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Which musician would have achieved more had they not died prematurely?
DerekJohnson
Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 62,353 
Which musician would have achieved more had they not died prematurely? 19 votes
John Lennon
15%
3 votes
George Harrison
0%
Jimi Hendrix
36%
7 votes
Jim Morrison
15%
3 votes
Marvin Gaye
10%
2 votes
Kurt Cobain
5%
1 vote
Andrew Wood
0%
Janis Joplin
0%
Write-In
15%
3 votes
Comments
I forgot Tupac
I don’t know the careers of everyone listed but in polls like this, I tend to vote for those who did t have a huge catalog of music. I voted for Marvin in spite of that.
And Biggie. But there could be an entire category to rappers dying prematurely.
Its Hendrix. Lennon wasn't that young when he died.
It's pretty hard to say what direction guys would've gone though.
Buddy Holly
@RaceBannon beat me to the punch but I was going to say the most glaring omissions here are Buddy Holly and Otis Redding.
Harrison doesn't deserve to be on the list. He was a spent force artistically by the early 70s and had a few nice come back tracks in the late 80s produced by Jeff Lynne but still noting special. He was retired by the time of his death basically.
Same for Lennon. He was done artistically by the lost weekend and Double Fantasy was a pleasant comeback in 1980 but doubt he had much left in the tank. Maybe there would have been a reunion tour or not. But in terms of great future Lennon material I'm not buying it.
Hendrix was slipping a bit by the time of his death and hadn't released any new studio LP's since 1968.
Jim is the clear choice. He went out on top with L.A. Woman being some of the Door's very best work.
I lean more towards Jimi, with Cobain a close 2nd…IFL'ed the Lizard King, but he was so fucking out of control when they hit, I can't visualize what a straight Jim would be like, writing and performing. From what I've read, Jimi was dissatisfied with what he was doing, and looking to branch out at the time of his demise. He had dipped his toes into so many genres (Psychedelic, R&B, blues, funk, soul), I feel it would have been really interesting to see which direction(s) he went.
Kurt the same, with his alleged fondness for pop music.
I concur with Yella's take on George and John.
WATBS, it has to be someone from Club 27 or younger for me. There aren't too many second-acts in R&R, they either burn out or fade away…
Argh forgot about Buddy Holly. He would be my #2 vote after Jim in the non-rapper division, despite his vote for Sideshow Bob.
Buddy wrote and produced
Would have been interesting
Ritchie Valens is an interesting consideration too since he was only 17
Steve Gaines.
So good he took lead vocals on You Got That Right from Ronnie (co-lead I know). Only did the one album, Street Survivors. Probably does one or two more albums with Skynyrd and goes solo.
Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Cobain was nowhere near Jimi in terms of playing ability, but I think they both altered the trajectory of the instrument. Fender was going to soon announce the end of the Stratocaster production until Monterey Pop, probably the first few bars of "Killing Floor" was the turning point.
Bradley Nowell
Hank Williams Sr.
I was going to add Ronnie Van Zant/Steve Gaines. Seemed like they were going to have at least another good album or two in them.
I voted Jimi because he was super ahead of his time and seemed like he was heading in the direction of doing more and more interesting shit.
I'd be really curious about what Cobain would have done. I honestly have no clue.
the truth is most if not all had probably peaked though.
Almost all probably have controversial political opinions if they're still alive.
Almost went with Wood. I think Cobain as others alluded, his preference for writing a heavy pop hit likely keeps grunge near the forefront of music a bit longer. Maybe we have better bands around now or at least the music industry doesn't ignore them as a result.
Buddy Holly is a good call, and I'd say Layne Staley. That guy feels underrated from a front man, voice perspective. Love the Mad Season stuff and it's interesting to theorize where things go, especially now, with those powerful voices.
This really is easy. Hendrix was just getting started. He was going through a bit of a reset and never should have moved away from the original Experience power trio. Mitch Mitchell was nearly as much of a force in that setup as Hendrix was.
However...look at the way the harder end of the rock spectrum was evolving in 1970 and where it went. Does anyone really think Hendrix would've stood by and watched bands like Sabbath, Led, and Deep Purple leave him behind as a hard rocker? I believe that would've been his direction and it would've been glorious.
Morrison was talented but he was a fuck stuck and a clown. I used to have a disk of Hendrix jamming in some club. Pretty shitty jamming but that's jamming for you. Morrison got up there with him, noticeably, incoherently drunk, and made such a fool of himself that I had a hard time hearing even his Doors stuff for a while after. Man he sucked. You could tell Hendrix was embarrassed.
I had that on vinyl…cringey…FHITA
I have a hunch that Cobain had done all he could do.