# Who would have been awesome if they'd lived longer(music artists) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518 "2018-06-21T16:46:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/41 "2018-06-21T23:09:54Z")
Nick Drake. He only made three albums, and they were all wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/42 "2018-06-21T23:10:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I love Croce’s music, as well, and he only had about a year and a half as a nationally-known musician before the plane crash. > > What I had forgotten, until reading [his Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Croce), was this: > > So, if he’d lived, who knows if he would have remained in the music industry? Jim Croce was an incredible loss. He was such a keen observer of the human condition. I suspect that he never would have left music completely. It was so much a part of him. But, if he was making a good living from other endeavors, I suspect he might have pursued music as a labor of love. Putting out albums on an occasional basis, with no need to tour to support them. And without the pressure to put things out NOW, as record companies require, his music may have gone in very interesting directions. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/43 "2018-06-21T23:17:48Z")
As a song-writer, Stan Rogers was second to none. He had the ability to take something ordinary and show it as a microcosm of the human condition. I would love to see what he would be doing now if he were still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/44 "2018-06-22T00:17:43Z")
Bix Beiderbecke died at age 28 ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/45 "2018-06-22T00:22:15Z")
There are a bunch of these in the jazz world. When Clifford Brown died at the age of 25 he was already being compared to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Fats Navarro was a pioneer of bebop when he died at 26. Charlie Christian was an important figure in the transition from swing to bebop, but didn’t live past 25. There are others who died young, such as Bix Beiderbecke and Charlie Parker, but at least these guys got to show their stuff for a while before kicking it. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/46 "2018-06-22T00:23:15Z")
Scott Joplin. What he gave us was amazing. I wish there was more. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/47 "2018-06-22T01:17:04Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > **Schubert** , of course. This. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/48 "2018-06-22T02:05:25Z")
Gotta disagree about Jim Morrison. Yes, his work was uneven. But when he was at his best, he was fucking brilliant. If he’d managed to walk the razor’s edge a few more years, he might have produced some fine stuff. Oh, and Harry Chapin. Now, what he would have done during the Bush years would have been something. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/49 "2018-06-22T02:16:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 🙂 > > Did Hendrix ever do jazz? He didn’t, but I can easily see his Band of Gypsies music morphing into a fusion style that would match up well with where Davis and Coltrane were going. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/50 "2018-06-22T02:53:48Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > A lot of good suggestions here. I submit [Randy Rhodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Rhoads). Yes! Assuming he wouldn’t have stayed with Ozzy past the 80s I wonder what he would have been doing. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/51 "2018-06-22T03:26:31Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Gotta disagree about Jim Morrison. Yes, his work was uneven. But when he was at his best, he was fucking brilliant. If he’d managed to walk the razor’s edge a few more years, he might have produced some fine stuff. His voice was near to shot by his final album. He made it work on that one as a kinda primal growl, but I wonder if he could gotten much out of the next few years without a significant rest( from just about _all_ his excesses ). Don’t have confidence at anything much from Brian Jones( he was never a composition guy, he was a color guy - I don’t know what he would do without writers like Jagger/Richards ), but I do think Hendrix might have gone interesting places. People like SRV and Duane Allman fall into the category of people I like to think wouldn’t necessarily have innovated any further, but might have put out excellent _performances_ and strong albums. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/52 "2018-06-22T03:46:08Z")
Kirsty MacColl; kind of the English Neko Case. Good singer but brilliant lyricist, died at 41 in a boating accident (as in, she was swimming and got run over by a boat.) Probably best known for her collaboration with The Pogues on “Fairytale of New York”, and Tracey Ullman’s cover of her song “They Don’t Know”. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/53 "2018-06-22T03:56:33Z")
Amy Winehouse ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/54 "2018-06-22T04:23:35Z")
Jaco Pastorius died at age 35. 35! Talk about a life cut short. [This was his _first recording._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yReDe5-rTIU) Let me repeat that, it’s his _first recording,_ playing in the rhythm section of Willie “Little Beaver” Hale in 1974. Anyone here who plays the bass will already understand this, but I just want everyone else to realize that if this track was literally the _only_ recording by any given bassist, _that alone_ would put the bassist in the running for “greatest bassist ever.” And this was his _first recording_, LONG before he got with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, or produced his solo albums. He was not only the greatest bassist, but absolutely one of the greatest all-around musicians and composers of all time. Even most bass players who know his name and are familiar with some of his work, are unaware that he was a prolific composer and arranger in addition to bassist, _and_ that he was an excellent pianist as well, and had a very solid education in classical music and formal theory. This guy was a musical powerhouse of superlative proportions, and he left us way, way, way too soon. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/55 "2018-06-22T04:31:12Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Absolutely. Joy Division were already playing around with electronics when he died, and I think he was on the same pathway musically as the rest of the band. New Order, but with Ian lyrics would have been quite a thing. they would of been a cross between joy,new and the 90s cure ……… bouncy techno songs that would shock you once you paid attention to the lyrics but with a couple of radio friendly songs (like “Friday im in love”) thrown in ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/56 "2018-06-22T04:41:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Several classical composers, most obviously Mozart. Even though what he did write in his relatively short lifetime puts him at or near the top of many people’s list of Greatest Composers Ever, it’s not far-fetched to believe that, at 35, his greatest work would have been still ahead of him had he lived even a few more years. Imagine if Mozart had stuck around long enough to see the Romantic era. There are already hints of Romanticism in his later works. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/57 "2018-06-22T05:35:03Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Heh. By then he would have been an old man and not all that interesting in his political opinions, which would probably have been pretty standard. What would be shocking, but not impossible, is him growing more conservative as he aged and raised a family. Who knows, maybe he would have been a Blairite? Lennon? Doubtful. He lived in New York and was a permanent U.S. resident, and his wife Yoko was a naturalized U.S. citizen. I couldn’t see him moving back to England and concerning himself with British politics. He set his roots down in the Big Apple. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/58 "2018-06-22T05:55:22Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Jaco Pastorius died at age 35. 35! Talk about a life cut short. > > [This was his _first recording._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yReDe5-rTIU) Let me repeat that, it’s his _first recording,_ playing in the rhythm section of Willie “Little Beaver” Hale in 1974. Anyone here who plays the bass will already understand this, but I just want everyone else to realize that if this track was literally the _only_ recording by any given bassist, _that alone_ would put the bassist in the running for “greatest bassist ever.” And this was his _first recording_, LONG before he got with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, or produced his solo albums. > > He was not only the greatest bassist, but absolutely one of the greatest all-around musicians and composers of all time. Even most bass players who know his name and are familiar with some of his work, are unaware that he was a prolific composer and arranger in addition to bassist, _and_ that he was an excellent pianist as well, and had a very solid education in classical music and formal theory. This guy was a musical powerhouse of superlative proportions, and he left us way, way, way too soon. Have you seen the documentary about him? You are right, he was brilliant. In the mid 1990s, there was an up-and-coming band called For Squirrels that I really think would have left quite a mark had two of the members and a manager not died in a van crash. > **[For Squirrels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Squirrels)** > > For Squirrels was an American alternative rock band based in Gainesville, Florida, United States, founded in 1992. > Their 1995 single "Mighty K.C." became an alternative rock radio hit about three months after a touring van accident that claimed the lives of founding members Jack Vigliatura IV and Bill White, along with tour manager Tim Bender, while the band was on the cusp of national recognition. > The surviving members of the band changed the name to Subrosa in 1996 before disbanding in 2001. > ... I would also nominate punk singers Mia Zapata (The Gits) and D. Boon (The Minutemen) whose stars were both on the rise when they also left us way too soon - IIRC both at 28 (not 27). Zapata was murdered (the crime’s solution is as interesting as her life was) and Boon died in a freak automobile accident. I’d also list Otis Redding, and gospel singer Keith Green. ---
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/59 "2018-06-22T05:56:45Z")
A weird one, but Shannon Hoon from Blind Melon. He died very shortly after Blind Melon’s second album _Soup_, and as such they broke up and are remembered as a one hit wonder for their song _No Rain_. _Soup_ is a great album, though, and an underrated 90s classic. If Shannon had survived, while I doubt they would’ve become a huge band, I’m sure they could’ve released at least a few more good albums. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518/60 "2018-06-22T05:57:28Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > To me, the big one is John Lennon. Lennon was just starting to realize that he didn’t need drugs to inspire him to write, that family, and you know, life, could inspire as well: One thing Lennon was considering was producing young artists. This either would have produced some interesting music or have been a complete disaster. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-have-been-awesome-if-theyd-lived-longer-music-artists/816518.md?page=4)