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| From | Sam Smith <sam@lullabypit.com> |
| Subject | what-ifs |
| Date | Sat, 31 Mar 2007 07:51:21 -0600 |
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Flip the coin...how many people who DID die would we still revere if
they had lived. Assuming you don't believe McCartney is dead, what if
he, and not Lennon, was killed in 1980? No Macca latter day dilution
(from lukewarm albums to videos with jacko to Starbucks) and would
Lennon have continued to be iconic? Or would Yokoism have killed
through osmosis? Would Janis have been ruined by hip producers and
bad song selection? Would even Jimi have gotten bored, and (like
Clapton) dog-paddled for a while, searching for inspiration?
I've always heard these what-ifs and regarded them suspiciously. Because
we have too many examples of people who have gone to hell as their
careers "matured." Elton John is the greatest, best example in the Oh How
the Mighty Have Fallen pantheon.
Let's look at an example. We always love to wonder what Hendrix would
have done had he lived. So what if, the day Hendrix died he had lived and
another artist had died instead. A brilliant young blues rock singer who
had, at that point, released his second solo record - a 5-star wonder
that followed a solid 4.5-star debut. These came after he'd fronted 4.5
and 5 star efforts from The Jeff Beck Group and a fantastic 4-star (at
least) debut for The Faces.
That's something like five records in three years, and the worst in the
pack was at least worth four stars.
So, what if Jimi had lived but Rod Stewart had died that day? What kind
of mythology would we have constructed around him? How many what-if
debates would his legend dominate?
For all we know Jimi would be doing duet records featuring Rob Thomas and
Nelly or playing the pan flute in Celine Dion's band in Vegas right now.
Probably not, but how many people predicted Rod's current 25 year-long
Nonstop Frustrated Housewives Tour back in 1970?
--
_______________________
Sam Smith
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