2016 begins and ends with music deaths

[Miles Archer]

In order to follow the "four paragraph rule," I just copied the list of names from Raw Story's article. The sad truth here is that these are the "headliners"...the list of musicians from lesser-revered bands is one hell of a lot longer than this.

The biggest blow came for me on December 28, 2015...Lemmy, who was supposed to outlast Keith Richards as the king of the indestructible. Lemmy was like the Frank Zappa of hard rock (Motörhead was not a "metal" band, even though they are considered to be a part of the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal)...he introduced the band on most occasions by saying "We are Motörhead and we play rock and roll.&quot But just like Zappa, the band could be relied upon to dish up at least an album a year, and it would demand your attention, and it would make you think about how much you were letting the world screw with you versus how much you were willing to screw it back. As Bonnie Raitt observed upon the passing of Little feat founder Lowell George, it was like the county fair wouldn't be coming to town again. And when we lost Lemmy, I didn't anticipate the flood of loss that would happen once we turned the corner into 2016.

Take David Bowie, for example. How many people stopped listening after the "Let's Dance" album and its cluster of hits ("Let's Dance," "China Girl," "Modern Love&quot ? Truth is, he released twelve studio albums after that...two by Tin Machine, his band experiment that tanked in the mainstream...plus live albums and a number of other projects. And like Lemmy, and like Zappa, even during his quiet periods, there was always the "in the back of the mind" expectation that he'd emerge from the shadows with some weird and wonderful new masterpiece, or less-than-masterpiece, and who really cared, because a new Bowie album, good or bad, was always more interesting than the "American Idol" / "The Voice" / "America's Got Talent" boredom of the mass marketplace.

The purpose of this post isn't to remind you that Bowie, Prince, Frey and the rest are no longer with us. We did the memorial threads upon each of their passings. The purpose is to give you the opportunity to reflect on these musicians as well as the countless others who didn't make Raw Story's list, and post your own memories and videos.

2016...6 days to go, and I hope the list doesn't see any more names in those 6 days.

2016 begins and ends with music deaths



http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/2016-begins-and-ends-with-music-deaths/

— DAVID BOWIE.

— GLENN FREY.

— PAUL KANTNER.

— MAURICE WHITE.

— KEITH EMERSON AND GREG LAKE.

— PHIFE DAWG:

— MERLE HAGGARD.

— PRINCE.

— LEONARD COHEN.

— SHARON JONES.

— RICK PARFITT.

— GEORGE MICHAEL.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Don't forget the Alexandrov Ensemble,

just killed in a plane crash. They weren't American and they weren't pop stars, but they were a very talented group and their loss is a sad thing. Other deaths: Composer Pierre Boulez, soprano Phyllis Curtin, Sir Neville Mariner, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. All first-rate classical musicians who created and performed great art. Unfortunately the pop musicians get all the attention...

[randr]

2. I am a DJ at our community station

Will be doing a tribute today from 1 to 4 MST. Tune in if you have time.
www.kvnf.org

[sweetloukillbot]

3. A few more

Ralph Stanley Bluegrass pioneer
Dave Swarbrick - Fairport Convention's fiddler.
Guy Clark - country singer-songwriter.
Leon Russell

I keep remembering more:
Bernie Worrell - Parliament Funkadelic.
George Martin - Beatles producer.
Scotty Moore - Elvis's guitarist.
Vanity - Prince protege.
Signe Anderson - Jefferson Airplane singer who Grace Slick replaced (Same day as Kantner)
Dan Hicks.

Scottish singer Andy M. Stewart and Natalie Cole also died around Christmas last year.

[Docreed2003]

4. Came to add Stanley, Clark, and Russel...

You beat me to it! Best concert of the year for me was the Guy Clark Memorial concert at the Ryman in Nashville this summer

[sweetloukillbot]

5. Guy Clark's death hit me hard

You could tell he was ready after Susanna died a few years ago, but it was still tough. One of the best songwriters ever.

[Docreed2003]

7. No doubt...hit me hard as well...

The celebration concert was amazing because not only did it highlight his music but the large swath of other singers and songwriters who had sang his songs, written with him, and were influenced by him. "Desperadoes Waiting on a Train" was a highlight that night and I think there's clips on YouTube. Also, there's a new biography just published called "Without Getting Killed or Caught". If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. I got it for Christmas as a gift and have barely put it down.

[Coventina]

6. Pete Burns

[crazycatlady]

8. Was Scott Weiland also 2016

Or did he die at the end of 2015? It feels like one big blur.

[Miles Archer]

10. December 3, 2015

Hard to believe, in a world or one-dimensional performers, that one guy could have done both of these songs equally well.

[hfojvt]

9. I cannot say I was a big fan of Motorhead, Bowie or Prince

I don't know that I have even heard Motorhead, and never liked Bowie and was not that big a fan of Prince.

Frey on the other hand. Well, I bought "Strange Weather" over twenty years ago and liked it a lot.

I loved the Wham album though, back in the day. Not a huge fan of his solo work though. I had to do some digging, because I thought I had a double CD called "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Best of George Michael". I found it. Apparently never bothered to put it on my computer. It doesn't even have "Wake me up before you gogo" on it.

The shocking thing about him and Prince is that they seem "too young" even though they were not especially young. George Michael was one year younger than ME. Barring accidents, people are supposed to live longer than that these days dammit.