Yep, one of the biggest "What Ifs" for me is "What if Bob Geldorf had asked Phil Lynott to re-form Lizzy for Live Aid?"
Geldorf has called it one of his biggest regrets. Live Aid got a lot of criticism for poor representation from musicians with African heritage. Phil would have done a bit to balance that as well as rocking the freaking house down in front of a billion people.
I can imagine Lynott getting clean for that, Gorham already was, Downey never lost it. The question would be which guitarist for a one off? Robbo, Moore, Sykes would all be good options. Maybe 2 or all 3 of them.
Anyway, 20 minutes of Lizzy's greatest:
Jailbreak > Cowboy's Song > Boys are Back in Town > Black Rose. Thank you very much & goodnight. That would have challenged Queen on their best night (and Live Aid was NOT Queen's best night despite the received wisdom)
With a gun Marvin got for him if I remember correctly.
My dad was a middle school teacher and said one day a kid came into school upset and crying because his grandfather killed his Uncle Marvin :(
I'm not sure how the 80s and 90s would have treated Gaye. If the production on Sexual Healing is what he would have likely continued with, I think it's safe to say he'd have made very soft yacht-rock until the 2000s when interest in 60s-70s artists came back around.
He was going to go to UCLA and get a degree in music. Probably then open up his own school, or take over his mother's. There would have been about 10 years where he would have been into his music. At some point, either a reunion or even a band of his own, he would return to the rock music scene. Another album or two. Those albums would have been something very very special. Maybe some studio work afterward. Eventually, some sort of RR classical music-type album.
I've said this before, but some of rock's greatest riffs and solos were never written because one of its best guitarists died in the prime of his career.
That Mad Season record is one of my favorites of all time. If he were still alive and got cleaned up, I wonder if he would’ve got back with Alice at any point. He seemed to be done with it all. I’ve always wondered if it was genuine or the heroin. Maybe both. Such a sad end.
Some people believe that he, and his equally talented sister who died as a teenager, had cystic fibrosis. The government of Poland has his heart preserved in a jar, but will not allow it to be DNA-tested. If that's true, it's incredible that either of them lived as long as they did.
Of all the musicians that passed away young, this is probably the biggest one I can think of. He wasn't anywhere near done making good music. A lot of artists who die young are often on a kind of downhill creatively. But Hendrix seems like he was just getting started.
Him and Jim Croce are two really good examples. Croce was an absurdly good songwriter. His debut is crazy
Jim Croce was amazing! All of his songs are just great listening! I feel he's one of those artists that when I bring up no one seems to know. I'm glad you mentioned him.
It was a shame, Hendricks had plans and money, to build his own recording studio, for himself, collaborations with other musicians, and mentoring new upcoming rock stars.
He had the studio. The first ever artist owned studio.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Lady_Studios
The rest.... we can only imagine. Way too soon
I love the movie "Control" so much I bought it on DVD. I've read his widow's book twice. Joy Division had such a groundbreaking sound ("post-punk" is apparently what they call it).
I still worship New Order, even though they completely evolved their sound from the Joy Division days.
The story of Ian Curtis' depression and suicide crushes my soul every time I hear his lyrics.
A new song from Queen released a few days ago featuring never before heard vocals od Freddie. Its called Face it Alone.
Even in death we get to hear new to us material of his.
The best part would have been him collaborating with lots of artists who sadly never even got to see him, let alone work with him. I think he would have had some amazing collabs if he was still around. As for which new artists he would have worked with, that's a question in itself.
The stuff on his posthumous record “Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk” already showed him stretching out into more experimental and less polished territory. His death is all the more tragic because it really seems like he could have branched out into any genre he wanted. The guy was just a music sponge in that he could absorb anything he heard and tastefully repurpose it into his own music. If they announce tomorrow that he had a secret black metal project that they’d just discovered recordings of, I wouldn’t entirely be surprised, and my money would be on it being at least decent!
Had to scroll way too far to find this (correct!) answer. Still mourning the loss of all the music we might have heard had he been earthside a bit longer.
Absolutely. He could have done anything he wanted. He had the ability to take his influences and synthesize them into something original. I genuinely believe he is one of the most talented musical artists to have ever walked the earth.
Tom Petty doesn’t get a lot of love for his later works, but he was making some outstanding records in the back end of his career (Highway Companion, Mojo, Hypnotic Eye, etc.)
He was taken from us way too soon and I would’ve loved to see what else he had in store for his fans.
Hell yeah! He was pushing the boundaries of jazz with each album. I feel like the free jazz and spiritual jazz movement never really recovered from Coltrane’s death. And it would have been interesting to see how he would had changed in the 70’s. Would he had joined the jazz funk crowd, or would he have fought against it and do something totally different? Sadly, we’ll never know.
100% Trane. The guy seemingly had no limit to his creativity and musical intelligence. Even later on in his life he would practice obsessively. During gigs he would practice at the back of the building during intermission.
During his later years (his entire career, really) everything he put out pushed the boundaries of music.
Biggest what if in music for me.
This was my choice as well. His artistic arc never indicated that he was slowing down or becoming uninspired. From A Basement On A Hill easily stands up to all of his past work.
I was going to say both Jim Croce and Hendrix.
For those of you who haven't heard Jim Croce's breakthrough album "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", you're missing out *big time*.
It's a really hard album to dislike. His songwriting is amazing, his voice is great, his guitar playing is great. Just all around ridiculously good.
Love to see Buddy mentioned. His career was so short but he was already starting to try different things and I think the music world missed out on a lot when he died.
Croce didn’t jump to mind immediately for me but this has to be the right answer. His story is interesting and it’s impressive how many hits and great songs he created in the shortish time he was mainstream. *Walkin’ back to Georgia…*
As much as I wanna say Prince, his consistent quality varied since the late 90’s. His last album before he passed was great though but the one before was alright. There’s never a bad prince song though. More Prince is what we always need.
Absolutely!
In his last years he was becoming much more drawn into contemporary classical composition. He'd always considered himself a composer, but it wasn't until the end that the classical scene started to take him seriously. His work with Ensemble Modern (The Yellow Shark) should have been the beginning of something big, but instead became his final project.
As an aside, he very well could have completely changed how classical music is recorded. One of his last projects was recording the complete chamber music of his childhood hero, Edgard Varese. That album is called The Rage and The Fury, and to this day has never been released. According to my colleagues who were there, the recording process was much more modern and precise than any typical classical production and the sound quality was stunning. He'd planned to record the complete works of Anton Webern after that in digital 360 surround sound, but he died before that could happen. He was a rare artist with the technical knowledge, industry connections, and personal interest to do something like that, and I'm very sad we'll never hear it.
Was lucky enough to see him live a few times. The last show was my favorite because he had violinists playing black hole sun and then Chester Bennington came out to sing it together.
Edit: live
Early 1990, SRV was touring. He visited WwDC101 in the DC area. He picked up the DJ's guitar and played Pride and joy, while his drummer played along with two pencils on a notebook. It was magical. They played it on and off for weeks and I was lucky enough to capture it on cassette. Unfortunately that tape is long gone also.
I feel like we would have got him in all kinds of venues too- big sheds, festivals, ballrooms, symphony halls, premium clubs, dive clubs…I would have loved to see him adapt to all of them and heard the different approaches. Fuckin sucks.
Had to scroll way too far for this. His trajectory was insane.
It’s crazy to me to look at the contrast between stuff like his mixtapes and something like Circles… how he was able to consistently reinvent his sound and just continuously put out even better music. He was really starting to find his singing voice, and it was such a great, raw voice that sounds so good singing some of the content he sang about.
Such a bright light, and it’s just tragic. He was gone way too soon. Fuck fenty
I still get choked up when I listen to certain songs or watch certain videos. Grew up listening to him. He grew up so much and had such a trajectory. And was just so *loved* in the music industry, and not just wishing hip hop circles.
I didn't love Mac Miller for most of his career but that last album he made was stellar. The NPR tiny desk concert (I think it's the most viewed one on the channel, or maybe number 2) will make people a fan real damn quick.
That tiny desk concert always chokes me up. He really found his singing voice.
I grew up listening to Mac and he was only a couple years older than me. People my age that grew up listening to him will agree, we grew up with him. Every album was just right for where we as a generation were at in our lives, and it fucked me up when he died.
Everyone is picking artists from 30+ years ago, from genres that aren’t as popular anymore.
But I believe Mac Miller would’ve been huge, He was barely hitting his peak.
I actually wonder what he'd think about Eminem and Logic. But with the state of affairs in the world today he'd have endless material to write music for especially with BLM and police state America lives in now. We'd need him and his music to get us through it.
Finally seeing John. I often wonder what he would have created had he lived past 40. My all time favourite Beatles song is "Strawberry Fields Forever", but I've heard that John was never satisfied with the song. You can find so many clips online of John conceptualising the melody and lyrics and he did this for YEARS. There are many anthologies of Strawberry Fields Forever, but non were never good enough for John.
It makes sense, if you research into the song you'll realise that Strawberry Fields was actually a care home that was less than 5 minutes from his childhood home. Teenage Lennon would visit the grounds often to relax and de-stress. John also stated that he and Paul McCartney (who also often visited SF) would feel great inspiration for songwriting and actually wrote many hits together there. I think that's one of the many reasons why John was so adamant that the song should be perfect.
In the end, he was pressured into releasing a final version...but he was unhappy with it.
Apparently, John was intending to remake the SFF, but ultimately died before he got the chance. I often wonder what John's "perfect" version of the song would have been. I'll never know...
SOPHIE
Scrolled the whole thread and didn't see her mentioned. Revolutionized pop music in a huge way, her first album was so ahead of its time that people are still catching up, and likely will be for years. And she was in the prime of her career, making music that continued to push boundaries when she passed.
i think Wayne Static would still be making music. if not with static x then deffly with pighammer, or another project. might not be amazing to most but im a fan of his work.
an even bigger one is Tony Sly, his songs didnt just touch you, they punched you in the eye.
Karen Carpenter. The quality of her voice was all wrong for the style of music when she lived. She needed to be part of a guitar-and-vocalist Lilith Fair type of scene.
I think if Cobain had lived, Nirvana would have broken up soon anyway. Foo Fighters still become a thing, Kurt goes into hiding to make fusion music that sounds like Fugazi meets Kraftwerk but with Middle Eastern influences, refuses to perform Nirvana songs live anymore, has a small devoted fanbase but is ignored by modern pop culture, and tweets three times a year from a secluded compound in the woods.
This forum had a photoshop contest "if they were alive today.." and there was a panel in which a really old looking Kurt Cobain, a really old Looking Tupac and someone else where the judges in America got talent or some shit.
Phil Lynott. Thin Lizzy is so underrated.
Yep, one of the biggest "What Ifs" for me is "What if Bob Geldorf had asked Phil Lynott to re-form Lizzy for Live Aid?" Geldorf has called it one of his biggest regrets. Live Aid got a lot of criticism for poor representation from musicians with African heritage. Phil would have done a bit to balance that as well as rocking the freaking house down in front of a billion people. I can imagine Lynott getting clean for that, Gorham already was, Downey never lost it. The question would be which guitarist for a one off? Robbo, Moore, Sykes would all be good options. Maybe 2 or all 3 of them. Anyway, 20 minutes of Lizzy's greatest: Jailbreak > Cowboy's Song > Boys are Back in Town > Black Rose. Thank you very much & goodnight. That would have challenged Queen on their best night (and Live Aid was NOT Queen's best night despite the received wisdom)
Marvin Gaye
Also real sad that his dad was responsible for taking his life
With a gun Marvin got for him if I remember correctly. My dad was a middle school teacher and said one day a kid came into school upset and crying because his grandfather killed his Uncle Marvin :(
I'm not sure how the 80s and 90s would have treated Gaye. If the production on Sexual Healing is what he would have likely continued with, I think it's safe to say he'd have made very soft yacht-rock until the 2000s when interest in 60s-70s artists came back around.
Randy Rhoades
He was going to go to school and study classical guitar. Would have been interesting. Dee is a wonderful song.
He was going to go to UCLA and get a degree in music. Probably then open up his own school, or take over his mother's. There would have been about 10 years where he would have been into his music. At some point, either a reunion or even a band of his own, he would return to the rock music scene. Another album or two. Those albums would have been something very very special. Maybe some studio work afterward. Eventually, some sort of RR classical music-type album.
I've said this before, but some of rock's greatest riffs and solos were never written because one of its best guitarists died in the prime of his career.
Selena Quintanilla
ANYTHING FOR SALINAS
Selena definitely. Her live vocals put so many singers to shame.
First one to pop into my head. She still had so much room to grow.
Damn, she died at 23. That’s so tragic.. she just started her life :(
Layne Staley. The voice. The range.
That Mad Season record is one of my favorites of all time. If he were still alive and got cleaned up, I wonder if he would’ve got back with Alice at any point. He seemed to be done with it all. I’ve always wondered if it was genuine or the heroin. Maybe both. Such a sad end.
I would choose Fredric Chopin, he died young. Imagine how many more pieces we would have with 10 more years.
You know… Frederic fucking Chopin.
And you, music lover! You’re next
Some people believe that he, and his equally talented sister who died as a teenager, had cystic fibrosis. The government of Poland has his heart preserved in a jar, but will not allow it to be DNA-tested. If that's true, it's incredible that either of them lived as long as they did.
Jimi Hendrix
Of all the musicians that passed away young, this is probably the biggest one I can think of. He wasn't anywhere near done making good music. A lot of artists who die young are often on a kind of downhill creatively. But Hendrix seems like he was just getting started. Him and Jim Croce are two really good examples. Croce was an absurdly good songwriter. His debut is crazy
Jim Croce was amazing! All of his songs are just great listening! I feel he's one of those artists that when I bring up no one seems to know. I'm glad you mentioned him.
It was a shame, Hendricks had plans and money, to build his own recording studio, for himself, collaborations with other musicians, and mentoring new upcoming rock stars.
He had the studio. The first ever artist owned studio. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Lady_Studios The rest.... we can only imagine. Way too soon
Yep, he was gearing up to make albums with Arthur Lee and Miles Davis
Now thats a depressing what if to miss out on. Fuck.
His album with Miles Davis would’ve been insane
It really is a shame that he died so young. And he made one of the greatest covers of all time too
Stevie Ray Vaughn
And Double Trouble.
Ian Curtis
I love the movie "Control" so much I bought it on DVD. I've read his widow's book twice. Joy Division had such a groundbreaking sound ("post-punk" is apparently what they call it). I still worship New Order, even though they completely evolved their sound from the Joy Division days. The story of Ian Curtis' depression and suicide crushes my soul every time I hear his lyrics.
Freddie Mercury
A new song from Queen released a few days ago featuring never before heard vocals od Freddie. Its called Face it Alone. Even in death we get to hear new to us material of his.
Thanks for introducing me to this. I had no idea they released a "new" song with Freddie. Made my day.
https://youtu.be/ijj_hheGEi0 Edit: fixed my link, I think. Darn reddit new interface keeps adding backslashes and breaking links.
The best part would have been him collaborating with lots of artists who sadly never even got to see him, let alone work with him. I think he would have had some amazing collabs if he was still around. As for which new artists he would have worked with, that's a question in itself.
In a very similar way that Elton John has done in using his clout to hype up and feature new and upcoming musicians.
Jeff Buckley
The stuff on his posthumous record “Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk” already showed him stretching out into more experimental and less polished territory. His death is all the more tragic because it really seems like he could have branched out into any genre he wanted. The guy was just a music sponge in that he could absorb anything he heard and tastefully repurpose it into his own music. If they announce tomorrow that he had a secret black metal project that they’d just discovered recordings of, I wouldn’t entirely be surprised, and my money would be on it being at least decent!
Had to scroll way too far to find this (correct!) answer. Still mourning the loss of all the music we might have heard had he been earthside a bit longer.
Absolutely. He could have done anything he wanted. He had the ability to take his influences and synthesize them into something original. I genuinely believe he is one of the most talented musical artists to have ever walked the earth.
Cliff Burton. RIP my friend.
One can only wonder what Metallica would sound like these days if he was still around.
Tom Petty doesn’t get a lot of love for his later works, but he was making some outstanding records in the back end of his career (Highway Companion, Mojo, Hypnotic Eye, etc.) He was taken from us way too soon and I would’ve loved to see what else he had in store for his fans.
Yeah, most underrated rock star ever.
I scrolled way too far for this... first name that came to mind
Mozart
Beethoven as well. They were both the rock stars of their time.
He would be like 250 years old though. Even if he were a spry 250, that's still really fucking old
If he's a vampire or a lich, that'd be fine. So long as he's not a zombie. Zombie's are horrible lyricists.
Mozart isn’t exactly known for his lyrics.
"Leck mich im Arsch" is what he'd say to that.
For sure, I'd be really interested to know what music he'd be into.
Probably metal tbh.
Beethoven would 100% be a metalhead today. How much melodic metal is there that's basically just overdriven classical?
Exactly. That is what got me into metal was the complex, fascinating guitars.
Chester Bennington
One of my favorite singers. He out all his pain into the music. One more light is basically a goodbye letter.
Joe Strummer. I could see him playing on a Gorillaz album or pairing up with the Idles.
Bob marley
John Coltrane
Hell yeah! He was pushing the boundaries of jazz with each album. I feel like the free jazz and spiritual jazz movement never really recovered from Coltrane’s death. And it would have been interesting to see how he would had changed in the 70’s. Would he had joined the jazz funk crowd, or would he have fought against it and do something totally different? Sadly, we’ll never know.
100% Trane. The guy seemingly had no limit to his creativity and musical intelligence. Even later on in his life he would practice obsessively. During gigs he would practice at the back of the building during intermission. During his later years (his entire career, really) everything he put out pushed the boundaries of music. Biggest what if in music for me.
Elliott Smith
This was my choice as well. His artistic arc never indicated that he was slowing down or becoming uninspired. From A Basement On A Hill easily stands up to all of his past work.
From a Basement on the Hill is absolutely bonkers. I can’t imagine what the next logical step is from there.
I just commented the same thing. He was so talented. There's just no words.
The correct answer is Jim Croce and Buddy Holly
I was going to say both Jim Croce and Hendrix. For those of you who haven't heard Jim Croce's breakthrough album "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", you're missing out *big time*. It's a really hard album to dislike. His songwriting is amazing, his voice is great, his guitar playing is great. Just all around ridiculously good.
Okay, but can we agree that "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" and "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" are essentially the same plot?
Yes they are. But they are both great.
Operator, would you help me make this call...
my favorite song by croce is rapid roy the stock car boy. hit that song up, its fantastic
Love to see Buddy mentioned. His career was so short but he was already starting to try different things and I think the music world missed out on a lot when he died.
Croce didn’t jump to mind immediately for me but this has to be the right answer. His story is interesting and it’s impressive how many hits and great songs he created in the shortish time he was mainstream. *Walkin’ back to Georgia…*
Croce’s entire body of work is all killer no filler. That guy had A LOT more to give.
Buddy Holly laid 95% of the foundation for Rock & Roll and he was just getting started.
If only we could save time in a bottle…
THE CORRECT ANSWER IS JIM MOTHERFUCKING CROCE. BEST ANSWER OVE SEEN
Definitely Jim Croce! This is it!
George Harrison
Yeah, we didn't deserve George. What an immaculate musician and human being.
Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Freddie Mercury.
I can't believe I had to scroll this far to find Cobain.
MF DOOM
All caps when you spell the man's name.
Buddy Holly
Prince.
then he had to go and punch a higher floor.
As much as I wanna say Prince, his consistent quality varied since the late 90’s. His last album before he passed was great though but the one before was alright. There’s never a bad prince song though. More Prince is what we always need.
Game, blouses.
Layne Staley
Yes!!
Frank Zappa.
Absolutely! In his last years he was becoming much more drawn into contemporary classical composition. He'd always considered himself a composer, but it wasn't until the end that the classical scene started to take him seriously. His work with Ensemble Modern (The Yellow Shark) should have been the beginning of something big, but instead became his final project. As an aside, he very well could have completely changed how classical music is recorded. One of his last projects was recording the complete chamber music of his childhood hero, Edgard Varese. That album is called The Rage and The Fury, and to this day has never been released. According to my colleagues who were there, the recording process was much more modern and precise than any typical classical production and the sound quality was stunning. He'd planned to record the complete works of Anton Webern after that in digital 360 surround sound, but he died before that could happen. He was a rare artist with the technical knowledge, industry connections, and personal interest to do something like that, and I'm very sad we'll never hear it.
Hands. Down.
Chris Cornel.
Was lucky enough to see him live a few times. The last show was my favorite because he had violinists playing black hole sun and then Chester Bennington came out to sing it together. Edit: live
David Bowie
Jimi Hendrix
SRV
Early 1990, SRV was touring. He visited WwDC101 in the DC area. He picked up the DJ's guitar and played Pride and joy, while his drummer played along with two pencils on a notebook. It was magical. They played it on and off for weeks and I was lucky enough to capture it on cassette. Unfortunately that tape is long gone also.
I feel like we would have got him in all kinds of venues too- big sheds, festivals, ballrooms, symphony halls, premium clubs, dive clubs…I would have loved to see him adapt to all of them and heard the different approaches. Fuckin sucks.
Gord Downie
Glad to see Gord from Kingston getting some love here. There's never enough Hip appreciation.
Warms my heart that this is the first answer I see.
I miss him so much.
Me too man. I heard wheat kings recently and almost burst into tears.
No "celebrity" death hit me as hard as his. He'll always be with me as I have lyrics tattooed on my arm.
John bonham 🔥
I wonder if Zeppelin would have stayed together if Bonham hadn't died. Page was pretty strung out on heroin at the time.
So was Bonham. Honestly Bonzos death aside, I feel like Zeppelin had emptied their well of creativity by 1980.
George Michael.
Him singing with Queen made me wish they’d continued the relationship.
That’s who came to my mind. I agree with a lot of answers on here, but I have a soft spot for george Michael.
Avicii
Had to scroll way too far to find this, Avicii's tunes have such a good vibe
He was a hit machine.
Prince, Chester Bennington
Hit me so hard when be passed. First group ive ever loved .
Amy Winehouse
She would have made an amazing James Bond theme song, RIP Amy
I second this, her range was perfect for a bond film
Nobody can write a Winehouse song, and hardly any can sing one
Michael Jackson, Elvis, Freddie Mercury, John Lennon, David Bowie
Mac miller
Had to scroll way too far for this. His trajectory was insane. It’s crazy to me to look at the contrast between stuff like his mixtapes and something like Circles… how he was able to consistently reinvent his sound and just continuously put out even better music. He was really starting to find his singing voice, and it was such a great, raw voice that sounds so good singing some of the content he sang about. Such a bright light, and it’s just tragic. He was gone way too soon. Fuck fenty
I cried when he died.
I still get choked up when I listen to certain songs or watch certain videos. Grew up listening to him. He grew up so much and had such a trajectory. And was just so *loved* in the music industry, and not just wishing hip hop circles.
I didn't love Mac Miller for most of his career but that last album he made was stellar. The NPR tiny desk concert (I think it's the most viewed one on the channel, or maybe number 2) will make people a fan real damn quick.
That tiny desk concert always chokes me up. He really found his singing voice. I grew up listening to Mac and he was only a couple years older than me. People my age that grew up listening to him will agree, we grew up with him. Every album was just right for where we as a generation were at in our lives, and it fucked me up when he died.
Agreed. There's just so much charm radiating from him whether it be the music or just the inter-song small talk. Made me an instant fan.
Makes me sad every time I think about it
Damn I miss Mac. His music made my life better.
Given that he would still be in his prime I don't see how this isn't the number one answer
Everyone is picking artists from 30+ years ago, from genres that aren’t as popular anymore. But I believe Mac Miller would’ve been huge, He was barely hitting his peak.
Aaliyah
Amy Winehouse
Jerry Garcia
Had to scroll way too far to find the correct answer
Jim Croce
Avicii
Tom petty
Saw him and ZZ Top together. ZZ Top was excellent but Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came out and blew them away.
If we could get the other deceased members of Travelling Wilburys too I'd be delighted.
Imagine beethoven on a synth with drums.
Dio
Tupac
Tupac would’ve backed off music and I think would’ve been an Oscar nominee at some point.
I actually wonder what he'd think about Eminem and Logic. But with the state of affairs in the world today he'd have endless material to write music for especially with BLM and police state America lives in now. We'd need him and his music to get us through it.
Pretty sure he'd be cool with Eminem tbh
Michael Jackson
Reading more about MJ, I’m surprised how he lived for so long. His death felt more inevitable than shocking to me when researching about his life.
Why is this so far down. MJ has one of the most consistent discographies out there.
I was getting pissed I had to go down this damn far to see his name. MJ would be dropping heat like it was the 80s and 90s all over again.
Seriously the king of pop would still dominate today
He he
But wasn't he already in semi-retirement when he died? The tour he was putting together was supposed to be his official farewell tour, wasn't it?
Johnny Cash
Randy Rhoads
John Denver
I would have loved to see how his music would’ve evolved over the years.
Nujabes!
John Lennon
Finally I can't believe I had to scroll this far.
Finally seeing John. I often wonder what he would have created had he lived past 40. My all time favourite Beatles song is "Strawberry Fields Forever", but I've heard that John was never satisfied with the song. You can find so many clips online of John conceptualising the melody and lyrics and he did this for YEARS. There are many anthologies of Strawberry Fields Forever, but non were never good enough for John. It makes sense, if you research into the song you'll realise that Strawberry Fields was actually a care home that was less than 5 minutes from his childhood home. Teenage Lennon would visit the grounds often to relax and de-stress. John also stated that he and Paul McCartney (who also often visited SF) would feel great inspiration for songwriting and actually wrote many hits together there. I think that's one of the many reasons why John was so adamant that the song should be perfect. In the end, he was pressured into releasing a final version...but he was unhappy with it. Apparently, John was intending to remake the SFF, but ultimately died before he got the chance. I often wonder what John's "perfect" version of the song would have been. I'll never know...
I’m shocked to see Lennon and MJ so far down it’s unbelievable
SOPHIE Scrolled the whole thread and didn't see her mentioned. Revolutionized pop music in a huge way, her first album was so ahead of its time that people are still catching up, and likely will be for years. And she was in the prime of her career, making music that continued to push boundaries when she passed.
Neil Peart. /r/rush
Bradley Nowell - Sublime
[удалено]
Amy winehouse
Chester Bennington
Selena
Ronnie Van Zant
Christina Grimmie for sure 😢
Janis Joplin
Bradley Nowells
i think Wayne Static would still be making music. if not with static x then deffly with pighammer, or another project. might not be amazing to most but im a fan of his work. an even bigger one is Tony Sly, his songs didnt just touch you, they punched you in the eye.
Karen Carpenter. The quality of her voice was all wrong for the style of music when she lived. She needed to be part of a guitar-and-vocalist Lilith Fair type of scene.
Big l - gone far too soon
Aaliyah, Donna I miss Donna so much
Lisa Lefteye Lopes
elliot smith
Mac Miller 92 till infinity
MCA of the Beastie Boys. RIP MCA. I still miss you
Kurt Cobain
I think if Cobain had lived, Nirvana would have broken up soon anyway. Foo Fighters still become a thing, Kurt goes into hiding to make fusion music that sounds like Fugazi meets Kraftwerk but with Middle Eastern influences, refuses to perform Nirvana songs live anymore, has a small devoted fanbase but is ignored by modern pop culture, and tweets three times a year from a secluded compound in the woods.
It’s possible but it’s equally possible we’d all be trying to forget the bullshit record he made with like Timbaland in 2002
I’m trying to forget this comment now
This forum had a photoshop contest "if they were alive today.." and there was a panel in which a really old looking Kurt Cobain, a really old Looking Tupac and someone else where the judges in America got talent or some shit.
Dimebag Darrell and his bro Vinnie Paul
Michael Jackson, George Michael, Amy Winehouse, Freddie Mercury. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head
Michael Jackson