For those who don’t know, Elliott Smith was an extremely talented singer-songwriter who recently died at the age of 34. (For those who do know, good for you! ) He wrote beautiful songs of despair and really emotionally raw situations, always with a wry or sardonic overtone. As a bonus, his arrangement and playing was impeccable.
I’m a die-hard fan who was lucky enought to see him in concert (once), and after that introduction, immediately bought all his albums. When Elliott Smith passed away not long ago, initial reports stated that he died from a single self-inflicted stab wound to the heart. Now, I’ve seen some articles like this , suggesting another possibility: homicide.
I guess it was just assumed that the suicide story was the correct one initially, (although a steak knife to the heart seemed to me an especially horrific method of suicide) because in the collective subconscious, rock singers with troubled pasts who die young tend to be suicides (or OD). There were always rumors of emotional & drug problems for this man during his musical career. So it was easy to accept that even though his girlfriend was in the house when he died, that he had indeed killed himself. I guess I wondered for a moment, how would you stab yourself in the heart? Wouldn’t that take some real guts? And more importantly, wouldn’t that cause you to scream at the top of your lungs??? Which maybe would cause your girlfriend to come running? But then I just went along with the “self-inflicted” idea.
This seems to be rambling and going nowhere. I guess it is the mixture of grief over a favorite musician (whose next tour was the object of much anticipation) as well as the shock of seeing that he may have been murdered, coupled with the sensation that I was too complacent accepting the suicide story due to conventional wisdom about rock stars. So I apoliogize for perhaps continuing what some might see as ridiculous (or as obsessing over yet another artist tragedy death story), but just thought there might be some Smith fans out there who might want to discuss the new reports, thoughts, things overheard, or his wonderful, wonderful songs. Peace.
Is that from another source? Because the article you linked to doesn’t say that, it just says “Smith, 34, was found by his live-in girlfriend at their Los Angeles apartment on October 21st with a stab wound in his chest.”
Thanks, moodtobestewed, for the excellent cite, I had been frantically looking for the details I just *knew * I saw back at the time Elliott Smith died. I knew that somewhere I’d seen that his gf was in the house at the time.
IF his gf murdered him over some stupid argument, what an incredible waste of a gifted artist. Sure seems suspicious especially after reading the Smoking Gun’s documents. (How do they get that stuff???)
I was more a fan of Heatmiser (Still play “Dead Air” on a pretty frequent basis) than Smith’s solo work, but I’ve heard most of it and he was definately talented.
However, I’ve read about 178 tributes to him in music magazines recently – and I think I have pretty good grasp on the facts (or at least as theyve been reported). While a self inlicted stab wound to the chest is a pretty horrific method of suicide, I’m not leaning towards anything other than suicide.
He had severe issues with depression, IIRC he had tried suicide before, and I’ve also read that he had real issues with drugs and he was an alcoholic. Given that, I’m going to stick with suicide until some concrete facts point to anything else
I’m pretty sure it’s just freedom of information. You ask for it, you pay an administration fee and the government gives it to you. You could do it if you wanted.
Ellot Smith’s death is terribly sad, but like mouthbreather, I’m going to have to assume it is a suicide until evidence shows otherwise. Smith had a history of depression, and it’s not unknown for people to sucide in fairly gruesome fashions (both Ian Curtis and Michael Hutchence hanged themselves, which I think is a pretty awful way to go). Besides, it’s very unfair to Smith’s girlfriend to be pointing fingers without evidence. Assuming her innocence, she must be hurting pretty bad and feeling guilty about the argument they had before his death.
) He wrote beautiful songs of despair and really emotionally raw situations, always with a wry or sardonic overtone. As a bonus, his arrangement and playing was impeccable.