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Dead Rock Star Idolization?
Partially inspired by jpiepenbrok... I say partially because I had actually intended to ask this question some time ago, but forgot. Anyway, of all the dead and buried rockers who hordes of "fans" pay homage to, which ones actually deserve it, and which ones are glorified simply because they died?
I'm going to toss out two names:
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Well deserved admiration. He was well on his way to bringing blues guitar back into the concious landscape and is highly regarded by his peers as being the best modern day blues guitarist.
Randy Rhoads - Love the guy, but not so much. Randy received a great deal of his fame through his association with Ozzy. His guitar abilities weren't even considered substantially great when he was alive and playing... just a damn good rock guitarist. Since his death, he's been put on the pedestal with the all time greats, when honestly, just about any guitar player with decent chops can play his songs.
1st up, to anybody who feels like Kurt Cobain is worthy of being idolized.... he was a strung out heroin junkie who knew two and a half chords, couldn't sing at all, and wrote horrid songs. He sucked at life, and he knew it, so he took the easy way out and splattered his brains on the wall with a shotgun blast. Yeah... I want my son to grow up to be just like him.
Holden and jpiepenbrok - Totally agreed on Buddy Holly. Had he not come along while Elvis was in the Army, rock & roll may well have died and disappeared. Buddy Holly single handedly kept the genre alive.
mustang_girlie - I cannot in goon concious agree with you on Layne Stayley. He was another junkie. He shouldn't be idolized. He should be used as an example of how NOT to live.
8 Track Mind - Sorry dude, Morrison was not a poet. Willam Butler Yeats was a poet. Dylan Thomas was a poet. Emily Dickinson was a poet. Morrison was just another drunk who gets deified today because Oliver Stone thought he was cool
Darth - I'm actually with you on Hendrix and Bonham, even though they still get extra praise heaped on top because they managed to kill themselves while in their prime. ... and Ozzy Fan... he's what 17? he wasn't even alive when Rhoads died. I can think of 20 contemporary guitarists who were better than he was.
Craig P - I'm in agreeancce on Dimebag, and I'm not even a fan. The guy was getting mad props and being elevated to that "guitar god" level before he died.
Nishaant Kapoor - Brilliant, deep lyrics? Since when is "A mulatto,An albino, A mosquito, My libido, Yea" a brilliant and deep lyric?
RoValle - I suppose we have different sources, because everyone I know from that era puts Holly up there with Elvis.... and they also hold reverence for several of the other names you mentions. Fats Domino and Ricky Nelson in particular performed two of the most famous songs of all time.
Dani - Bradley Nowell is a PERFECT example. Sublime would have been completely unheard of if not for this guy ODing. Hadn't they already broken up before he died because they weren't selling records?
Ozz Fan - Dude, Randy had *zero* noteriety from Quiet Riot. They couldn't get a deal in the States. Japan took a shot at them, but the album didn't sell. No one heard the guys named until he latched on with Ozzy, and I'm telling you man, nobody gave a rat's behind about him until he died. It's funny, most of the people that idolize Rhoads weren't around during his time, and believe me, there are and were much better players.
27 Answers
- BeerJonLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
I'll add more to this later, as I have to go now. Here's my 2 cents for the time being...
Buddy Holly - Definitely deserving of the admiration. Buddy's unfortunate death via airplane in 1959 robbed the world of what many believe would be decades of influential material. Granted, Elvis and others came first, but Buddy Holly & the Crickets developed rock n roll into something even more unique and fresh and new than ever thought of previously. He is often cited as THE most influential figure in rock n roll.
Kurt Cobain - I have mixed feelings about this guy. Sure, I like Nirvana, always have. I feel the band and their frontman were highly overrated. Nirvana reinvigorated rock music? No. They were, in my opinion, in the right place at the right time to garner popular success. The mainstream success of Nirvana was the naill in the coffin for the guitar solo for years to come, in popular music. Musicianship was replaced by verse-chorus-verse, sing-scream-sing, formulaic crap that is still around today. Nirvana's infuences were brilliant: The Pixies, Ramones, Mudhoney, etc., but I don't believe one single band worthy of anything can cite them as an influence. I believe wholeheartedly that if he hadn't offed himself, we would've forgotten about him long ago.
(EDIT)
Gotta add: Kurt was a horrible lyricist. Anyone can string together word salad and call it poetry. Give me an adolescent break...
And the raspy vocal delivery? Not so much a style as it was a result of too many cigarettes and crystal meth.
Back later...
(EDIT)
Aloha...
Chuck Schuldiner - Chuck Schuldiner, with the band Death, innovated death metal and extreme metal as a whole when it was so young that no one even thought of innovating it! Listen to some of the first death metal records... sound as if they were recorded in a men's room... Chuck took a brilliant blueprint and put an amazing technical spin on it, the wake of which is still rocking ships today! Anyone reading this who is not a fan of the genre, I strongly encourage you to look into Death - it will give you a whole new perspective on the genre thanks to Chuck's innovative structuring and brilliant musicianship. He didn't deserve cancer... though no one does.
John Lennon - I am gonna get so much sh*t for this. I don't think Lennon deserves the praise he gets, and here's why: during his long, strange trip with The Beatles, he wrote some of the most innovative music of the time that still bears influence today; yet when people remember him, what do they remember? Imagine. One of the worst songs ever written. My opinion only, not fact, so don't burn me at the stake. What I'm getting at, is why do we remember him for his "solo" career with Yoko Ono, the destroying force behind the band? Few people specifically know which Beatles songs he wrote, yet everyone knows "Imagine," and "the album they appeared naked together on." I say give me a break. He would still be huge today, but he would have gone through a huge slump during the 80s and 90s, as far as creative output goes, as that was the direction he was heading already.
So, I gues I'm saying it's ok to idolize him for his Beatles work, but I think the Yoko years and solo stuff needs to be ignored.
- RoValeLv 71 decade ago
According to people I've talked to who were alive in the late 1950s, Buddy Holly wasn't that big a name. He had had a few hit songs but his career was cut short before it really had a chance to take off. They say that if he hadn't died when he did, he likely would be largely forgotten today. How many people really remember Paul Anka, Bobby Darin, Pat Boone, Duane Eddy, Fabian, Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, and Jackie Wilson? All these male artists were more popular at the time than Buddy Holly. The difference is that they outlived that era and had a chance to fade into oblivion while Buddy never did. To be honest, I think the same thing would have happened to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison if they had lived instead of dying young.
- AntoniaLv 45 years ago
Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin Jim Morrison John Lennon, George Harrison - The Beatles Keith Moon - The Who Brian Jones - The Rolling Stones Buddy Holly Ritchie Valens J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson John Bonham - Led Zeppelin Eric Carr - Kiss Jerry Garcia - The Garteful Dead Duane Allman - Allman Brothers Band Marc Bolan - T-Rex Steve Clark - Def Leppard Kurt Cobain - Nirvana Cass Elliot - Mamas and Papas Ronnie Van Zant , Cassie Gaines, Steven Gaines - Lynyrd Skynyrd Bob Marley Tommy Bolin - Deep Purple Freddie Mercury - Queen Carl & Dennis Wilson - The Beach Boys RIP :o)
- Anonymous1 decade ago
okay buddy listen up
1. Randy Rhoads is my idol, I'm not sure if you knew that
2. He is Great, The solo is Mr. Crowley is in the top 10 of all time... just listen to it, he shreds like a paper- shredder!!!! He is a great player... not many can match his speed!! His fame was not just because he was with Ozzy, of course that is what gave him most of his fame but he played for Quiet Riot before he was with Ozzy
3. I am not 17 I am 15 and that does not mean that I don't know when a rock star died, and I am an idiot like you implied so what I wasn't there when he died? I heard all his work and I love it....
- Dani GLv 71 decade ago
Elliott Smith - Still rather over looked but his death helped more of the public to have access to his work. He was an amazing song writer and performer.
Duane Allman - amazing guitarist that definitely deserves the admiration he gets
Bradley Nowell - he was an amazing performer, but sometimes I believe the popularity of Sublime hinged on his death. I don't think they would've been as big if he didn't die.....don't get me wrong, I love the band.
John Lennon - definitely deserved the glorification
Edit: Actually he and the band were on tour to promote the release of the self titled disc (originally named Killin' It....renamed after his death) which came out about two months after his death.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Who do I think deserves to be idolized...
Jimi Hendrix
Not many guitarists can duplicate the things Mr Hendrix did with a Guitar.
John Bonham
I have heard one Drummer that equals or surpasses His skill. and None that surpass His Power.
Who do I think does not deserve to be Idolized...
Kurt Cobain
People constantly talk abouth what an amazing guitarist He was...I know R&P members who are more talented Guitarists, literally.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
I respectfully disagree with Your assessment. To Me He was no better than average and only His death made Him into a legend...no offence Mike
By the way....Ozzy Osbourne Fan is going to go ape**** when He reads that about His Idol Randy Rhodes...lol!
- Psychedelic WillLv 51 decade ago
Jeffery Hyman, John Cummings,and Doug Colvin. All very talented and underrated musicians. They didn't get the respect they so justly deserved. And I guess since some out in R&P land are going Who the Hell are those guys...Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone.
Jim Morrison IMO was good, but not as good as HE thought he was in his own mind.
- James MLv 61 decade ago
Mike, I think you struck a chord here!
As for yes homages - Elvis, Lennon are the obviuos choices,
But I would add Marvin Gaye - shot by his old man after the quality Sexual Healing invigorated his career. I would have loved to see SRV evolve
Many of the others mentioned are no's.
Source(s): How will you answer this question in 20 years when people are paying tribute to Britney, Amy Winehouse, Gerard, etc?! - 1 decade ago
I know Darth has already mentioned them, but ...
Jimi Hendrix *
John Bonham
* = Many people say Hendrix died at his peak - that he was at the top of the mountain, and about to start heading down the other side. Personally, I don't know...
People who I feel *should* get more attention :~
Sandy Denny
Robert Palmer
Nick Drake
********* ***********
Beatle Fanatic :
I can't believe I forgot about Freddie!
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Jello Bello 1945-1997
Greatest Guitarist and Lyricist that ever lived... Choked on a KoЯn Kernel (Possible Suicide).
God Bless
