Taken too soon

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Taken too soon

Postby Rorschach » 14 May 2021, 13:48

Obviously, the battlefield of Rock music is littered with the corpses of people who died too young, but I was particularly thinking about people who looked like they might be able to do something special when they died.

First, there's Roy Orbison. Not a young man but only 52, and his career really seemed to be taking off again. He did some great stuff with the Travelling Wilburys and everyone wanted to work with him. At the time he died I was really looking forward to whatever he did next. I felt sure there was a great album in him.
We'll never know.

But an even more frustrating loss for me was Bobby Fuller. Most of his recorded output was pretty good but, just before he died, he seemed to be really hitting his stride. He had his biggest hit of course with his cover of I Fought the Law, but from that same period there are also terrific recordings like Let Her Dance (also a hit single) Julie and, to my ears, the greatest of them all, Never to Be Forgotten.



By the way, the band are playing a completely different song from what you hear and the only good bit is at 1:49 when the dancer on the right momentarily lifts up her skirt and shows that she appears to be dancing commando style.

Anyway, I think his death robbed us of some potentially wonderful music.

Anyone else have an opinion on Bobby Fuller.

Or another person who looked like they were going to hit it out of the park if they hadn't died?
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby The Slider » 14 May 2021, 13:53

Apart from Buddy Holly I don't any of the usual suspects had anything left to offer.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Walk In My Shadow » 14 May 2021, 15:53

The first rock 'n roll death I actively remember was Brian Jones.

Thrown out of the Rolling Stones not long before and found drowned in his pool.

Maybe if he'd cleaned up his act and started a new band it could have been something. Apparently he could master many instruments but didn't write songs. A Humble Pie-ish band would have suited him.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Matt Wilson » 14 May 2021, 15:54

Jim Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, Allman, Cobain - all had just released or recorded great work.

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby mudshark » 14 May 2021, 16:40

The great Bob Marley was only 36 when he passed and I think I'd been ill since he was 32 or so. He could and would have done many great things both musically and politically. In my opinion perhaps the greatest loss because he was so much more than just a musician. I happened to be briefly working in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Jan-Oct 1981) when his death was announced and I saw literally thousands of people crying in the streets of Treichville. I don't think there was an Ivorian that didn't walk around in a T-shirt with Bob on it.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Brickyard Jack » 14 May 2021, 19:18

The Slider wrote:Apart from Buddy Holly I don't any of the usual suspects had anything left to offer.


You mean Eddie Cochrane.

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Matt Wilson » 14 May 2021, 19:19

Cochran

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby BARON CORNY DOG » 14 May 2021, 19:21

Positive Passion wrote:
The Slider wrote:Apart from Buddy Holly I don't any of the usual suspects had anything left to offer.


You mean Eddie Cochrane.


No, I don't think he did. Buddy Holly is pretty clearly the poster boy here.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Brickyard Jack » 14 May 2021, 21:06

der Freiherr wrote:
Positive Passion wrote:
The Slider wrote:Apart from Buddy Holly I don't any of the usual suspects had anything left to offer.


You mean Eddie Cochrane.


No, I don't think he did. Buddy Holly is pretty clearly the poster boy here.


I was making a slight jest.

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby mudshark » 14 May 2021, 22:44

I think our resident snob just wanted to correct your spelling, that's all. Pointless. Everybody reading this knows it's a typo. I've experienced quite a few narcissistic teachers who jumped on these little opportunities to humiliate students in front of everybody else. I think that's the definition of a wanker.

Anyhoo, I think it's an interesting thread. I thought of Hank Williams but, then again, even though he was only 29 when he passed it could be that he didn't have much left in him, being as fucked up as he was. I really like the "Timeless" tribute album with 12 corkers performed by Johnny, Bob, Beck, Keef, Emmylou etc. They're all absolute bona fide country classics that will live on forever. Without Hank no Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clarke, Billy Joe Shaver, Dough Sahm, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, Justin Townes Earle, etc. etc. A great, great songwriter.
Last edited by mudshark on 14 May 2021, 23:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Matt Wilson » 14 May 2021, 23:00

:lol:

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Muskrat » 15 May 2021, 01:18

mudshark wrote: Everybody reading this knows it's a typo. I've experienced quite a few narcissistic teachers who jumped on these little opportunities to humiliate students in front of everybody else. I think that's the definition of a wanker.


So you have something against accuracy? Good to know.

Though this instance may well be a typo, I've seen it written as "Cochrane" many times through the years, mainly by Brits.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Brickyard Jack » 15 May 2021, 07:05

As I understand it, Jimmy Hendricks was into a very wide range of music, so it is possible or even likely he would have turned his hand to other things, and had Jo Jaxson's career.

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby naughty boy » 15 May 2021, 08:03

don't forget Curt Kobane!
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Matt Wilson » 15 May 2021, 17:26

And Marc E. Smythe!

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Six String » 15 May 2021, 17:36

mudshark wrote:I think our resident snob just wanted to correct your spelling, that's all. Pointless. Everybody reading this knows it's a typo. I've experienced quite a few narcissistic teachers who jumped on these little opportunities to humiliate students in front of everybody else. I think that's the definition of a wanker.

Anyhoo, I think it's an interesting thread. I thought of Hank Williams but, then again, even though he was only 29 when he passed it could be that he didn't have much left in him, being as fucked up as he was. I really like the "Timeless" tribute album with 12 corkers performed by Johnny, Bob, Beck, Keef, Emmylou etc. They're all absolute bona fide country classics that will live on forever. Without Hank no Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clarke, Billy Joe Shaver, Dough Sahm, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, Justin Townes Earle, etc. etc. A great, great songwriter.


Marley’s passing hit me as hard as Lennon’s for all the reasons you described. I truly believe he was going on to bigger things.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby The Slider » 15 May 2021, 17:56

His last three albums - Confrontation, Uprising and Survival - had been no great shakes. They were good, but they were not seismic like the run from Catch a Fire to Exodus had been.
I'm sure he'd have just carried on making ok records if he'd lived..
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Brickyard Jack » 15 May 2021, 18:26

Mark Bollan.

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Re: Taken too soon

Postby mudshark » 15 May 2021, 21:36

I agree with Slider that both Survival and Confrontation (which is a posthumous album) weren't that great. Disagree on Uprising, but that's a matter of taste, of course. Survival was enormously popular in Africa and I think for that album the message was more important than what it was wrapped in. Possibly the fact that he got diagnosed with cancer as early as 1977 had some influence on his creativity.
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Re: Taken too soon

Postby Tactful Cactus » 16 May 2021, 11:58

Rorschach wrote:Bobby Fuller.


Killed under mysterious circumstances. I listened to a podcast about him recently. Potential mafia killing made to look like a suicide, it was never solved.

For Jimi Hendrix, I think his best years were behind him. He would no doubt have continued to develop as a musician and artist but he was moving into expansive musicianship and away from the mercurial brilliance of JHE's first two.


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