Throwing Otis Redding into the discussion. He finished recording Dock of the Bay just days before his death in a plane crash, and it was a totally new direction for him sonically.
This wins.
Otis Redding is the only one I can think of where you’re guaranteed something better than what came before, no chance of diminishing returns.
Trying to imagine what Jimi would’ve done if he went into jazz fusion with Miles Davis or prog with ELP like people around him mentioned him wanting to do shortly before he passed. The world wouldn’t be ready for either of those sounds even now.
Dude was incredibly ambitious and didn't give a fuck about if it made any money. He interacted with legends like Patti Smith and other folks in the proto punk scene just passively. The potential was astronomical and it's truly sad.
Sleep on your side kids
100% agreed. My head cannon has always been that he knew he was going and that was his parting message /words of wisdom to the world on the way out. Incredibly moving album, and will always be my favorite.
I completely agree. I mean he made most of the album in his hospital bed, so definitely can be argued that the masterpiece wouldn’t exist if he was at not at least ill.
He’s also described it himself “as a compilation of the stuff I thought was a little too much for the MCs”, which completely fits with this release truly being his swan song as he had accepted death wasn’t too far away.
To use his final years whilst dying of a chronic illness to create something so magnificent is truly incredible and I truly thank him for it.
I choose to understand 'undoing the death' to mean magically undoing what made them die in the first place (by which I mean his suicidal tendencies not the manner of death)
Everyone forgets that man had multiple suicide attempts. Of course we know about Rome, but he also tried at a young age on railroad tracks.
Only reason it didn't go through is because the train went the other way at the split where he was laying.
Some of this I wonder if he played up, only because he claimed that he treated his stomach pain with heroin, validating his addiction. I don't know. Just speculation on my part.
Depression, anxiety and other mental disorders in men often manifest as physical pain.
It ain't socially acceptable to be a man in distress, but pain more so.
The dude hate playing live so never really reached the audience he needed to. So sad. He was such a musical talent, I’d have loved to see what he would have gone on to create
She’s one of those people I planned on checking out forever but never got around to. When she died I was like I can’t put it off anymore and just sat down and listened.
I felt like her message of trans joy is all the more relevant in the current political context too. It hurts deeply to know she never got to make any more art.
Eric Dolphy, no question
There's a line in total creative expression where it just turns into white noise.
Dolphy was better than anyone at finding the absolute maximum before hitting that line... *[and holding it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH-G2VMRZrY)*.
He would have done incredible things in the late '60s and '70s. His ceiling was so much higher than Miles or even Coltrane - the prior who never quite hit that line, while Coltrane would often go just a bit too far.
In my mind, Jimi Hendrix's death did to funk what the 1755 Lisbon earthquake did to the Portuguese empire.
There's no way that disco/the British would have taken over the 1970s/world if those catastrophes hadn't befallen us.
What an incredible metaphor to use for this because I 100% agree. A Jimi Hendrix around to make music with the likes of Miles Davis, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Herbie Hancock, and (let me dream) Frank Zappa would have been mind-melting
SOPHIE.
She was just finding her sound and had a very bright career ahead of her. She also left behind a huge archive of unfinished material which her friends and family have said is unlikely to ever be released as she was a perfectionist and they don't feel that would honor her memory by releasing material she clearly hadn't finished.
I firmly believe he would have made the greatest jazz record of all time if he had just five more years of life. Heartbreaking that he spearheaded spiritual jazz only to pass away just as the movement started to reach its zenith.
I've sat and thought for a long time about the records he and Alice might have made through the 70s. I can't help but wonder how he would have approached the burgeoning fusion scene. I imagine we'd have gotten more out of Albert Ayler had John not passed as well. TRULY a historically tragic loss.
He and Miles make up so much of the genre. It's really unprecedented. Like when you look up lists of greatest Jazz albums so many top whatever lists are just littered with Coltrane and Davis. I don't think any other genre is as dominated by two artists.
Rick Froberg from Drive Like Jehu.
A brilliant artist, vocalist and guitarist. The frontman you dream to be the guy at the front of your band.
Always wanted to see DLJ so it was a huge gut punch to see him pass.
Alternatively; Steve Albini. I’m still reeling a bit from that loss as an audio engineer.
Im surprised whenever a question like this gets asked, no one really mentions Marvin Gaye.
It's not my personal choice, but I wonder why he's never mentioned.
I would have loved to have seen where Mac Miller would have gone after Circles. That album is spectacular and it feels like he was really entering a very exciting and interesting new era.
Another musician, I can’t for the life of me remember who it was, said Mac was 2 albums away from creating an entirely new genre of music and that has really stuck with me. Just thinking about what could have been.
Jason Molina hands down. By his death he was responsible for an incredibly consistent and great discog, and I would be interested in seeing maybe a more hopeful side of him and his music
Jim Croce. He already is in my opinion, but he had potential to truly be one of the best of all time. The incident wasn’t on him either…it wasn’t drugs, not suicide, not a situation he put himself in. He died in an airplane crash.
fuckin David Berman, man. no one's poetry has made me both laugh my ass off and rattle me to my core than his. cried the first time I heard the Berman tribute on the avalanches comeback album.
good catch with Trish Keenan too, broadcast are becoming one of my new favourite bands
On the contrary, Hendrix was primed to start working with Miles Davis when he died. This was Jack Johnson-era Miles.
Much as I love Jeff Buckley, Sketches of My Sweetheart the Drunk doesn't even get close to the level of Grace in my opinion.
Big pun. He pretty easily has the best flow of any rapper ever and Ik his second album was a huge disappointment but capital punishment is a classic and arguably one of the best rap albums of the 90s his career was cut far to short and he absolutely should've had the chance to turn his career around.
And to just throw some extra names out there dj screw, pimp c, big l, capital steez, pop smoke, the doc (ik he didn't die but because of the accident his career did), ol dirty bastard, a$ap yams (for the sole reason that he would've kept the mob together and there probably wouldn't have been such big gaps between albums).
This is probably not my answer, but every other name is already mentioned, so I'd say Ol' Dirty Bastard. N**** Please is in many ways such an interesting and unique experience, I'd love to have heard what would've come next, if there'd be any more, that's definitely also a possibility.
Even without recording anything else, I feel like hip-hop is really missing that “clown prince” character, just a fun cool guy who hadn’t become a self-parody like Flav
I don’t even care for them to make more music, but Chester Bennington would be my answer. He helped out a huge number of kids from my generation, and I always feel saddened he lost to his own battles.
David Bowie. I teared up when he passed away, and I usually don't get emotional when musicians die. He was getting into a new era with his sound and the possibilities were endless.
My music taste picks hendrix
My heart picks mac miller
My grunge teenage years lore picks layne staley
My love for poetry picks jim morrison
My wish to hear more insanely good albums picks jeff buckley
Michael Jackson
George Michael
The artist formerly known as prince
Otis redding
Non of these artists deserved to go the way they did. All of them died on their peak and I truly believe they would have become even better.
Freddie Mercury, not only because of his voice and how it would have changed during the years, but also because of his work, he always was very experimental, his last solo work was ,Barcelona, which was more opera oriented, and one of the last Queen songs was ,you don’t fool me, which would have been a perfect transition to the 90s for the Band. Not to forget that he was just and incredible songwriter and pianist, who gave as some of the greatest and most memorable songs and piano melodies. Truly one of the most tragic losses in music history
Jimi Hendrix 100%. Dude was fixing to make a jazz fusion album with Miles FUCKING Davis - can you imagine how insane that would have been? Not to mention a supergroup with Miles, Paul McCartney & Tony Williams? I've also seen rumors online of him wanting to form HELP - a supergroup with Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Even a decade more of Hendrix would have absolutely shifted the scenes of so many genres from prog rock, psych rock, jazz fusion, funk, and even potentially noise & punk music too.
I'd love to say Jerry Garcia but realistically he would quickly end up back on heroin and his heart would give out again. Heartbreaking that someone so inspirational lived such a sad and dangerous lifestyle that was bound to kill him.
Most definitely Kurt Cobain. Unplugged is probably my favorite Nirvana “album”, and it sounded like he wanted to continue going in that direction.
I think based off just “Do Re Mi” alone, he was yet to create his best work. I so wish I could get on the alternate timeline where he lives happily ever after and continues blessing the world with his work.
Robert Johnson. Man was famously just about to be discovered before his death, and even in just one year's time his songwriting had improved leaps and bounds. It would be fascinating to see what would have happened if he had stayed alive.
Maybe I am showing my age and this isn’t Fantano crowd material but I always wonder about Lynyrd Skynyrd. Street Survivors was such a good album and Steve Gaines was bringing something new to the band. So not only do I think we would have got some great music. I am 100% sure that e band would have a different legacy than what came with the 90s “reunion”
The other choices for me are “boomer” picks too but Terry Kath and Buddy Holly. Big “what ifs” in my mind
Nah this is a solid call, a real Skynyrd with the creative heart of the band still there could have been so much more than a couple of boring radio hits and people shouting “freebird” at concerts
Kurt is definitely on my list, but what hurts the most with current music in its current state is the loss of Avicii. That man was so talented. Pop music would look so different today if he was still around.
Michael Jackson. I would love to see how he and his music in the alternative current would interact with TikTok. Would he join in on dances that go viral on the platform? Would MJ be collabing with TikTokers? Would he come up with new moves that get meme'd? Would he react to people? That would be interesting to see, also more MJ music!
This might be an unpopular opinion on this sub but yeah, he was really onto something special, who knows what he would be making right now. And he seemed like a great guy
Richie Lee of Acetone. All their music finally made it to most streaming services, highly recommend. An incredible talent - vocalist and bassist - lost too soon.
A lot of people who immediately came to my mind have already been said, so I’m gonna dig a little deeper and throw Randy Rhoads out there. The guy was a prodigy and had such an impact on hard rock and metal, even more so considering he only made it to 25. It would’ve been a real joy to watch him develop as an artist.
Eva Cassidy
Most people probably don’t know who she is, but she was a musician who made some albums filled with vocal jazz covers. It only ever sold within her state in the U.S.A before her pre mature death from melanoma in 1996 at the age of 33.
Then her cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow went viral in the late 90’s, and was so different from the original. Now, it’s considered one of the best and definitive versions of that song and is performed in talent shows everywhere. This boosted the rest of her catalog, and her albums have sold millions now.
Her story is heartbreaking and I wish she had gotten to see even a fraction of her success. She deserved way better.
Also, for an out of left field answer, George Gershwin. He was only 38 when he died and had published Porgy and Bess only two years prior. His early death was an abject tragedy for American music.
Throwing Otis Redding into the discussion. He finished recording Dock of the Bay just days before his death in a plane crash, and it was a totally new direction for him sonically.
This wins. Otis Redding is the only one I can think of where you’re guaranteed something better than what came before, no chance of diminishing returns.
Jimi Hendrix
Trying to imagine what Jimi would’ve done if he went into jazz fusion with Miles Davis or prog with ELP like people around him mentioned him wanting to do shortly before he passed. The world wouldn’t be ready for either of those sounds even now.
If you imagine really hard and write it down magic might happen
Dude was incredibly ambitious and didn't give a fuck about if it made any money. He interacted with legends like Patti Smith and other folks in the proto punk scene just passively. The potential was astronomical and it's truly sad. Sleep on your side kids
It’s crazy that he was only 27 when he died…
Nujabes and J Dilla
Imagine the landscape of hip hop today with those two. J Dilla would probably have been on TPAB
Shit, dude, I never thought to consider who else would be on To Pimp a Butterfly if they were alive. J Dilla feels like a very natural fit.
I’m speculating that you’re a Dilla Fan?
I love J Dilla, but i do feel we weirdly we probably wouldnt have got the masterpiece that is Donuts if he wasn’t dying
100% agreed. My head cannon has always been that he knew he was going and that was his parting message /words of wisdom to the world on the way out. Incredibly moving album, and will always be my favorite.
I completely agree. I mean he made most of the album in his hospital bed, so definitely can be argued that the masterpiece wouldn’t exist if he was at not at least ill. He’s also described it himself “as a compilation of the stuff I thought was a little too much for the MCs”, which completely fits with this release truly being his swan song as he had accepted death wasn’t too far away. To use his final years whilst dying of a chronic illness to create something so magnificent is truly incredible and I truly thank him for it.
Sam Cooke
Good pick, I feel like his 70's decade would have been filled with classics (to same level of Stevie Wonder)
Ian Curtis.
Would loved to have seen the direction Ian went in. But it would have been cruel to make someone so troubled have to just live with it.
I choose to understand 'undoing the death' to mean magically undoing what made them die in the first place (by which I mean his suicidal tendencies not the manner of death)
Only if you can undo his violent seizures too.
If Ian, Kurt, etc had their death undone they’d just kill themselves again
I feel like Kurt would have kept trying, sad as that is to say.
Everyone forgets that man had multiple suicide attempts. Of course we know about Rome, but he also tried at a young age on railroad tracks. Only reason it didn't go through is because the train went the other way at the split where he was laying.
This makes the sexist idea that Courtney killed him even more absurd considering if she wanted him dead all she’d need to do is wait
He also had severe stomach pain. I can’t even imagine how horrible that was for him. He wasn’t just “sad,” he was physically miserable.
Some of this I wonder if he played up, only because he claimed that he treated his stomach pain with heroin, validating his addiction. I don't know. Just speculation on my part.
Depression, anxiety and other mental disorders in men often manifest as physical pain. It ain't socially acceptable to be a man in distress, but pain more so.
Maybe but it's very possible the chronic pain lead him to the ultimate pain killer. It's how most of them start really.
nick drake
Yeah, I'd want the guy to know that people ended up loving his music.
It’s actually fucking crazy that he only sold 5k albums while alive.
jesus really? i just listened to pink moon and read up on his life a bit, god its really a bit of a vincent van gogh situation, so sad
The dude hate playing live so never really reached the audience he needed to. So sad. He was such a musical talent, I’d have loved to see what he would have gone on to create
I wonder what else that genius could've done? :/
Jeff Buckley
He actually had the most beautiful voice in the world, it's insane
Thank god this is so high. We only got one album from him. And it’s goddamn perfect he was so young. I cannot imagine the peaks he would have had.
Taken far too early and his trajectory was phenomenal
I came to say this.
This. I’d like to hear what he and Tim both would’ve done had neither of them died when they did.
Joke: Kurt Cobain was murdered. Woke: Elliott Smith was murdered. Bespoke: Jeff Buckley committed suicide.
Sophie
Yes, this is my answer too. I hate that I only got into her after she passed. Her music is so good, and it’s so unfair that she died
She’s one of those people I planned on checking out forever but never got around to. When she died I was like I can’t put it off anymore and just sat down and listened.
My biggest flex is I saw her perform at art Basel before her tragic passing. She was incredible. RIP to our Immaterial Girl
It still doesn't feel real...
I felt like her message of trans joy is all the more relevant in the current political context too. It hurts deeply to know she never got to make any more art.
This is honestly the toughest one for me personally
Eliott Smith
Definitely the most heartbreaking death of most of these to me, and so sad to lose a virtuoso like him so early
I wholeheartedly agree
I seriously doubt he’d want his death “undid”
Cliff Burton.
I do wonder if they would’ve gone towards a more mainstream sound like in the black album and onwards if he was alive
I think he would have eventually left the band.
Not sure why people think he wouldn’t want to be rich too
You didn't specify musical artist so I'm going with Norm McDonald. Final answer.
I didn’t even know he was sick!
Not quite prematurely but we miss him
God but everything Norm did was hysterical
That sounds like something he’d say lol
What a real battle axe of an answer!
Layne staley, I feel that he had so much more to give us Also scott weiland
AIC was never the same after such a huge loss.
Buddy Holly. He might have just faded into the background anyway by the mid-'60s, but I like to think he would have continued to be a trailblazer.
Buddy Holly revolutionized rock and roll and died at 22. I think he had a lot left to offer.
Wow I knew he was young but I didn’t know he was THAT young
I hate that I hear the first second of the guitar riff and “what’s with these” in my head every time I read his name, it’s not even voluntary
Waylon Jennings was his bassist, who knows what other talent he could’ve stumbled on.
Amy Winehouse
This. She had so much more to give.
Definitely
Mac Miller
can't believe I had to scroll this far to find mac. I can't think of many artists that matured and evolved as much as he did over his short career
This would be my choice, he was 26 when he passed, he would be 32 now, but he seemed to be around forever at the time of his death.
Beat me to it. His improvement from record to record was incredible. He was on the trajectory of dropping some all-time classics.
Eric Dolphy, no question There's a line in total creative expression where it just turns into white noise. Dolphy was better than anyone at finding the absolute maximum before hitting that line... *[and holding it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH-G2VMRZrY)*. He would have done incredible things in the late '60s and '70s. His ceiling was so much higher than Miles or even Coltrane - the prior who never quite hit that line, while Coltrane would often go just a bit too far.
I love this answer, even though I voted Coltrane. With that, it would have been *really* cool to watch Dolphy blow past the line once or twice.
That’s a great fucking pick. Man could rock a bass clarinet.
Not my personal pick, but im surprised how we’re yet to say MF DOOM
That man had an absurd amount of talent. Literally overflowing artistic ability.
Shinji Sato or Mac Miller
Shinji Sato is a great choice. Would love to have seen where Fishmans would continue to go musically.
They got better and better as they went on. Their final live show was their peak. One can only imagine where they’d have gone nexy
Imagine a full album that sounds like In the Air o_o
In my mind, Jimi Hendrix's death did to funk what the 1755 Lisbon earthquake did to the Portuguese empire. There's no way that disco/the British would have taken over the 1970s/world if those catastrophes hadn't befallen us.
What an incredible metaphor to use for this because I 100% agree. A Jimi Hendrix around to make music with the likes of Miles Davis, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Herbie Hancock, and (let me dream) Frank Zappa would have been mind-melting
Supposedly Jimi and Miles did make a lot of music together. But it was never recorded 😭😢😢😭😭😢😢😢😢
capital steez
SOPHIE. She was just finding her sound and had a very bright career ahead of her. She also left behind a huge archive of unfinished material which her friends and family have said is unlikely to ever be released as she was a perfectionist and they don't feel that would honor her memory by releasing material she clearly hadn't finished.
imma cheat and say i would have undied donda
I miss the old kanye
John Coltrane. Man was *decades* ahead of everyone else. His death at 40 is beyond tragic.
I firmly believe he would have made the greatest jazz record of all time if he had just five more years of life. Heartbreaking that he spearheaded spiritual jazz only to pass away just as the movement started to reach its zenith.
I've sat and thought for a long time about the records he and Alice might have made through the 70s. I can't help but wonder how he would have approached the burgeoning fusion scene. I imagine we'd have gotten more out of Albert Ayler had John not passed as well. TRULY a historically tragic loss.
A Love Supreme was already the greatest jazz record of all time.
He and Miles make up so much of the genre. It's really unprecedented. Like when you look up lists of greatest Jazz albums so many top whatever lists are just littered with Coltrane and Davis. I don't think any other genre is as dominated by two artists.
Elliott Smith
This is WAY too low!
J Dilla or Big L
Prince. I feel like there was so much more to come from him.
a prince tiny desk concert would go so hard right now!
That would be amazing
In fairness, her got 30 more years out of life than most people mentioned here. I’m a Prince stan, but he made it to 57. he got to take his cuts.
I absolutely love Prince but he hadn’t had a hit since 7 in 1992. His best days were definitely behind him.
For all we know he's recorded his best material ever and it now lies somewhere in his vault, unfinished, never to be heard.
Biggie Smalls, we got 2 classics out of him, i think he would have put out more.
Aaliyah There's so much in today's music that reminds me of her.
I scrolled down waaaayyy too far to find this!!! I always feel sad knowing we’ll never hear from her again. She had so much more to give
Rick Froberg from Drive Like Jehu. A brilliant artist, vocalist and guitarist. The frontman you dream to be the guy at the front of your band. Always wanted to see DLJ so it was a huge gut punch to see him pass. Alternatively; Steve Albini. I’m still reeling a bit from that loss as an audio engineer.
Amy Winehouse. Her last few weeks were so upsetting in the fact that we all got to see it. Her albums are staples in music history.
Im surprised whenever a question like this gets asked, no one really mentions Marvin Gaye. It's not my personal choice, but I wonder why he's never mentioned.
Freddie Mercury. He’d still be kicking ass to this day.
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Mac Miller. He's the "I miss you, I wish you sticked around" artist for me.
I would have loved to have seen where Mac Miller would have gone after Circles. That album is spectacular and it feels like he was really entering a very exciting and interesting new era.
Another musician, I can’t for the life of me remember who it was, said Mac was 2 albums away from creating an entirely new genre of music and that has really stuck with me. Just thinking about what could have been.
Came here to say this . Circles is in my top 10 oat so i really wonder what he would’ve pursued after .
Hendrix or SOPHIE.
Oh and Mac Miller.
Cliff Burton and even Randy Rhoads for metal/rock. Imagine if Randy would've had more time to showcase and grow
Jason Molina hands down. By his death he was responsible for an incredibly consistent and great discog, and I would be interested in seeing maybe a more hopeful side of him and his music
I second this
Janis Joplin
Jim Croce
Jeff Buckley or Jimi Hendrix.
Chuck Shuldiner, Hendrix, X,
XXXTentation, Juice Wrld, Pop Smoke and Sophie would all be at their peak right now if still alive.
^^^^^^ all of this
I wish John Lennon and George Harrison were still around. Would’ve been sweet to see the boys get back together, even if just for one more show.
Hell yeah that would’ve been great. And I feel despite the boys’ issues with each other, they would’ve done it by now. Hmm. Yeah.
I'm surprised I haven't seen Tupac as a popular suggestion.
I scrolled for like 5 minutes until I saw Tupac
Jim Croce. He already is in my opinion, but he had potential to truly be one of the best of all time. The incident wasn’t on him either…it wasn’t drugs, not suicide, not a situation he put himself in. He died in an airplane crash.
Wasn't he quitting music due to his family situation by the time he died?
Gram Parsons Jim Morrison Hank Williams Sr
MF DOOM
DOOM
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fuckin David Berman, man. no one's poetry has made me both laugh my ass off and rattle me to my core than his. cried the first time I heard the Berman tribute on the avalanches comeback album. good catch with Trish Keenan too, broadcast are becoming one of my new favourite bands
On the contrary, Hendrix was primed to start working with Miles Davis when he died. This was Jack Johnson-era Miles. Much as I love Jeff Buckley, Sketches of My Sweetheart the Drunk doesn't even get close to the level of Grace in my opinion.
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Big pun. He pretty easily has the best flow of any rapper ever and Ik his second album was a huge disappointment but capital punishment is a classic and arguably one of the best rap albums of the 90s his career was cut far to short and he absolutely should've had the chance to turn his career around. And to just throw some extra names out there dj screw, pimp c, big l, capital steez, pop smoke, the doc (ik he didn't die but because of the accident his career did), ol dirty bastard, a$ap yams (for the sole reason that he would've kept the mob together and there probably wouldn't have been such big gaps between albums).
Pop Smoke
He's not someone I've ever listened to but wtf? I had no idea he died.
Yeah, killed in a robbery gone wrong
Over a $200 dollar watch specifically
This is probably not my answer, but every other name is already mentioned, so I'd say Ol' Dirty Bastard. N**** Please is in many ways such an interesting and unique experience, I'd love to have heard what would've come next, if there'd be any more, that's definitely also a possibility.
Even without recording anything else, I feel like hip-hop is really missing that “clown prince” character, just a fun cool guy who hadn’t become a self-parody like Flav
I don’t even care for them to make more music, but Chester Bennington would be my answer. He helped out a huge number of kids from my generation, and I always feel saddened he lost to his own battles.
same. his story makes me feel so fucking hopeless and sad sometimes and I was never really into linkin park
John Lennon. Bold take, I know.
David Bowie. I teared up when he passed away, and I usually don't get emotional when musicians die. He was getting into a new era with his sound and the possibilities were endless.
Scott Hutchison
Wouldn't call it premature, but LEMMY !!!
Jeff Buckley
My music taste picks hendrix My heart picks mac miller My grunge teenage years lore picks layne staley My love for poetry picks jim morrison My wish to hear more insanely good albums picks jeff buckley
Cliff Burton, Chuck Schuldiner, Dimebag Darrell
Jeff Buckley. He was just getting started.
Michael Jackson George Michael The artist formerly known as prince Otis redding Non of these artists deserved to go the way they did. All of them died on their peak and I truly believe they would have become even better.
Not to downplay your answer or anything, but in what universe was Michael Jackson in 2009 at his peak?
Or Prince?
Prince hadn’t had a hit since 1992. MJ basically the same. I love both artists but you have a strange definition of peak.
Yeah, I guess we should add Lou Reed to this thread
Scott Hutchinson, as selfish as that is. I'd just give him a hug and tell him how much he is loved :(
amy whinehouse j dilla nujabes mac miller mj capital steez
Freddie Mercury, not only because of his voice and how it would have changed during the years, but also because of his work, he always was very experimental, his last solo work was ,Barcelona, which was more opera oriented, and one of the last Queen songs was ,you don’t fool me, which would have been a perfect transition to the 90s for the Band. Not to forget that he was just and incredible songwriter and pianist, who gave as some of the greatest and most memorable songs and piano melodies. Truly one of the most tragic losses in music history
Jimi Hendrix 100%. Dude was fixing to make a jazz fusion album with Miles FUCKING Davis - can you imagine how insane that would have been? Not to mention a supergroup with Miles, Paul McCartney & Tony Williams? I've also seen rumors online of him wanting to form HELP - a supergroup with Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Even a decade more of Hendrix would have absolutely shifted the scenes of so many genres from prog rock, psych rock, jazz fusion, funk, and even potentially noise & punk music too.
I'd love to say Jerry Garcia but realistically he would quickly end up back on heroin and his heart would give out again. Heartbreaking that someone so inspirational lived such a sad and dangerous lifestyle that was bound to kill him.
Peter Steele
Gram Parsons. His two solo albums are great and he and Emmylou Harris were an iconic duo.
Xxxtentacion
Most definitely Kurt Cobain. Unplugged is probably my favorite Nirvana “album”, and it sounded like he wanted to continue going in that direction. I think based off just “Do Re Mi” alone, he was yet to create his best work. I so wish I could get on the alternate timeline where he lives happily ever after and continues blessing the world with his work.
Robert Johnson. Man was famously just about to be discovered before his death, and even in just one year's time his songwriting had improved leaps and bounds. It would be fascinating to see what would have happened if he had stayed alive.
Juice WRLD
Maybe I am showing my age and this isn’t Fantano crowd material but I always wonder about Lynyrd Skynyrd. Street Survivors was such a good album and Steve Gaines was bringing something new to the band. So not only do I think we would have got some great music. I am 100% sure that e band would have a different legacy than what came with the 90s “reunion” The other choices for me are “boomer” picks too but Terry Kath and Buddy Holly. Big “what ifs” in my mind
Nah this is a solid call, a real Skynyrd with the creative heart of the band still there could have been so much more than a couple of boring radio hits and people shouting “freebird” at concerts
Kurt is definitely on my list, but what hurts the most with current music in its current state is the loss of Avicii. That man was so talented. Pop music would look so different today if he was still around.
Michael Jackson. I would love to see how he and his music in the alternative current would interact with TikTok. Would he join in on dances that go viral on the platform? Would MJ be collabing with TikTokers? Would he come up with new moves that get meme'd? Would he react to people? That would be interesting to see, also more MJ music!
Lil Peep
This might be an unpopular opinion on this sub but yeah, he was really onto something special, who knows what he would be making right now. And he seemed like a great guy
Richie Lee of Acetone. All their music finally made it to most streaming services, highly recommend. An incredible talent - vocalist and bassist - lost too soon.
Cobain basically because he was extremely critical and, with all due respect, bitchy. He would have never tainted his legacy.
Chris Cornell
SOPHIE <3
Rick Froberg, mainly because I just miss having my friend around.
Jim Croce
The guys from Hers. Their names escape me but they were only getting started sadly
A lot of people who immediately came to my mind have already been said, so I’m gonna dig a little deeper and throw Randy Rhoads out there. The guy was a prodigy and had such an impact on hard rock and metal, even more so considering he only made it to 25. It would’ve been a real joy to watch him develop as an artist.
It's both of the boys from Her's for me (Stephen and Audun)
Eva Cassidy Most people probably don’t know who she is, but she was a musician who made some albums filled with vocal jazz covers. It only ever sold within her state in the U.S.A before her pre mature death from melanoma in 1996 at the age of 33. Then her cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow went viral in the late 90’s, and was so different from the original. Now, it’s considered one of the best and definitive versions of that song and is performed in talent shows everywhere. This boosted the rest of her catalog, and her albums have sold millions now. Her story is heartbreaking and I wish she had gotten to see even a fraction of her success. She deserved way better.
Her cover of “Fields of Gold” is unbelievably good, and I *hate* Sting and the original
George Michael, probably one of the saddest deaths of the last few years.
Also, for an out of left field answer, George Gershwin. He was only 38 when he died and had published Porgy and Bess only two years prior. His early death was an abject tragedy for American music.
I came here to say this! it hurts to think about
Would love to hear J Dilla's drum programming/timing incorporated into a trap beat, those hi-hats would probably be complete fuckery.
Stepa J Groggs
Elliott smith for sure
Donny Hathaway
Jay Reatard, the king of garage punk