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Which musician would've put out the best music if they hadn't passed?

Featured Replies

I don’t think anyone said Ricky Nelson or Ritchie valens so I’ll just mention them as meeting the thread criteria. 

3 hours ago, Hammerin Hank said:

As a Texas hip hop fan 

Pimp C

Fat Pat

Big Hawk

Takeoff...

Not from Houston but he died there. He had released some awesome shit right before he died. 

 

 

I mean we could do this all day with rappers...

12 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

An interesting conundrum for consideration in connection with artists like Hendrix that died of drug-related causes.  Not just musicians, of course,

Prolonged life for a lot of them would have entailed sobriety, which probably would have changed the "character" of their output, if not the quality.

Syd Barrett lived to be an old man,  but he was “gone” by late 1968. Would have been interesting to see where he would have either taken Pink Floyd or what a solo career would have looked like if he had not fried his brain.  His output would have definitely changed.  

2016 and 2017 were rough.  We lost Prince, Bowie, and Petty.  I think we were probably going to get some good music out of all of them.  Also, this country hasn't been the same since then.

11 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I fuckin' hate AI, but if it gave us Bon Scott on "Back in Black", I might forgive it.

 

Best I can do is John Denver covering Black Sabbath

 

I would love to have heard what Joy Division would have done had Ian Curtis not killed himself, but in the flip side, I'm a huge New Order fan and so it's a bit of a Sofia's choice.

With that in mind, I'll go with Elliot Smith.  

  • Author
2 hours ago, DixonHur said:

I would love to have heard what Joy Division would have done had Ian Curtis not killed himself, but in the flip side, I'm a huge New Order fan and so it's a bit of a Sofia's choice.

With that in mind, I'll go with Elliot Smith.  

while I agree with you re: Elliott Smith, I just need to put this here for your reference:

image.png.a3f5274744df40eb239509af21500f4e.png

9 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Syd Barrett lived to be an old man,  but he was “gone” by late 1968. Would have been interesting to see where he would have either taken Pink Floyd or what a solo career would have looked like if he had not fried his brain.  His output would have definitely changed.  

I've definitely come to be of the opinion Syd was going that way regardless. The acid didn't help matters but he was not built for spotlight

Warren Zevon.  His last album was made when he knew his end was coming. Its a brilliant record. 

1 minute ago, Delta Charlie said:

Warren Zevon.  His last album was made when he knew his end was coming. Its a brilliant record. 

Would he have had to keep dying to keep making better music?

11 hours ago, honolulu horn said:

while I agree with you re: Elliott Smith, I just need to put this here for your reference:

image.png.a3f5274744df40eb239509af21500f4e.png

Why?

"Sophie's choice refers to an extremely difficult decision a person has to make. It describes a situation where no outcome is preferable over the other. This can be either because both outcomes are equally desirable or both are equally undesirable.

Sophie’s choice Meaning & Origin | Slang by Dictionary.com

 https://search.app/Xa83LXqxC8GGMHXW7

 

Edit: I now see you may have been referencing the auto-correct error.  I have a love hate relationship with auto-correct.

Edited by DixonHur

I feel like there's two different conversations going on here.

On 2/6/2025 at 7:17 AM, G650 said:

I honestly think Hendrix had burned out. Not to say he wouldn't have put out some good music, but by all accounts he was getting pretty spent creatively. I don't think we would have gotten anything earth shattering from him.

Obviously, it's impossible to say what someone would have produced later in life had they not died at an early age, but I disagree with this take.  I've read biographies and interviews that lead me to believe that Hendrix might have been on the verge of a whole new, and completely different phase of his career.  A lot of the malaise that affected the last year or so of his career stemmed from issues with his management, specifically Mike Jeffries.  Jimi was getting tired of the wild man pop star image that made him famous, but the fans demanded, and Jeffries insisted on continuing with the Purple Haze, Foxey Lady, etc. style of "hit" music, and Jimi wanted to expand beyond this.  This, and issues with Noel Redding not being happy festered through late 1968 and lead to the breakup of the original "Experience" lineup in spring of 1969.  After experimenting with various personnel lineups through the rest of '69, Jimi had settled on a new trio in early 1970 with Billy Cox replacing Noel on bass.  I have read that in late 1969 or so, Jimi was having conversations with Miles Davis, yes, THAT Miles Davis, about collaborating.  As I understand it, Miles Davis' album Bitches Brew was conceived to be part of that collaboration, but Jimi unfortunately had contractual commitments that prevented his participation.  All of this was going on while Jimi was also trying to get his new studio, Electric Lady Studio, completed.  After returning to Europe in late summer 1970 to complete some concert commitments, Jimi's management contract with Mike Jeffries was set to expire in October or November of 1970, at which time Jimi had planned to return to the U.S. and find new management.  I recall reading what I think was Jimi's last interview, where he said that he was looking forward to returning to the States, and some of the things he wanted to do included learning how to read and write musical notation, and he was really looking forward to studying music theory.  This desire of his to deepen his musical knowledge, along with his contact with a jazz icon like Miles Davis lead me to believe that if Jimi had survived and made it back to the U.S., he would have been off to a whole new plane of musical exploration and experimentation.  Unfortunately, we'll never know, thanks to Monica Danneman.

Just now, 83Horn said:

 I've read biographies and interviews that lead me to believe that Hendrix might have been on the verge of a whole new, and completely different phase of his career

 

I totally agree with this. Whether it would be anything worthwhile is where my doubts lie.

On 2/6/2025 at 11:27 AM, South Austin said:

From everything I remember and have read about Cobain, he seemed so sick and tired of fame and touring in front of crowds.  Not to compare him musically to Jim Morrison, but before Morrison died he appeared to have given up on music and retreated away to focus on poetry and stuff other than being in a rock band.  I think Kurt Cobain would've done something like that. 

I've been thinking about this.  Nirvana also could have simply retreated from performing.  You know, like The Beatles, a band that released the following albums after their penultimate live performance (San Francisco 08/29/1966) yet before their last live performance (Apple Records 01/30/1969):

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Magical Mystery Tour

The Beatles ("The White Album")

Yellow Submarine

Abbey Road

 

Oh yeah, they released "Let It Be" less than 4 months after that final curtain call.  I'm not saying Nirvana were The Beatles (although I consider them the modern version of that band), but I do think Cobain in particular idolized the band and could have easily taken his career cues from them, had he not spiraled out.

I struggle with the artists that intentionally killed themselves because it's sort of a package deal, imo. Like I don't think you get the music that they had made already if they weren't the type to decide to end it all. 

You can make a similar argument about the guys that ODed but that's more of a gray area afaic.

Cobain was done done before In Utero even came out. I'm not sure I've ever been more disappointed in a release than that album.

1 minute ago, G650 said:

Cobain was done done before In Utero even came out. I'm not sure I've ever been more disappointed in a release than that album.

Death was Cobain’s best career move. 

3 hours ago, G650 said:

 

I totally agree with this. Whether it would be anything worthwhile is where my doubts lie.

On his way to work on a collaboration with Miles Davis when he died. Yeah, probably nothing interesting could’ve come out of that. 🙄

18 minutes ago, G650 said:

Cobain was done done before In Utero even came out. I'm not sure I've ever been more disappointed in a release than that album.

I didn't love it, but more because of the lousy engineering and production than the songs.  Steve Albini advocated terrible engineering technique, would never act as a sounding board, and there was no Andy Wallace to save said shitty engineering (previously done shittily by Butch Vig).  I thought the songs were fine, a step back maybe, but the sound was not good.  Nevermind, on the other hand, rocks with great abandon.

Eh. Breed was a decent song.

 

The only thing that would have made In Utero decent was leaving the Albini mix

7 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Nevermind, on the other hand, rocks with great abandon.

Yeah that was a decent record.

  • Author
6 hours ago, G650 said:

I feel like there's two different conversations going on here.

Yeah, I was actually trying to think of what musicians were on the precipice of going in a new, interesting direction but for their death. I think some people here have replied along the lines of "I wish I had seen so and so live" or "Geez I really miss that artist." Both are fine, but I was actually more interested in the former. 

Layne Staley was a good pick, as were Biggie and Tupac. Buddy Holly of course. You can see threads of more deeper stuff, more introspective and complex stuff starting to emerge in each of their catalogs. Artists tend to mature and it would have been cool to see what stuff they came up with had they been given the opportunity. 

16 minutes ago, honolulu horn said:

Yeah, I was actually trying to think of what musicians were on the precipice of going in a new, interesting direction but for their death. I think some people here have replied along the lines of "I wish I had seen so and so live" or "Geez I really miss that artist." Both are fine, but I was actually more interested in the former. 

Layne Staley was a good pick, as were Biggie and Tupac. Buddy Holly of course. You can see threads of more deeper stuff, more introspective and complex stuff starting to emerge in each of their catalogs. Artists tend to mature and it would have been cool to see what stuff they came up with had they been given the opportunity. 

Yep, sames.

33 minutes ago, honolulu horn said:

Yeah, I was actually trying to think of what musicians were on the precipice of going in a new, interesting direction but for their death. I think some people here have replied along the lines of "I wish I had seen so and so live" or "Geez I really miss that artist." Both are fine, but I was actually more interested in the former. 

Layne Staley was a good pick, as were Biggie and Tupac. Buddy Holly of course. You can see threads of more deeper stuff, more introspective and complex stuff starting to emerge in each of their catalogs. Artists tend to mature and it would have been cool to see what stuff they came up with had they been given the opportunity. 

That's why Mac Miller was my immediate response. A lot of you are probably unfamiliar, but he was a dude that kept getting better and better album by album and by the end was doing a really unique blend of soul/R&B/hip-hop as a white artist. His last album was fantastic. And then he fucking ODed. Shit crushed me.

Here's two off the last album he dropped.

It felt like he was just getting started and had the potential in him to release an instant-classic, five-star type hip-hop album.

Cest la vie. 

 

In light of his birthday yesterday, I'll add Robert Nesta Marley to the list.  

If I could only listen to one artist for the rest of my life it would be him.

11 hours ago, NameAlreadyInUse said:

I can't believe no one has mentioned Janis Joplin. 

I wonder what she would have been like deep into the 70s.

Does she follow some kind of Grace Slick route?  She go into the country music world as the pop music world changes drastically?

On 2/6/2025 at 6:31 AM, G650 said:

I mean, I love Hendrix, not like I'm arguing that. But I think most of these people listed had already done what they were gonna do.

The funny thing is……every single one of them have already done what they were gonna do  

Marvin Gaye. Still has one of the best NA renditions I’ve heard. 

I agree with a bunch already mentioned...

 

Additions:

JJ Cale

Shannon Hoon

Allman/Betts

the Band

 I've read biographies and interviews that lead me to believe that Hendrix might have been on the verge of a whole new, and completely different phase of his career
 
I totally agree with this. Whether it would be anything worthwhile is where my doubts lie.


Same thing was happening behind the scenes with SRV. It was going to be phenomenal.

Gun to my head I think I go Staley. I never saw him live and think AiC had plenty more in the tank and could have survived the death of grunge. 
 

Other names:

Brad Delp

Jerry Garcia

 

2 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

Brad Delp

Jason Sudeikis Yes GIF by Apple TV+

I thought of Delp, but he had been out of the scene forever when he sadly died.  He was apparently a super nice guy, too.  You just never know.

On 2/6/2025 at 3:51 PM, Pokoloco said:

Keith Whitley.   For you country folk

He died too soon, sure, but now he’s, up there with Hank and they’re both, fightin the Nashville blues 

Cobain was done done before In Utero even came out. I'm not sure I've ever been more disappointed in a release than that album.

401dc3c28d971e4420d83f688032db24.gif

In Utero slams. Rape Me is peak Nirvana. All Apologies is the ultimate sign off. Album fucking rules.

On 2/7/2025 at 11:56 AM, NameAlreadyInUse said:

I can't believe no one has mentioned Janis Joplin.  I would've loved to have seen her in concert.

If you want to go down a rabbit hole, there's an alt history wiki where people gin up extremely in-depth alternate biographies of a lot of people mentioned in this thread, had they lived.

https://althistory.fandom.com/wiki/Janis_Joplin_(Differently)

They had her marrying Warren Zevon

Edited by atomheartbevo

5 minutes ago, Mez2 said:

Selena 

Them big ol' women still sad about that one.

On 2/8/2025 at 4:30 AM, pokeNbeans said:

Chopin

Obligatory:

image.thumb.png.3436f4c26dc151b38d54e1af4bdd0139.png

Maybe they died at the perfect time.
 

What if Cobain gets clean and becomes Steven Tyler?  Or Hendrix follows an Elton John path and is on the Lion King soundtrack?  Or Brian Jones goes solo and becomes Rod Stewart?
 

Not everyone puts out cool stuff as they get older.  

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