For example, a band like Joy Division. Two masterpiece albums in the form of Unknown Pleasures and Closer, and the untimely death of Ian Curtis cut it all short. They were even heading into the direction that New Order eventually went in, and it would have been interesting to see what Ian Curtis would have done if they fully made the leap into electronic music while he was still alive.
Nirvana.
I dunno man. I love Nirvana and they broke through just as I became a teenager.
But I think they would have become lame eventually. The greatest thing about Nirvana was their resistance to the mainstream, they youthful energy and great melodies. I don’t think it would’ve been pretty when Kurt turned 40.
It’s depressing how difficult it is to imagine an alternative universe where Kurt could have made it to 40 and still been Kurt.
Maybe somewhere out there was a 90s with better solutions to mental health problems then “just do heroin until you can’t stand it any more then kill yourself” and we’d have a few thousand more artists running around.
But would it have been enough? I feel like he’d hate the world we built.
Corporations psychopathically wrung every penny they could from his life, art and obvious misery. They didn’t show the slightest remorse for their part in his tragic, lonely death, instead just revealing in the feed frenzy it caused and the millions it put into their bank accounts.
But even after watching them feed artists into the woodchipper over and over again, we still didn’t burn it down. We didn’t even get angry. We just let the neoliberalism wash over us, settling into it like a lukewarm bath.
He couldnt stand racism, homophobia, fundamentalism and toxic masculinity. He was angry, hurt and disillusioned so he wrote poetry and music and put it into the world.
Now the angry, hurt, dissilussioned kids just make far-right memes because a social media exec decided letting them get groomed was worth it for 14c worth of ad impressions.
I just don’t see how he could have made it here, watching everything he hated packaged up in plastic and sold to the world, unable to even hide away with his little family because for a few years he was the hot new product.
But would it have been enough? I feel like he’d hate the world we built.
He definitely would have. He had a very strong distaste for the system and for him to see the world become this manufactured when he tried being a part of the tide that worked against it. I think he’d honestly be finding a new reason to kill himself over.
I still enjoy Foo Fighters and feel that Dave Grohl has grown up and is still relevant. People change as they get older and some even improve.
But remember, one third of Nirvana in their final incarnation was Dave Grohl. With his talent, image what might have been…
Frightened Rabbit. Good body of work still but would have loved to see them keep going. Their music really hit close to home. Plus I only learned of them several months after Scott Hutchison’s suicide. What could’ve been.
+1 - I recently re-listened to all of his albums while creating karaoke versions of them all (here in case of interest: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjPVqMYwkaP4zaPCEhTfkTyRspxoOyjfY ) and it made me sad to think how much of Scott’s reality was actually coming through in his lyrics.
I always liked the band Jellyfish.
I just took a gander over to Wikipedia to learn why they broke up. It was there where I read one of the best break up write ups ever:
“During the tour for Spilt Milk, Sturmer and Manning grew increasingly distant as friends. On their return home, the two songwriters independently wrote material for a third album, provisionally titled Nausea Trois. By then, they were drifting apart musically. Manning remembered that, prior, they would bond over albums such as Paul McCartney’s Ram or the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle; however, “it was clear that none of that was happening anymore.” He said that he was “rediscovering my love of […] high-energy, fun melodic pop with attitude. And Andy was Leonard Cohen. That was it.” When Sturmer presented him a country ballad song, he accordingly “left in tears because I had zero interest in recording it.” Sturmer felt that Manning had outgrown the partnership, and for his part, was fearful that Manning’s new songs would likely inspire journalists to persistently compare the band to Alice Cooper.”
Really paints a picture!
They were a good band while it lasted.
Also…In 2004 or 2005, Coachella organizers invited Manning to reunite Jellyfish for a one-off performance at the festival. Manning advised the organizers to consult Sturmer first. Sturmer, through his lawyer, responded he would not accept the offer regardless of any amount of money involved.
Woah!!
Power Trip. I don’t even know what happened to the guy but I’ll respect the family’s privacy.
Apparently it was Fentanyl
The death of Mark Sandman (such a great name) on stage, 24 years ago, brought an end to Morphine. No other band can match the imagery and atmosphere of Noir as well as they could. You could also feel the evolution of their sound from their last album The Night.
Re-listening to their albums got me through some angsty sleepless nights in the first lockdown. I love his voice. And I think he would have carried on making great music even if it wasn’t with Morphine.
Jane’s Addiction.
Death
I would love to hear the songs Chuck would have written about the current state of the world. Stuff like 1,000 Eyes always gets me when I hear it today.
Device.
This was a group that consisted of David Draiman from Disturbed and Geno Lenardo who is a former guitarist from Filter. Only one album was released in the entire discography and the project lasted 2 years. It was a nice breakaway to hear David branch out from Disturbed to see what else he can do and I wished more albums was released. It could’ve been an industrial supergroup.
Sublime.
Fuck, that was so tragic. Would it have changed his life if he had lived a couple more months? Would he have cleaned up and gotten his shit together? We’ll never know. The news really cast a pall over that year, especially for those who already knew of Sublime. It just felt so unfair, man. We had finally come to accept Kurt’s death, were still mourning Shannon’s passing, and now Brad, who never got to reap the fruits of his labor, was gone. He left us a gift, and I mean one hell of a gift because it’s a freaking beautiful album, but it’s hard to not wonder “what if?”
Like Kurt and Shannon, he was just so wonderfully talented and beloved, the world suddenly felt very cold and slightly less bright in his absence. Just so unfair. Pour one out for Brad, he is still sorely missed.
Hard to say whether it would have changed anything. He was in a vicious cycle that’s claimed many before and since, but it would have been nice to at least have him see the magic he brought into the world.
Well said. I also think people would dig more of their catalog/non mainstream recordings. Brad’s voice was magic imo.
Pure gold, without a doubt. I’ve seem them with Rome and while I do like his style, it’s just not the same. I was supposed to see them right before Brad’s passing.
Rome is no Bradley, but he’s excellent in his own respect.
Whoever performed the theme song for Sealab 2021.
That was Calamine.
These days lead performer Julie Stepanek teaches ukulele in Massachusetts.
Blind Melon
Shannon Hoon went out way too soon.
New Radicals made only one album, and it’s probably in my top 10 albums of all time.
Can we include Trevor Moore in this discussion?
2 albums of music in addition to the wkuk (which had songs as well)
Story of out times
High in church
Power Trip :( Fuck fentanyl, man. PT so perfectly encompassed 80s thrash metal and were absolutely electric live. Lucky to have a few amazing albums from them, but I’m sad we’ll never get more.
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Their second album, Rise of the Eagles is amazing, but their lead guitarist left, they didn’t make an album for another 7 years, and by then, it was too late :/
I also like The Cooper Temple Clause, but their third album after the bassist (Didz Hammond) left to do other stuff was shit, with a couple of decent tracks. Then they broke up.
