He didn’t die, but I would’ve loved to have had a new Billy Joel album every few few years since he retired from recording in 1993.
It’s gotta be Selena. She had barely broken into the mainstream when she was murdered. A lot of people think she was set to be the next big thing.
Hendrix is my second pick. He was just getting started.
Jeff Porcaro. Only 38 when he died and one of the best, and most in-demand, drummers on the planet. Although he had achieved much in his career, I would have given anything to hear 30 more years of his playing.
I disagree—I believe John Lennon belongs on that list. No, he may never have reached the stratospheric fame of his Beatles years again, but I believe he was on the verge of surpassing his solo output. Double Fantasy, released just weeks before his murder, wasn’t a swan song—it was a reawakening.
After a five-year hiatus focused on domestic life, Lennon was recharged. He hadn’t stopped writing—just releasing. By all accounts, he’d been stockpiling material and was gearing up for a full creative return. Double Fantasy got mixed reviews, but it had strong tracks, and more importantly, it showed where he was headed: more mature, reflective music with real emotional weight. Had he lived, I think his next albums would’ve been even stronger—more confident, more exploratory.
And I wouldn’t rule out collaborations with Paul and Ringo. Maybe even George, though George always carried around more of the Beatles baggage.
Lennon wasn’t done—he was just Starting Over.
Jim Croce is my pick.
Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon. Two people I feel would have moved on to new ground if they had lived longer.
I have to sadly disagree with Buddy Holly. He did a lot of great work in the fifties but rock was about to change and there’s no reason to assume he would have been able to keep up with the changes. Look at Chuck Berry.
Things were already changing by the time Holly died and unlike others who started in the rapidly dying genre of Rockabilly, he was changing along with the new trends. He showed more growth in four short years than Chuck Berry did over his entire career.
This is my take, as well. Holly was already exploring different styles and genres when he died. If any of the early rock ‘n’ roll stars of the 1950s would have had a good chance of remaining relevant and vital in rock music once the Beatles and the British Invasion hit, I think it would have been Holly – who would still have only been 27 when the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Band: Badfinger
Solo: Jeff Buckley
Skynyrd was cut down too soon, but they managed to eek out about 30 extra years anyway.
If Morrison were still alive, he’d be surly night assistant manager/cashier at a Denny’s in Barstow, sitting behind a cash register scribbling terrible “poetry” on napkins.
Bellybutton was a fantastic album, but I didn’t care much for the follow-up.
Ask yourself this, did any of the early rock ‘n’ roll stars of the 1950s remain relevant and vital in rock music once the Beatles and the British Invasion hit?
I feel the answer is no. And I don’t feel it’s realistic to assume that Holly would have been the exception if he had lived.
Pretty much, no, which is literally why I said what I said. Compared to his peers, Holly was more creative and experimental, and that’s why I feel he could have adapted to a changing music scene.
Obviously, we’ll never know, but that is the entire point of a thread based on hypotheticals.
That’s a ridiculous question since the British Invasion (and Bob Dylan lyrically) essentially invented Rock music. Buddy Holly could have created his own genre of music or moved into another genre all together like Folk or Country (like Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wanda Jackson, Bobby Darrin, Dion, not to mention his bandmate Waylon Jennings). Speaking of Jennings, he was just one of the many young artists whose early records were produced by Buddy Holly who (with “the Cricket Sound”) could very well have rivaled Phil Spector or Brian Wilson as the most influential producer of the 1960s. He launched his own record label a full ten years before the Beatles did.
My first thought was Michael Hedges, but he was 43 and had achieved quite a bit of success/recognition before he passed on.
Along the same lines as Buddy Holly perhaps: Eddie Cochran, who died at 21.
Clifford Brown.
Eddie Cochran could have been America’s Jimmy Page. Like Page, he was a brilliant and prolific session player and producer.
If you’re saying that Chuck Berry wasn’t playing rock music and Bob Dylan was, we have very different opinions on what rock music is.
And let’s not forget that the tour he was on included Ritchie Valens, who was one of the earliest people introduce Latino musical styles into the rock scene in the 50s. Who knows what a few months of them hanging out together might have produced?
Chuck Berry played Rock n Roll. Dylan wrote the kind of lyrics that would set Rock apart from Rock n Roll.
How about Mozart?