# Which 60s rock star's death would make the biggest splash?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-60s-rock-stars-death-would-make-the-biggest-splash/986997>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [July 13, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-60s-rock-stars-death-would-make-the-biggest-splash/986997 "2023-07-13T18:00:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 9

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-60s-rock-stars-death-would-make-the-biggest-splash/986997/161 "2023-07-24T21:54:44Z")

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> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Depending on time and circumstances of their deaths

John F. Kennedy’s death turned C.S. Lewis and Aldus Huxley into footnotes.

Farah Fawcett had the rotten luck to die the same day as Michael Jackson.

Orson Welles is still considered a great filmmaker, but Yul Brynner’s same-day death cut down on the retrospectives.

Princess Diana’s funeral drove Mother Teresa’s death into the “other news in brief” category. The same thing when Groucho Marx died immediately after Elvis’ funeral.

Johnny Cash had been in poor health for a long time, so his death was really not a surprise compared to John Ritter’s sudden death the same day.

So Paul McCartney might die on the same day nuclear weapons are used in the Ukraine war, or Bob Dylan might have a heart attack and die onstage on a slow news day. Who can guess what will end up dominating the day.

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**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-60s-rock-stars-death-would-make-the-biggest-splash/986997/162 "2023-07-24T22:28:17Z")

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> [@digs](#):
>
> People whose deaths I assumed would affect me… didn’t (Ever since Cream, I was a huge Jack Bruce fan, but oh, well… as a prog fan, same with Greg Lake, Tony Banks, Keith Emerson and Chris Squire).

If it makes you feel any better, Tony Banks is still alive.

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**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-60s-rock-stars-death-would-make-the-biggest-splash/986997/163 "2023-07-24T23:58:49Z")

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> Tony Banks is still alive.

Yeah, like I said, I’m a _huge_ prog fan… okay, I _was…_

.

> [@Common\_Tater](#):
>
> Young people don’t GAF about 60’s rock stars

How many young people do you know/talk about their lives with? And do you call them “young people”? . . . . :~)

My kids, my students, and my even younger friends (participants in our ‘art club in the park’), are all huge fans of 60s and 70s artists.

Prince, Bowie, Cobain, Cornell… those deaths were tough on the kids. ANY Beatle, Rolling Stone, Clapton, Elton, even folkies like Joni or James Taylor or Paul Simon would be seen as a tragedy.

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