Ed Kilgore says:
I don’t know why, but you can sort of imagine John Lennon at 74, while it’s impossible with other rock stars who died young, like Hendrix and Joplin. Maybe it’s because he was already semi-retired when he was assassinated.
I understand his point. My imagination may be a little more robust, but I understand his point. I think, however, that the reason that we can picture Lennon at 74 more easily than Hendrix or Joplin or (for that matter) Jim Morrison is because we got to see what Lennon would look like in a post-60’s world. I don’t think most Beatles fans liked what they saw at the time, with Lennon holed up in the Dakota with Yoko Ono making music of an uneven quality. We’re probably grateful that we didn’t have to see Jim Morrison adjust to MTV or Jimi Hendrix trade yucks with Arsenio Hall. On Janis, we agree. She was a meteorite who had no chance of lasting.
Still, I look at the career of Carlos Santana and I can picture a similar career for Hendrix where he just kept plodding along, finding new coalitions of musicians to collaborate with and inspire. The main thing is, we didn’t have to watch these musicians make decisions and compromises that undermined our respect for their talent and integrity.
You mean like the Rolling Stones, post-70, still giving concerts?
What’s next for them”
“The Steel Defribillator Tour?”
‘OH PLEASE, WON’T YOU START ME UP!!!’
ZAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh…
An English friend here in Japan sometimes used to comment, “Lennon looked really aged in his Dakota years in the late 70’s. Why is that?” Then a couple of years ago, I watched the John Lennon NYC documentary, and Elliot Mintz the A.B.C. television local New York affiliate reporter who had more access to Lennon than any other reporter, talked about John and Yoko’s strict macrobiotic diets, and their juice fasts in the late 70’s when it was “clean up time.”
The Lennon Ono couple was skin and bones. Lennon really did look aged. I’m not sure if it was a healthy regiment of juice fasts, but it goes some of the way towards explaining why we can imagine him in his 70’s when most retirement aged people do slim down quite a bit.
Favorite part of the Lennon documentary is Hugh McCracken the great session guitarist who also worked on Paul McCartney’s “Ram On” album of 1970 (think gorgeous guitar riffs on Uncle Albert.) McCracken mentioned that John took to sneaking bites of Hershey bars behind Yoko’s back during the recording sessions. At first McCracken was concerned that Lennon was doing serious drugs,but it turned out it was merely the stress of the recording sessions that lead to John’s reliance on a quick sugar fix during the making of the rushed Double Fantasy in autumn 1980. Lennon and Ono had just signed a one off record deal with David Geffen, and they wanted to get the album recorded and pressed onto vinyl in time for the Christmas holidays.
I think they all would have sold out eventually. They were musicians at a particular cusp of the music industry: underground radio, underground music sales They were able to be out there because of the intensity of that whole period, where there was a whole subculture that could support them. But once Vietnam quieted down, and the public taste went towards less intensity? Then there would have been the struggle to keep relevant and paid.
So Jimi would have written more pop material, Morrison probably gone in to glam rock, and Janis probably would have gone to the blues circuit for a living.
I think Hendrix would’ve liked Outkast and George Clinton. He probably would’ve worked with Prince and Michael Jackson as well. Damn, Quincy Jones and Jimi would’ve been good. I don’t think Jimi would’ve burned out. There was too much to get into.
I would have liked to see them all live a full life. We don’t need any more martyrs.
Here’s John Lee Hooker at age 75, which seems really old:
Speak for yourself. Although I doubt that you ever saw Janis or Morrison live.
Hendrix could have continued rocking as BB King has done until this day and who happened to play on the same bill in various venues with Janis and “Big Brother.” And maybe, just maybe, she could have put together a band that was equal to or more in sync with her stylings and get recordings that better captured what she put out on a stage. Morrison would have continued writing and making films — good or bad it would have been creative and interesting.
The main thing is, we didn’t have to watch these musicians make decisions and compromises that undermined our respect for their talent and integrity.
Yes, it’s very lucky for us that they died.
The very definition of narcissism.
Well, not exactly, but there is a reason for this fascination with dead rock stars. What it comes down to is that people love stories, and these are great stories. It’s a bit morbid, sure, but then so is Shakespeare.
Well, Lennon had come fully out of “semi-retirement” by the time he was killed, having taken 4-5 years away from the music scene to be a father to his recently born son, something he’d neglected with his other child. By Dec 1980 he’d put out a mostly successful “comeback” album, and was in the studio making another album, in addition to giving more interviews. I wouldn’t call all that “semi-retirement.”
As I recall, some of the critics didn’t care for the Double Fantasy album not because it was too experimental or Yoko-influenced/unlistenable, but rather because it was deemed too “soft” for that slightly-edgy New Wave Music era and didn’t seem consistent with the often raw and sharp emotions expressed in previous Lennon works.
I think he would have gone on to make more good music that commented on the era of Greed and Selfishness that Reagan brought to the country. He was not the type to forever stop commenting on the political situation.
I doubt if the other major stars would have sold out either. Seems totally contrary to their character, Jimi, Morrison and Janis. Even the latter, had that final love relationship worked out, something she desperately sought, might have eased off the druggy-boozy lifestyle and settled down enough to lead a more stable life.
In my mind, it is counterintuitive to believe that an middle-aged or elderly person can best hold the stage presence required of a rock music performer. I say this as a middle-aged, soon-to-be-elderly person myself. I’m probably setting myself up for a lot of pushback from Frog Ponders here, but that’s my general view. Note that I restrict this view to musical genres that have been primarily associated with youth for many generations, like rock and rap.
I think of The Replacements as a current illustration of this point. There’s the ingenious vitality of the ‘Mats in their prime:
I saw the Replacements live around the time this great album came out. They weren’t as raucous and unpredictable as I understand they had been in earlier performances; a little more professionalism had developed. But there was a genuine excitement I was given by their performance: the theatre overfilled with their distorted sound cranked up to 11, the melodies of certain songs disappearing for brief moments into a nearly sheer sonic attack before reappearing, their general staggering and flouncing about acting as an anti-pop statement, looking like wrecks in line with their reputations.
Then there is the current reunion:
The sound of the music is still plenty energetic and crisp; the melody and lyrics remain awesome. It’s just harder to be excited by a bunch of 50-year-old professionals playing this music. It also lacks the energy of first discovery as well.
I am very happy that Tommy and Paul have pulled themselves away from alcohol and drugs, and I’m sure their personal and professional lives are easier to maintain. But great art and great rock are often not in tight correlation with spiritual growth and personal maturity.
Audiences/fans age along with the musicians. Although do have a bit of a problem imagining a gray haired set showing up to listen to gray haired rappers — but it wouldn’t surprise me if it comes to pass.
Springsteen (and the Dead before the death of Garcia) seems to held onto his original fans and added younger ones (some not so young now either) over the years better than many others. Some music and musicians age well and some don’t.
Jay-z would beg to differ. He’s still got it.