 May 2003 05:52 (twenty-two years ago)

phil ochs totally owns the thread

― mig, Thursday, 29 May 2003 06:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick Drake overdosed on antidepressants, I think, of which one generally takes a small number daily: to overdose on them hard enough to kill you, you have to make a really good effort, as ND apparently did

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 29 May 2003 07:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Antidepressants back then might have been different from the SSRI types now, so I don't know if it would have been harder or easier to kill yourself.

Did Jeff Buckley intentionally step into the river knowing he was gonna be swept away by powerful currents? Or did he think he was a strong enough swimmer? His dad writing "Song to the Siren" is eerie though. ("Should I stand amid the breakers? / Or should I lie with death my bride?")

Did Lester Bangs accidentally overdose on Darvon or whatever that cough medicine was called?

And I'm not sure it was ever proven that Shannon Hoon intentionally overdosed, either.

Somewhere along the line I missed that Jeffrey Lee Pierce died in 96 or so (not suicide, just lifestyle catching up). I think it was around 99 that I finally clued in, and I was sad for weeks, I have no idea why. The Gun Club were great, but I stopped listening to them years before Jeffrey fell apart.

― David A. (Davant), Thursday, 29 May 2003 08:03 (twenty-two years ago)

From a personal point of view - it has to be Cobain. I hated his music and the man when he was alive - it mattered little to me that he was dead.

― russ t, Thursday, 29 May 2003 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I certainly wouldn't say 'no one seemed to care', because plenty of people cared very deeply, but two people who spring to mind are Chris Acland from Lush and Matthew Fletcher from Heavenly. No extended MTV tributes or four-page specials in the music press because, of course, they weren't ever at that level of fame.

Just a couple of people I met once or twice briefly in the early 90s who seemed to have a hell of a lot going for them, personally and professionally, who were charming and funny, but who decided they couldn't go on.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 29 May 2003 08:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Nick Drake was taking amitryptilene.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 29 May 2003 08:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Adrian Borland of The Sound, and the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils.

― tigerclawskank, Thursday, 29 May 2003 08:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Well I'm glad at least someone else noticed Jim Shepard. Where are the reissues, and post-humous releases that nearly every other great dead musician gets? (or Kurdt vs Jim fite!) Hell even the Skeptics got a box set.

― hamish (hamish), Thursday, 29 May 2003 08:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Darby Crash of the Germs O.D.'s on purpose and layed down on a crucifix, thinking he'd earn himself rock deity status ala Sid Vicious. Trouble is, John Lennon died the same day, so no one gave a fuck about Darby. Alas....

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 29 May 2003 09:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I think Nick Drake was taking amitryptilene.

Fuck, yes, I just got a flood of memories from working with homeless people with psychiatric problems back in the UK. That was a common drug back then. You suddenly realize how much of a breakthrough Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Effexor, etc have been. Overdose is damn near impossible on SSRIs, I think.

So, given that it was easier to OD on amitryptilene, was Nick Drake's overdose accidental?

― David A. (Davant), Thursday, 29 May 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, the lovely Zac Foley from EMF who died way, way too young last year.

― russ t, Thursday, 29 May 2003 10:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll go along with Jim Shepard. I didn't even hear about it right away. Ronald Koal was big news, people still don't even know who Jim Shepard was.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 29 May 2003 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

didn't those two dudes from badfinger hang themselves cuz nobody cared about them when they were alive? or was it cuz their record labels didn't care?

― brian badword (badwords), Thursday, 29 May 2003 11:17 (twenty-two years ago)

That one guy from the Gin Blossoms.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Thursday, 29 May 2003 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Manuel...?

but perhaps it ain't quite right to name the late Band member on this thread?
it wasn't exactly like "no one seemed to care" -- not after he was gone: Robbie Robertson and Clapton (of all people) both dedicated songs to him

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 29 May 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

no one gave a fuck about Darby

this was patently not the case in southern California, where all my friends grieved Darby pretty intensely

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Thursday, 29 May 2003 12:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Tommy Boyce and Del Shannon and probably some other rockers whom everyone had forgotten.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 29 May 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually recall Del Shannon's suicide getting alot of ink

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

supposedly he was gonna be the next Wilbury

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow... a depressing, but educational thread. I had no idea about the frontman from Acetone. I was wondering about whatever happened to them just recently. R.I.P.

― Ben Boyer, Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Did Billy Mackenzie get much fuss kicked up?

― Ferg (Ferg), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Darby Crash of the Germs O.D.'s on purpose and layed down on a crucifix, thinking he'd earn himself rock deity status ala Sid Vicious.

Did this really happen?

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

this was patently not the case in southern California, where all my friends grieved Darby pretty intensely

Mebbe so, but ask the average joe on the street who Darby Crash was, and you'll get blank looks.

Quite sadly, Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics fits this thread to a T. Her self-inflicted gunshot would to the head (through the mouth, I remember reading) generated the minimum of press flurry (People Magazine gaver her a column and a pic), but by the end of the year obit roundups, she was nowhere to be found.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Billy mackenzie - I was in Glasgow the day he died and there was a really huge fuss - local hero and all that stuff.... but it didn't make the papers in England, only the music rags.

For someone as important, influential and downright fabulous as Sir Mackenzie, it should've been a national day of mourning.....

― russ t, Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Chris Bell?

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

jim shepard's recording legacy is controlled by his ex-wife and son. don't get your hopes up if any of it will ever see the light of day again.

― jack cole (jackcole), Thursday, 29 May 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow... a depressing, but educational thread. I had no idea about the frontman from Acetone. I was wondering about whatever happened to them just recently. R.I.P.
yeah... it seems that are a quite a few that have passed that I had not known about.

― Roman (Roman), Thursday, 29 May 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Does Mike Bloomfield count?

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Thursday, 29 May 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

The drummer(?) from Heavenly

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 29 May 2003 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Adrian Borland of The Sound and Chris Acland of Lush

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 29 May 2003 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

One of the two lead guys from Chance the Gardener.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 May 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I think more attention would've been paid to Michael Hutchence's passing if not for the circumstances of how it happened...and it wasn't an intentional suicide anyway.

*googling for that story about the remaining members of INXS asking Mike Patton to replace Hutchence & horrible mean hilarity ensuing*

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 29 May 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

18 Jul 2002 Ex-Faith No More frontman Mike Patton was asked to join INXS after singer Michael Hutchence hung himself 1997. And you wanna know what Mr. Patton said?
"I told them that the only way I would do it was if I came on stage and could rig up a noose and hang myself while I was singing," said the barking mad singer in an interview with US paper the East Bay Express.
Patton said he resorted to shock tactics after the Aussie band wouldn't take no for an answer.
"They got all uppity," he said. "And from that point on, I just tried to make fun of them at every available opportunity. I tried to talk as much shit as I could. 'What do you mean you said no? You didn't even consider it?' And I said, 'Would you?' And they said, 'Of course, we are one of the most prestigious Australian acts blah blah blah'. He'd ask me a few other questions, and then he'd go back to it. 'So really, about that INXS thing ...' I said, 'OK, look. I did consider it.' I told them that the only way I would do it was if I came on stage and could rig up a noose and hang myself while I was singing."
Patton really put his foot in it as his comments were reported on national radio back in Australia during the country's National Suicide Awareness Week. Needless to say Hutchence's parents were not amused.

"I was rough," continued the singer. "But hey, you can come out snarling when your back is against the wall, and plus they suck! Fuck them! They are fucking godawful! And not only that, I turned them down and they didn't want me to talk about that fact? Kiss my ass! Dingo-loving sons of bitches!"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 29 May 2003 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Much as I have always had a soft spot for INXS, this story is utter and uncontrolled evil genius.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 May 2003 18:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm pretty sure that "dingo-loving sons of bitches" is on the Queensland license plate.

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Thursday, 29 May 2003 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Chris Bell did not commit suicide.

― don weiner, Thursday, 29 May 2003 19:07 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought chris bell died in a car accident.

― j fail (cenotaph), Thursday, 29 May 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Some guy from Feeder killed himself. Who gave a fuck about that?

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Thursday, 29 May 2003 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

J.J. Johnson, because he was old and basically euthanized himself. Even though he was past his prime, he still sounded great and it was sad.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 29 May 2003 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

didnt that alice in chains guy kill himself or overdose? layne staley or whatever, nobody seemed to care in my neck of the woods

― todd swiss (eliti), Friday, 30 May 2003 01:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I was going to say Layne Staley as soon as I saw this thread but then I realized that *I* didn't really care.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 30 May 2003 02:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Everything I ever said hypothetically in those "Well if I was a rock-star I'd do this" conversations, Mike Patton has done, 100X better even.

What a great man.

― David Allen, Friday, 30 May 2003 02:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Shrimper released a Jim Shepard thing not long ago!

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Friday, 30 May 2003 03:28 (twenty-two years ago)

INXS achieved more with one album than Faith no More (remember them.... thought not) did in a whole shoddy career.....

― russ t, Friday, 30 May 2003 08:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Funny, I couldn't come up with any artist I dig who would've commited suicide. That's probably because I don't listen to rock. Taking your life is a very rockist thing to do, isn't it? Or can you name any famous hip hop or techno artists who killed themselves? Although the explanation probably goes the other way around - people with suicidal tendencies probably aren't prone to producing dance music, and a lot if hip hop artists have had hard enought times surviving, so suicide isn't probably the first thing their thinking of. I mean, commiting suicide is kinda bourgeoisie thing to do, ain't it?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 30 May 2003 09:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The ausopsy revealed that Staley died of an overdose combining heroin with cocain(he was already considered "dead" for years for his drug experementations) more self destruction than suicide.

an early member of SPK who was schizophrenic had killed himself before Ian Curtis did, but he was no musician, mostly wrote the early crazy lyrics.

― Jrvision (visionjr), Friday, 30 May 2003 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Patton's quote was funny but playing with them would've been more 'avant' or whatever he's into than playing ex-Jesus Lizard guys

― dave q, Friday, 30 May 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

an early member of SPK who was schizophrenic

that'd be Ne/H/il. i think he had a big hand in the SoliPsiK 7" that M Squared released which I like more than every other SPK song I've heard

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 30 May 2003 10:46 (twenty-two years ago)

YesYes, that was i think their third EP, thats why i said mostly. his real name was Neil Hill. I'm currently injoying the Despair video of their old preformances from 79 through 82.

― Jrvision (visionjr), Friday, 30 May 2003 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

When the dude from Feeder kicked it, The Guardian devoted an entire page to it.

For a drummer.

A whole page.

Wtf?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 30 May 2003 11:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Richard Manuel...?
...Robbie Robertson and Clapton (of all people) both dedicated songs to him

haha and so did Counting Crows on their last album but we certainly don't care about that.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 30 May 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Faith no More (remember them.... thought not)

wtf?

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 30 May 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

an early member of SPK who was schizophrenic had killed himself before Ian Curtis did, but he was no musician, mostly wrote the early crazy lyrics.

That's the guy that whats-his-name met while working in a mental hospital, right?

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Friday, 30 May 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Thats right, Oblivion/operatore was taking care of him at a mental hospital. he continiued working as a nurse there while recording the first eps in australia with NeHil. after the second ep he left to tour in the UK and US with the temporary members, but NeHil stayed and recorder the SoliPsiK 7" ep. Oblivion/Operatore was touring a lot while NeHil stayed in australia.

― Jrvision (visionjr), Friday, 30 May 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

Polyamory is planning to go 'legitimate' for our tenth anniversary in 2006 (starting with a double album 'best of' compendium), and i think our first project is going to be to try to reissue / release all the lost Jim Shepard stuff, if somebody doesn't do it before we do.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

When Cobain died, it didn't register at all. I thought "how sad"
and continued with my daily routine.

When Layne Staley died, I actually had a bit of a tear in my
eye. And I'm not even an Alice In Chains fan - they're pleasant,
but I don't own any of their records. But it was so damn foolish
and sad, and the fact that his death had evident for years didn't
"soften the blow," it made it even sadder. If you listen to his
lyrics, he knew exactly what path he was on; "Wake up, young
man, wake up - slow suicide's no way to go," which is just one
example out of many. Staley knew he was spiralling down into
oblivion, but he felt there was nothing he could do. And that is so
incredibly sad to me.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

i was more affected by chris acland and mathew fletcher's suicides than kurt cobain or elliot smith

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)

But according to news reports, officials could not determine
whether Elliot Smith's stabbing was self-inflicted or not.
Let the conspiracy theories flow.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll bet the CIA killed him.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

He was getting too close to the truth...

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

...just like Bobby Fuller.

― earlnash, Thursday, 8 April 2004 02:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I had no idea about Crash, I thought it was just an accidental OD.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 8 April 2004 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't hear about Jim Shepard untill 2 years after it happened because it was during my post-college but pre-paying attention to music period (97-2000) I was shocked, thought the girl telling me was making it up.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 8 April 2004 03:40 (twenty-one years ago)

When Kurt Cobain died, I didn't even know who he was. I was like, "Who? Nirvana? Who the hell are they?"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 8 April 2004 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Yogi Horton, Barney Bubbles (album cover artist) and Donny Hathaway

actually, Alex In NYC could probably post a good visual tribute to Mr. Bubbles

― Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 8 April 2004 04:18 (twenty-one years ago)

if this thread would be 'saddest death of a musician' i would add the singer of SoulIISoul who ran into a car after a failed attempt of shoplifting.

― eleki-san (eleki-san), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Dee Dee Ramone. When Joey died a few months earlier, there was a tremendous outpouring of sadness and tribute. When Dee Dee died, you could almost hear the public shrugging.

― mike a, Thursday, 8 April 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The late, great Jimmy Donley.

― rumple, Thursday, 8 April 2004 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

jim shepard maybe the only suicide of an musician that ever bothered me.

― jack cole (jackcole), Thursday, 8 April 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Mike Taylor--

Thank you for posting about Material Issue. I totally never knew who sang that song and I love it!!

― ken taylrr, Thursday, 8 April 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

People have been mentioning Matthew Fletcher. It was a strange night back in June 96...the party plans that Saturday got called off here in London obviously, plenty of drinks were drunk, his (fairly recent) ex among others was there...no, these things don't make the national headlines, but the effects reveberate through their own communities for a long time. Everyone talked about on this thread is, I'm sure, gone but not forgotten.

― Canada Briggs (Canada Briggs), Thursday, 8 April 2004 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

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