27 – A Hard Age for Rock Stars
Can it be a coincidence that Jimi Hendrix, Janis Jopplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain all died when they were twenty-seven? It could be, but it seems weird. In case you didn’t know, Hendrix, Jopplin, Cobain and Morrison brought a new perspective to the music of their generation. So, logically speaking, they were all music revolutionaries that died at a young age. Maybe for two people it would be a coincidence, but for four people all in the same area of business to die at the same age, it seems a little weird.
All four of these people had something great in common: they drove people away from fads that weren’t great to follow, and they gave people an inspiration for change. Let’s take a look at each individual.
Janis Jopplin. Jopplin had an idea, and that idea made her successful. Jopplin conquered in the 1960′s, where segregation played a huge part in everything, including music. Ideally, African-American women would sing one way, and Caucasian women would sing another. But Janis Jopplin broke that racial barrier. Janis showed that you could sing however you wanted, act upon whatever choice you made, because it didn’t matter. People like different, and it felt okay to Janis to shoot for something out of the ordinary.
Jimi Hendrix. If most people listened to rock and roll in the sixties, they probably listened to The Beatles, Elvis Presley, or the Rolling Stones. These bands were casual, jingle type of people, which was popular back then. But Jimi Hendrix brought a punk, whiny type of guitar to his people, which changed the perspective on rock for etirnity.
Jim Morrison was the lead singer and song writer of the smash sixties band, The Doors. As I said before, musicians played “jingles” before Hendrix. But The Doors and Jim were bringing on a new type of music. Intelligent rock lyrics over a jazzy type line. Pretty soon, people were blaring The Doors just as they were Jimi Hendrix, knowing little as to both would die very soon…
Lastly, there was Kurt Cobain. Back then, rock musicians were the type that didn’t care; blasting guitars for an hour and a half shows were all that mattered to them. But Cobain brought a different perspective. With help of other hit Seattle bands (the Melvins, Green River, Mudhoney, etc.), he was able to get people to listen to a new wave of music: grunge was born.
As you can see, all of these incredible musicians had a way of altering the coarse of music. They took risks, made allies and enemies, just like any hero. These musicians are legends, and they are remembered. But one thing we will always remember: they died young heros.
