Alice Cooper was at his absolute hugest in 1972. That’s when he held the Guiness World Record for world’s largest outdoor concert in São Paulo, I think. I was 5. I’d give anything to go back in time and see the Billion Dollar Babies tour first hand. Even more to bed him at age 24. Rowr!
Mark Twain, and shame on Americans who don’t have him on their list! 
Will Rogers, the Marx Brothers, Patsy Cline (well, she died when I was about 4), Bill Haley, Glen Miller, a shitload of Impressionist painters (Monet, Manet, and Gauguin off the top of my head). And don’t even get me started on the Renaissance artists.
Nick Drake.
Too many to list, so I’ll mention just this one, Chuck Jones. He lived to a ripe old age (died in 2002) but did his best work at Warner Brothers in the '40s and '50s.
You can have Holliday. My heart belongs to Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey. William Powell is in that, too; he’s another favorite from before my time.
I’d love to go to 1924 to hear the premiere performance of Rhapsody in Blue. George Gershwin died way too young, only 38.
Makes it kind of hard to say “I was into Beethoven before anyone else was!”
Well, almost all the classical music I listen to was composed well before I was born.
I listen to a lot of music from the 60s and 70s, and, even if they’re still around in some form, these had probably done their best work by the time I was born - Leonard Cohen, The Velvet Underground, The Byrds, Townes Van Zandt, Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival. There’s many more, as well as plenty who started before I was born but still did good work more recently, and in some cases still are today (Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Johnny Cash, The Dubliners). If I could travel back in time to hear any one of these, it would be Luke Kelly singing with the Dubliners, before his untimely death in 1984.
As for films, my favourite director is John Ford, who died before I was born, and my favourite actor James Stewart, who was active until much later, but his best work was in the 50s and 60s.
I would have liked to have seen the classic Genesis lineup with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.
These artists’ deaths preceded my birth by . . .
Rachmaninoff (composer): 2.5 years.
Mackintosh (designer/architect): 17 years.
Klimt (painter): 27.5 years.
Rodin (sculptor): 28 years.
Saint-Gaudens (sculptor): 38 years.
Ibsen (playwright): 39 years.
Tchaikovsky (composer): 52 years.
Van Gogh (painter): 55 years.
Hugo (novelist): 60 years.
Chopin (composer): 96 years.
This list would be a whole lot longer, except I was born back when mankind invented the wheel (1945).
Katherine Hepburn: check, although she was still working protagonist roles well into my teens.
Lope de Vega (both as playwright and poet): check.
Velázquez: check. I’m willing to stare at Vulcan’s Forge, the Surrender of Breda and the Spinners until my butt starts demanding a change of position loudly. In fact, I’ve been trying to decide which one I like best for about 30 years.
You all stole my post.
There’s a damn good reason Shakespeare is still read.
And I love Jack Kerouac. I think I would have fitted right into the whole beat scene.
Painters and sculptors are fine, but poets, novelists, singers, composers, and actors are no less artists than the first two.
Michelangelo died more than 400 years before I was born…
Do I win?
Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Louis Prima. OK, so all three were alive when I was born, but were well past their prime. One of these days I want to go to Vegas and see a classic Vegas Rat-Pack act, and mourn that it probably doesn’t compare to a Sinatra show.
And I hear that Louis Prima shows were epic.
There’s tons and tons. Where would I start? I mean, starting from literary authors, to ancient movies, both Indian and American, to singers (not Elvis though, anyone else can have him), to playwrights, etc., etc.
Does anyone really only like people from the era they were born in? And are they worthy of consideration? I mean, I may not much like black and white movies, but that doesn’t mean I’ll never watch one.
Hank Williams, Elvis, Bill Monroe, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry.
And as for painters, I would like to have met Goya. His work was so different from anything that came before. He must have been an interesting person.
Since you mentioned movies, I know a guy who doesn’t believe in watching movies that were made before he was born. He sees this as “unnecessarily romanticizing the past,” when we should all be “living in the present.” As opposed to just, y’know, appreciating good movies no matter when they were made. :rolleyes:
Frank Sinatra for me. My first trip in a time machine will be to see him perform with Tommy Dorsey’s band.
Fred Astaire.
I mean I am absolutely of the opinion that old movies are not good just because they are old, and anyone who implies that I roll my eyes and think “Old fart”. BUT that doesn’t mean they’re bad just because they’re old, either!
As you say, appreciate good [art] no matter when it was made.
I asked the question because, while looking for a mention of a movie starring Alyson Hannigan, I came across an old thread whose OP alleged that her character on How I Played the Flute with Your Vampire Slayer could not possibly be fans of Evel Knievel because his heydey was before the were out of short pants.
Why don’t you like black & white movies?