Who is the most missed musical artist?
 

Sometimes they were gone too soon. For most people, any musician who is no longer with us was gone too soon.
This is a thread dedicated to the musicians you wish hadn't kicked the bucket.

I personally get the feeling and vibe of "Discontent" concerning Buddy Holly and Stevie Ray Vaughn, oddly both of them in almost the same way.
Who knows what these two artist could have achieved if they would had lived longer.

Who is your most missed musical artist?

Albert Ayler, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Dolphy, and Kaoru Abe all passed away too early, and I feel like they all would have made some (more) phenomenal music had they stuck around for longer.

I would say Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, among others, but in those cases they lived long lives that included several incredible contributions to art. It'd be nice if they were still around though.

Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Barry White, Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, 2Pac, just to name a few. I know some of these weren't young to pass away too soon but they were still banging out hits at the time. Not so much with Ray Charles though.

Here are the coroner's reports from plane crash on Feb 3rd, 1959. They begin for the 3 young men about 1/3 scroll down. To read them is heartbreaking...

Buddy Holly: Crash documents and autopsies | The Des Moines Register | DesMoinesRegister.com

For me, though, it is MJ

We were living at the same time one of the most famous people on Earth was until June of 2009! and his life was not very good :(

Ian Curtis?

I personally just don't have as much sympathy or regret for the loss of artist that have somehow assisted in their own individual form of suicide. Michael Jackson is one of them, while Kurt Cobain being one of the most notorious self-inflicted suicides in recent history. You can include Jimi Hendrix in this category as well, although, I do sympathize with Hendix more so than most of the others.

I thought Michael's doctor gave him too much than he should have?

On a personal level John Martyn. In terms of musical advancement and originality then Syd Barrett and Ian Curtis.

Well I'm not going to be naive and blame his doctor for everything just because Jackson was famous, he was aware of his own actions and what was going on. Its sad for the loss I admit, but this guy was far from living a normal personal life. And I don't buy into blaming all his problems on his father and fame & fortune.

From a personal standpoint it wouldn’t be fair to pick some over the others,however in artistic terms surely we have missed great works from Jeff Buckly,Ian Curtis ,Brad Nowell and Big L.

probably cobain because i really enjoyed nirvanas music and found him really interesting.

michael jacksons death would have been more traumatic if he had died earlier in his life but at the point he died I was already sure he was a child molester and he was such a freak that i honestly didn't care much.

:p::rolleyes: @ 216

That is understandably true with no doubt. I guess there wouldnt be very many to choose from if we didn't count the suicides, overdoses, and so on. Very good edward! We should disregard that fact, and concentrate on their artistic contributions.

imho Les Paul

If we're thinking logically as in who had the most left to give and never got to contribute to the musical world the full extent of what they were capable of I'd have to say either Jeff Buckley or Big L.

Buckley was obviously a seriously talented musician as well as being able to produce stellar emotionally driven performances in both his lyrics and musicianship He in my eyes could easily have went on to have a long and illustrious career the likes enjoyed by Cohen and Waits. Perhaps even more successful as I think on a purely talent based level, he was superior.

Big L was one of the best rhymers in a packed NY scene at the time of his rise to prominence. Revered on the underground circuit; as a freestyler and a battle rapper, L had just signed with Jay-Z's Rockafella Records when he was murdered. With financial backing, better production and marketing he could easily have went on to become the most popular MC of all time or had he stayed with his street based style could have released several 'classic' albums

Completely agree about Jeff Buckley. I was excited about what he had recorded and what looked like a promising, rewarding career ahead of him.

I had also followed Rory Gallagher's career extensively and thought he still had yet to record his masterpiece.

Also have to list John Lennon among the most missed.

Elliott Smith, Layne Staley, Biggie Smalls, and Ol Dirty Bastard.

I guess I'm a little bit corrupted looking into all the conspiracy's surrounding his death aha. But the only thing I'd blame his dad on was saying he didn't like his nose so Michael changed to make him happy, unarguably though he's still the greatest musician of all time. According to the Guinness Book of Records.

Michael was pretty much born into music, shame really... never got much of a childhood.

Totally forgot about Lennon in my post, he's one of my most missed as well.

I have always wondered how far Snot would've gone if Lynn Strait hadn't died. Their first album was outstanding.

...and of course, being a guitar player I have to mention Randy Rhodes. His talent was just warming up. Stupid pilot.

Of course, Rhoads... I forgot about him.

Dimebag falls into place with the mention of Rhoads. The deal concerning Dimebag's death was completely unnecessary, in the same way it was with John Lennon I might add.

ELLIOTT SMITH

Especially given the...circumstances surrounding his "suicide". He was arguing with his girlfriend at the time. He had TWO stab wounds, and neither won was found to have "hesitation marks" (which you will find on basically everyone that has committed suicide with a knife ever). Then, about a year later, that same girlfriend filed a lawsuit against Elliott's family for a huge portion of his earnings.

Why is this not being investigated further?????????

Just thinking about it makes me feel deeply upset. Elliott was one of the most talented and sincere musicians that has ever lived.

I see what you're saying but don't think he'd have released many classics being signed to Jay-Z's label. He'd have just gone down the same route Jay-Z did.

But it's an interesting point.

Absolutely not.

Nah the difference between Jay-Z and Big L is that Big L was original with his material, whereas Jay-Z would bite other rappers. Plus Jay-Z pretty much stole Big L's style during the early 90s before his first album "Reasonable Doubt".

big L woulda been huge, that 90s NY scene was awesome with a lot of talent. I am sure he would have adapted his style to make hits....well maybe. at best he is another jay z and at worst maybe a NAS ((in terms of commercial success, i regard nas very highly but im talkin about general pubic success)).

i think the world already got the best ODB had to offer lol but he was entertaining and awesome and MOST of his antics were truly crazy and not an act IMO. Not a very talented rapper but his style was awesome in the fact that it was all over the place. i will never forget him colelcting welfare in a limo or crashing the grammys. "WU TANG IS FOR THE CHILDREN!!!!""

I can think of many that died way too young and had overwhelming talent, but as far as ones that still had much more to contribute to the world of music I think Lennon tops the list. One can only imagine all the great songs we will never know because his life was cut down way too early by a psychopath.

As far as Michael Jackson goes, I wouldn't put him in the same category as the many who brought about their own demise via drugs/booze/etc. He trusted that his physician would safely administer medications (which weren't illegal when prescribed/administered by a health care professional) to help him sleep and relax. What is doctor did was gross malpractice and negligence, and extremely dangerous. I can say that because I am a physician that uses those medicines routinely. They are not meant to just help a person get some rest and relax and absolutely are not to be used in an unmonitored setting with no equipment or reversal agents if the patient becomes overmedicated. MJ had no way of knowing how dangerous what his doctor was doing was. His doctor was very much at fault.

Didnt know that about Elliot Smith. Really thought it was a tragedy what happened to him. He reminded me in his music and in his life/death a lot of Nick Drake.

Randy Rhoads should still be alive and wailing away on his guitar today. It's one thing when you die from partying too hard over and over. It's another thing when a great artist dies because someone does something boneheaded stupid.

My cat and I watched this:
http://dai.ly/xlvu45

I would go with Jeff Buckley. He had only released one official studio album before he died and judging by the demos on Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk he could and made a least another great album if not more. He was taken well before his time in a tragic accident and I can't help think that if he was still with us today he'd have a very impressive discography to his name. The world lost a rare talent.

Marc Bolan is another tragic loss when he was just trying to regenerate his career at the time of his death in a car accident.

I know Big L was a good rapper I'm just saying signing to Jay-Z's label wouldn't have allowed him to make classic albums.

It's a hypothetical though, there's no way of knowing what he'd have done. Jay Electronica's signed to Jay-Z's label but hasn't had that rub off on him, granted he appears to be M.I.A.
I think L was a big enough name at the time he was signed that Jay wouldn't have been able to alter his style as an artist too much and I don't see L going down the same route as Jay. It's hard to imagine Big L marrying Kelly Rowland putting out a fashion line and being mates with the President.

I don't miss any because there's far too much music around for me to be concerned about "what could have been" or whatever. Of course there's some artists that I have a deeper personal connection with, but my "missing" them wouldn't relate to what they could have gone on to achieve.

I'm not sure if I really "miss" anyone... there's artists I wish they had had time to do more before their deaths but at the same time it's a bit flawed to think they would inevitable have remained great. There are so many living artists who were just as great at one point but then became boring or downright terrible.

When I miss some artists it's more out of wishing they had made more of what they did especially when their careers were short, or wondering what direction their career would have followed in.

That's not to say I don't feel sad over their deaths because of course I do, the deaths of people too young to die are always sad especially when their work has meant something to you personally and you now know you won't get to hear more from them or see them live.


Indeed. His career is one I would really have liked to see unfold over a longer period of time. His early stuff was good and since he was working on his comeback I'd like to see what could have happened. I imagine he'd branch out a bit more like Bowie did and it would have been great to see that. It's sad that he died just when he was about to clean up his act.

The ironic thing about Bolan's death was he didn't even have a drivers license and never learned how to drive a car from what I understand, it was his girlfriend driving the car when the accident occurred.

Yesterday I discovered this guy who was murdered and it was never solved o.O...
Jam Master Jay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

D. Boon of The Minutemen, one of my all time favorite guitarist and songwriters. Such a unique style and clean way of soloing.

Bradley Nowell, he definitely could have pumped out another few albums, at least.

And Adam Yauch, shame we'll never get another true Beastie Boys album

He really wasn't a big name at the time though. His reputation has grown with the benefit of hindsight but back then he wasn't a big deal at all. That's not to knock him—I think his first album is great—but he wasn't any sot of massive star in his lifetime.