# RIP, Keith Emerson **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683 "2016-03-11T19:51:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/21 "2016-03-12T02:49:03Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > 71 is not an advanced age! > > I liked ELP, though not at their most bombastic. Keyboards add a lot of needed texture to rock. Emerson was clearly a major name in that world. > > This has been a terrible year for classic rock and we’re not even up to the Ides of March\*. > \*who are all still alive. It is compared to Hendrix, Cobain, Morrison, and other musicians who didn’t live to see 30. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/22 "2016-03-12T03:29:19Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I liked ELP I did not know they were still together. They split up in 1979, reformed in '91 and broke up again for good in '98. They did a one-off 40th anniversary show in 2010 but nothing else since then. ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/23 "2016-03-12T06:01:00Z")
I am beyond devastated. ELP is one of my favorite bands of all time. I love almost everthing they did. (I even enjoy Love Beach.) RIP Keith. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/24 "2016-03-12T14:59:38Z")
:eek:WTF? I am speechless Emerson Lake & Palmer, I love you. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/25 "2016-03-12T15:10:12Z")
I loved Pictures At An Exhibition. They don’t make ‘elegant’ any more, do they? RIP. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/26 "2016-03-12T16:18:31Z")
RIP Keith. ☹ Big fan of Emerson’s work since the day I picked up a copy of [Elegy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegy_%28The_Nice_album%29)…because I liked the cover. 😃 I loved ELP’s stuff up until _Welcome Back My Friends_, after that I kind of lost interest. The Brain Salad Surgery tour was the most impressive concert I had been to in the early days of my rock show career–and it still stands out in my memory. The final notes of Karn Evil 9 swirling around the SF Civic Center faster and faster and faster…wow. I talked about that show for days after that to anyone who would listen. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/27 "2016-03-12T18:08:47Z")
I just read that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. He had nerve damage in his right hand that affected his playing and he also had depression. That poor man. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/28 "2016-03-12T19:46:08Z")
Sad to hear that he took his own life. He was a talented musician and ELP a big part of my childhood. They were the beginnings of progressive rock. I started a thread about ELP a couple months ago. > **[Emerson, Lake & Palmer how are they remembered these days? Did they leave...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=780850)** > > Pretentious is the word most often associated with ELP and many of their college crowd fans. I was a bit younger and heard many older cool kids playing ELP and claiming it was great music. They turned their noses up at CCR. 😉 I never quite saw the... ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/29 "2016-03-12T20:05:04Z")
“Lucky Man” now takes on a creepy overtone. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/30 "2016-03-12T20:08:58Z")
For whatever it’s worth, Keith’s right hand had been impaired by ulnar nerve problems for well over 20 years, and from what I’ve seen on videos his right hand was effectively limited to thumb and two fingers by 1994. Although it may have gotten even worse since then, this was not a recent development. I’ve read that he had “growths” removed from his colon some years ago, and wonder if that might also have been a contributing factor to his despair. Damn. I can’t overstate how highly I regarded his abilities when he was in his prime. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/31 "2016-03-12T21:29:37Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Lucky Man” now takes on a creepy overtone. Yeah. Glad it was written by Greg Lake, or the creep factor magnifies. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/32 "2016-03-12T21:50:22Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > For whatever it’s worth, Keith’s right hand had been impaired by ulnar nerve problems for well over 20 years, and from what I’ve seen on videos his right hand was effectively limited to thumb and two fingers by 1994. Although it may have gotten even worse since then, this was not a recent development… I have heard that he had a rare condition called Musician’s Task Specific Focal Dystonia which causes uncontrollable spasms and movement in the affected body part. (My husband is a drummer and suffers from this and heard this from the Focal Dystonia community) It has ended many musical careers and I know first hand the kind of despair a musician can go through when they can’t play their instrument. It’s sad that he took his life. RIP Keith. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/33 "2016-03-13T00:00:42Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > (I even enjoy Love Beach.) :eek: Will listen now to “The Thoughts of Everlist Davjack” - a couple neat tunes off that, like “Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon”, “Daddy, Where Did I Come From?” Cool seeing him play the awesome “America” on Letterman in the mid-90’s. My favourite solo - “Bitches Crystal” Sad his life ended this way:( R.I.P. Still - you’ll turn us on. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683/34 "2016-03-13T05:17:27Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Sad news. I’m glad to see he lived to be 71, though. He had a long and fulfilling life. That seems to be the trend now, a rocker living to an advanced age instead of dying in their 20s. That makes their deaths a little easier to accept. > [@cochrane](#): > > It is compared to Hendrix, Cobain, Morrison, and other musicians who didn’t live to see 30. I did not know that Emerson had taken his life when I wrote these remarks. I can’t imagine his pain or his mental state that he chose to do this, but I’m very sorry that he has passed, and I apologize if I came across as insensitive. His death is a loss to his family and his legion of fans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-keith-emerson/748683.md?page=1)