A classmate of mine in high school was Bob Moran. Everyone called him Bob Bob Bob, Bob Bob Moran.
For your next trivia brainteaser. Which Beach Boy sings lead on “Barbara Ann”? None. Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean did.
They were recording in a nearby studio and were asked to sit in. Some say Dean suggested the song. He sang lead and Brian did falsetto. He was carefully never mentioned because the record company was already mad at Brian: he kept writing top ten songs for Jan and Dean who were on a different record label when he could have been keeping them for the Beach Boys. They got their revenge by putting “Barbara Ann” out as a single when Brain was trying to change their image with Pet Sounds. Brain struck back by issuing “Caroline No” - one of the greatest 60s songs - as a single by Brian Wilson instead of the Beach Boys. It barely made top 40. It wound up on Pet Sounds anyway, but bad blood was everywhere.
Tony Bennett makes a pretty big splash. Rock or otherwise.
Slow news day. But he was a noted singer for decades. His passing wasn’t going to be ignored.
And certainly a bigger splash because of his relatively recent duets albums with younger stars like Lady Gaga.
plus, it’s fair to say that he was the last of the great crooners alive.
so, that has to have some extra weight
I guess it depends how you define splash. Everyone on that list is dying age so none of them would be a splash AFAIC, it would be more of a ‘well, they had a good life’. MJ, Prince, Elvis, Amy Winehouse and Buddy Holley splashed because their death was unexpected. There will be a lot of press on all of them of course but not much shock, I expect.
Not sure where to categorize since the question is “Rock Star” and therefore might be a stretch, but it would be remiss to leave out Joni Mitchell.
Again, the music media has their “advertising favorites” for lack of a better term, but Mitchell was a huge influence and a fixture in the 1960s LA music scene, there was nobody quite like her. Led Zeppelin never wrote a tune about Janis Joplin or Grace Slick, after all.
She’d be a big one to be sure. The problem is I think of her as a 70s person, just like Elton John. A couple of good starter albums in the late 60s but no true stardom until the 70s.
Same here. And, I think that, like several of the other highly influential musicians already mentioned, Mitchell’s passing will be a very big deal among musicians, knowledgeable music fans, and those who were/are big fans of hers, but not exceptionally noteworthy to the general public.
Eh, her debut album was March ‘68 - and I disagree about what is truly noteworthy with the public. We gotta leave the press out of this to some degree.
My contention is her passing will be a big deal because of who she was, at the time. The music press might tell us who is “important”, but - these are same outlets that leave Joni off of the “Top 100 Greatest Guitarists”, OK, it might be somewhat subjective, but they DO include some chick from the Go-Gos because “Our Lips Are Sealed” was a hit. It’s just absurd. Mitchell had some huge hits in the 60s, so I think she qualifies for the time period, if maybe not the genre. She wrote “Woodstock”, even if unable to attend, that’s about as 60’s Rock as it gets.
See where I’m goin’ with that?
I do, but how many people today – especially those under 40 – would even know who Joni Mitchell is, much less know songs of hers like “Woodstock,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” etc.? It likely doesn’t help that, for the past couple of decades, she’s been largely out of the public spotlight (at least in part due to health issues), and until this summer, she hadn’t headlined a tour since 2000.
I’m not denying that Mitchell was a very big star in her time, nor that she was (and continues to be) influential among musicians and serious music fans (as I already noted). But, that’s not what the OP asked about; reposting the exact question, it was:
Compared to some of the names in this thread (McCartney, Starr, Dylan), I just don’t see her being anywhere close to that prominent, in the general public’s awareness, anymore.
When I think about the OP’s question, I think about the reaction when David Bowie and Prince died in 2016, where there was just a huge response in the press, on social media, etc. I think that when McCartney dies, it’ll be something similar, if not even bigger; I simply don’t think that an artist like Mitchell has the same presence in the culture anymore, to generate that sort of response.
Well sure - but now you’re just moving the goalposts.
The original question, was what performers are going to make the biggest splash with those in that age group, i.e. Boomers, basically.
Nobody under 40 cares about a bunch of old geezers, but that’s not news. But, you are making my point.
I don’t think I am. The OP’s question never specified, “whose death would make the biggest splash among Boomers,” though you may have inferred that.
Doesn’t really matter; you have your opinion on it, and that’s cool.
Yes, he mentioned boomers, I think it’s also implied by definition. Young people don’t GAF about 60’s rock stars, nor would I expect them to.
I didn’t care when say, Benny Goodman died, and I couldn’t tell you when that was; Glenn Miller disappeared on an airplane flight over the English channel in 1944, but it’s an historical thing. Oh well.
It isn’t going to resonate with someone in my age group, that’s the point.
Since I’m the OP I get to settle the argument.
It’s all about the press. Personal judgements on who is important or the best or who deserves it most do not count for the list, although everyone is free to share them or to start another thread on that contentious subject. Boomers are only a piece of the culture.
Tony Bennett lead off the national news last night. (Granted, it was a very slow news day.) Therefore the death of Tony Bennett made a splash, whatever you think of him and however you rank him. He was not a Boomer idol, but that makes no difference. People older than Boomers care and people younger than Boomers care, including people under 40. Same will be true for the people on my list. If I didn’t think younguns would also care the names didn’t get into the top ten.
Certainly, not all young people do, but you might be surprised. As I noted upthread, my niece (born 1992) is a big David Bowie fan (who would technically count, as his first hit, “Space Oddity,” was released in '69); I know a number of people in their 20s who are fans of the Beatles, the Stones, etc.
Granted, a lot of them likely developed interest in those groups due to the influence of their parents, but they still do GAF about them.
McCartney is undoubtedly No. 1
Cher, I think, would actually be my pick for a No. 2. She’s huge with the LGBQT+ crowd, for one thing, in a way maybe only Diana Ross is, of the others in the OP. That plus the acting career (I don’t think The Wiz is going to edge Ross past her on that score 
)
Dylan I think is too high. He’s certainly not got the same social cachet as he might once have had. I know some of my younger friends listen to The Beatles and the Stones, but Dylan it seems they mostly know through Adele.
As a post boomer (or on the edge), I would include Carole King.
Not just acting, she has been much more of a modern celebrity during her lifetime. There are far more video clips of her than anyone else considered so far. She has had TV shows of her own, numerous talk show appearances, infomercials, interviews, red carpet appearances, in addition to all the acting and singing performances. Depending on time and circumstances of their deaths, Cher could be a bigger splash than McCartney.