Say they’re tragically cut down at what we know (in hindsight) to be their peak, but to fans in an alternate timeline it would appear that they had decades of top notch material left.
Young Elvis, before he made too many crappy movies, got fat, and became irrelevant to the rock world.
Michael Jackson right after Thriller. He’d still look normal, and wouldn’t have lived long enough for the molestation allegations.
Just some obvious ones off the top of my head, who else?
Bob Dylan. Don’t hit me.
Well, this is a rather morbid and mean topic for a thread.
But at what age? In 1966 when he crashed his motorcycle? Or about 10 to 12years later after he released “Blood on the Tracks” and before his mostly-embarrassing “born again” phase and generally forgettable 80s albums?
Anyway, although he was no longer young at that point, I think if James Brown dropped dead of a heart attack on stage after singing “Please, Please, Please” sometime around 1988, we would’ve been less likely to think of his erratic behavior, arrests, jail sentence, drug problems, and incoherent interviews when reviewing his long career.
KISS, right after Destroyer and before KISS Alive.
Mick Jagger at Altamont. He’d be a demigod.
Whitney Houston sometime before the Dianne Sawyer interview. Michael Jackson in the early 90’s. Gallagher before he took the crazy train to grumpy-insane-old-mansville.
Elvis’ legacy has held up just fine despite his downward spiral at the end of his life so I can’t agree with that one. He’s still considered a god. Michael Jackson might also fit for this reason but I think his reputation really was ruined by his insanity that really surfaced in the 90’s and 00’s. Houston became a laughing stock, it’s hard to respect how talented she really was nowadays.
Mel Gibson.
Orson Welles
Richard Strauss before the Nazis took over although he had to, and did, protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
Joe Louis as a greeter at a Las Vegas casino seems pretty sad.
This might be offensive but: basically any child star.
George Lucas dies in 1981, right after following STAR WARS with THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, having moved from AMERICAN GRAFFITI to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
(Bonus points if someone else then revisits his work: Greedo shooting first, “Ewoks” this, “Jar-Jar” that, and so on; it’s good that he’s simply no longer associated with disappointments like HOWARD THE DUCK and RED TAILS, but he looks even better by comparison every time folks nuke the fridge of Indiana Jones or whatever.)
Paul McCartney.
He’s had some really crap songs as a solo performer and in Wings. Lennon has practically been deified despite an even worse solo career and many unpleasant shenanigans. Paul is respected but isn’t loved as much as you’d expect for a Beatle.
I think that John’s death came at the perfect moment to enhance his legacy. His new album wasn’t outstanding but it gave hope that he was back and would be making better music in the future, as well as fighting injustice. I’m not convinced the results would have been as good as everyone’s dream. In fact, I think Lennon was a candidate for Elvis syndrome.
Dylan has benefitted from a late career resurgence. Pop music performers still cover his recent songs. His longevity is important.
Having said that, anybody dying young gets a historical boost. If Brian Wilson died in 69 there would be religions based on him 
I really can’t agree about Elvis. This is a man whose empire only grew after his death.
The first one that came to mind for me was Tom Cruise. I guess pre jumping on Oprah’s couch & scientology.
Gary Glitter, before all his pedophile creepiness became public.
I wouldn’t say “early death”, but Jeph Loeb’s name would be better if he hadn’t come back out of retirement when he did. The comics he worked on - The Ultimates 3 and Ultimatum - pretty much butchered the entire Ultimate Marvel imprint.
I’d have to say Rod Stewart right after Never a Dull Moment.
Justin Bieber. Like every teen idol, he’ll be completely forgotten in a few years, unless he dies.
Axl Rose, after The Spaghetti Incident? At least he’d have an excuse for taking forever to record a new GNR album.
Billy Corgan, after Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. His death would have spared us from Adore and his infinite baldness and the Smashing Pumpkins wouldn’t be completely forgotten like they are today.
Regarding Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson I feel like it would be more to the point to say “earlier death.” 50 can, I suppose, be argued to have been a pretty full life but 42 still seems like an early death to me. This is probably coming across as more nitpicky than I mean it to be. I’m pretty sure that I get the point of the OP - if Presley had managed to die heroically during his time in the army he’d be more revered and we wouldn’t have the images of “Fat Elvis”, or him shooting the TV.
Artists who had an explosive hit or 1 - 3 year big run, but not nearly as much after - Axl Rose, Alanis Morrisette, Billy Corgan, heck, Vanilla Ice. I suspect **Lady GaGa **will end up in this category, too.
Artists who brushed up with fame, but had a more diehard niche following - if they died early their work and influence might be reconsidered and elevated - folks like **Bob Mould **of Husker Du; **Paul Westerberg **of the Replacements, even guys with longer runs like Joe Jackson.
I don’t get the comments on **Dylan **- his shadow is freakin’ huge and that has not changed. He may not be more than an niche curiosity as a performer now, but when he dies, he will be on the front page of every magazine and website. Same with McCartney - his place in the pantheon of musicians who will be discussed hundreds of years from now has been in place for decades. His later work has NO bearing on that - he’s just playing with house money and having fun.
My take is that David Bowie - who just had a thread about him vs. Queen, just had his birthday and is out with a new single - will only rise in the pantheon - that might’ve started earlier if he died earlier, but his work up through Let’s Dance was quirky, innovative, hugely influential and commercially popular. I suspect that his death will be the beginning of a reconsideration of Bowie that will lead to an elevation - putting him more squarely in the Who, Floyd, Zep level of royalty, just below the Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and Dylan level…
Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan have managed to tarnish their legacies over the last 10-15 years. Sure, they’ve had a decent match or two in the time, but it was because they were wrestling people like Shawn Michaels.
But you’d lose the image of him shaking hands with Nixon!
And, c’mon: you’d lose the image of him in black leather, singing Are You Lonesome Tonight, plus you’d lose him in the white jumpsuit, singing Burning Love - just so we can lose Return To Sender and everything from Can’t Help Falling In Love to Suspicious Minds? Look, reasonable people can disagree over whether to lose the bell-bottoms-and-lei-clad Elvis singing An American Trilogy You maybe don’t like In The Ghetto, we can talk. But, please, rethink what you’re proposing here: it’s now or never! Are you the devil in disguise? Viva Las Vegas!