I mean to take a serious moment, Jim Morrison for me. People forget how influential he and to an extent the Doors were. How he transcended multiple genres. The pure brilliance of his song writing.
The first song I remember hearing was Riders on the Storm.
But at the same time, seeing a old or middle aged Jim Morrison that wasn't a drug fueled creative genius might not be what I think it would be.
Of course he still could be alive as retired Mexican cab drive Mr Mojo Risen.
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Steve Jobs always seems like an interesting one to think about to me. For better or worse, his products at Apple are a huge part of everyone's lives. Apple's innovations since his death have been pretty incremental. I think it's a good bet that our every day electronics would look quite different today if he survived.
Duck him! Ducking ducker.
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I mean to take a serious moment, Jim Morrison for me. People forget how influential he and to an extent the Doors were. How he transcended multiple genres. The pure brilliance of his song writing.
The first song I remember hearing was Riders on the Storm.
But at the same time, seeing a old or middle aged Jim Morrison that wasn't a drug fueled creative genius might not be what I think it would be.
Of course he still could be alive as retired Mexican cab drive Mr Mojo Risen.
If Jim Morrison had lived for 1000 years he'd still have been gone before greatness.
Kurt Cobain was a gut punch, as he was the most important figure in that eras music which was the first genre that shaped my musical tastes. That said, Chris Farley passing was way sadder to me from the loss of greatness point of view. I instantly felt robbed of so many good times watching his comedic genius. That coupled with how sweet a guy he was and how tragic his spiral was affected me so much more. I can binge watch Farley movies and clips endlessly and never get bored. My family regularly quotes his line from the pepper boy sketch at dinner time.
Totally agreed, he was the best. I read his book - The Chris Farley Show, written by his brother - which is chalk full of interviews with his closest friends and SNL cast mates, some of the stories are so funny, but it's also very tragic. Apparently he used to call them late at night and glumly ask if he's even funny, which they found shocking. They'd be like "Chris, you're the funniest guy on the show!" Clearly beyond the deep substance abuse issues, he seems to have suffered from depression.
Also, he really wanted to do more serious/mainstream roles. I guess for Beverly Hills Ninja, he trained very hard at martial arts, he wanted it to look good. When he first saw the movie, he cried at how goofy it came off. With Shrek and other projects, he was SO CLOSE to achieving that more mainstream stardom he wanted so bad, it's crushing he couldn't hold on to see it.
When he passed, roughly 90% of his voice work as Shrek was complete, and he was also to be cast in a more crossover serious role in the life of Fatty Arbuckle. He was so close to mainstream stardom (and getting away from 'fatty falls down' roles that were bothering him), it's so tragic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sainters7
Totally agreed, he was the best. I read his book - The Chris Farley Show, written by his brother - which is chalk full of interviews with his closest friends and SNL cast mates, some of the stories are so funny, but it's also very tragic. Apparently he used to call them late at night and glumly ask if he's even funny, which they found shocking. They'd be like "Chris, you're the funniest guy on the show!" Clearly beyond the deep substance abuse issues, he seems to have suffered from depression.
Also, he really wanted to do more serious/mainstream roles. I guess for Beverly Hills Ninja, he trained very hard at martial arts, he wanted it to look good. When he first saw the movie, he cried at how goofy it came off. With Shrek and other projects, he was SO CLOSE to achieving that more mainstream stardom he wanted so bad, it's crushing he couldn't hold on to see it.
Watching the documentary on his life that was the part that broke me. He broke down in tears that people were just laughing at him.
So close. You just never knew he felt that way until it was too late.
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Also, he really wanted to do more serious/mainstream roles. I guess for Beverly Hills Ninja, he trained very hard at martial arts, he wanted it to look good. When he first saw the movie, he cried at how goofy it came off. With Shrek and other projects, he was SO CLOSE to achieving that more mainstream stardom he wanted so bad, it's crushing he couldn't hold on to see it.
I know one already exists, but I thought he would've done well with a Babe Ruth biopic. He would have brought that larger-than-life personality and had the physical chops to play the role.
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There is an conspiracy theory that the original Avril Lavigne died shortly after her major success, but the record company didn't want the Avril Lavigne brand to die, so they found a look-a-like and she took over the act.
I think this thread has nothing to do with the original idea behind it. Most people here are posting about people who already found greatness, and are just wondering what else they might have done.
Heck even the OP doesn't quite follow his "gone before greatness" idea by mentioning Freddie Mercury inspired this thread. gone too soon is way different than gone before greatness.
I think Roughneck had the right idea by mentioning Henry Moseley.
I'd say someone like Franz Kafka who was very influential for future generations but died almost unknown and before much of his work had been published.
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I went to visit a German friend and was at a party in Freiburg the day I landed, I was barely awake so why not start drinking. Just a bunch of German students in this cool apartment partying. I didn't understand anything they were saying.
I don't know much Zappa but he is recognizable. Song is playing "I'm gonna ram it, gonna ram it, right up your poop chute"
Ridiculous song. So I tell my buddy, listen to the lyrics. He translates it to the room, and everyone starts howling. No idea what the song is other than ram it up the poop shute.
#####tyoldmanstory
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Half the songs on that album are covers. Vaselines, Meat Puppets, David Bowie, Lead Belly. Kurt was famous for saying this about the Pixies:
Kurt was basically in a Pixies cover band. I think his song writing is decent, but is vastly overrated, and he borrowed heavily from better, yet more obscure, artists.
Kurt wrote the most iconic, enduring and memorable music of the grunge era. Kids today don't care about pearl jam, soundgarden, STP or any other big grunge band, only Kurts music is enduring. There were a ton of bands that did unplugged sets and Nirvana's was the best and most popular.
So what if Nirvana emulated the Pixies? True originality is a myth and everything is derivative. Just because we aren't as familiar with the Pixies influences doesn't make them more original.
Rick Beato has done some really great analysis on what a melodic genius Kurt was: "He probably didn't know what a lydian #4 is, but he knew it sounded great"
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