Tragedy and Music

[sp4cetiger]

The recent discussion of Nirvana's In Utero got me thinking about the impact of real-world tragedy on the progression of rock/pop music. Of the many famous accidents/incidents that have happened over the years, which do you think had the greatest impact on the direction of music as a whole and why? Note that I'm not looking for the saddest tragedy* and breakups don't count unless they were precipitated by some extreme and sudden twist of fortune. Some examples that come immediately to mind:

- The day the music died. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens die in a plane crash.
- Brian Wilson's nervous breakdown.
- Deaths of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison
- Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash
- John Lennon's assassination
- Kurt Cobain's suicide

Also, feel free to argue for tragedies that you feel had a net positive effect... maybe it brought attention to an oft-ignored genre of music. I have my own opinion, but I want to open the floor first.

* Comparing the human impact of tragedies is in somewhat poor taste, IMO, so please don't argue about who had the most devastated family or who was the most deserving of misfortune.

EDIT: Also, if anyone wants to share a personal story about how a tragedy in music affected them, I think that would be great too.

[Kool Keith Sweat]

9/11 had an ostensible effect on music, at least in the short term.

Clear Channel radio stations banned over 150 songs from their stations, including oldies like "Highway to Hell" or "Juicy"

It inspired William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops, which has now been inducted into the memorial museum.

Bands like The Strokes and Dave Matthews Band had to remove songs from upcoming albums.

Several tours, shows, and festivals were cancelled, and sales took a hit for a few months.

I don't think it's had much effect on the 'long-term' scale though.

[sp4cetiger]

[rayword45]

I don't believe these are as major as the tragedies you listed for the most part but are still worth mention.

-SRV helicopter crash
-Dimebag Darrell's murder
-Ian Curtis' suicide
-Stevie Ray Vaughan
-Duane Allman's death (I feel this one isn't QUITE as major of an impact on music since the band went on)

Also, on Brian Wilson, I feel the impact was lessened compared to the others you listed solely because he was able to return to music.

[MrFrogger]

Ian Curtis Suicide
Nick Drake suicide
Elliot Smith Suicide
Kurt Cobain Suicide

[Jasonconfused]

[sp4cetiger]

I want to expand on some of the examples I gave. Even if the examples you're thinking of aren't as impactful as the ones I talk about here, feel free to bemoan the lost potential of the Bradley Nowell's and D. Boon's of the world.

- Plane crash w/Buddy Holly, Big Bopper, and Richie Valens.

While the latter two artists are certainly noteworthy, the loss of Buddy Holly was potentially transformative. He was among the best and most respected rock artists of the 50s, his influence perhaps being second only to Elvis Presley... and he was only 22! His fashion and approach to music was more cerebral than any of his peers and the Crickets basically stood as a template for the construction of a rock band. We can only imagine what he would have done had he lived into the '60s.

- Brian Wilson's nervous breakdown

It is true that Brian Wilson went back to music later in his life, but his breakdown came at a pivotal moment in the history of rock music. His masterwork, Pet Sounds, is often placed in the top 10 of all-time lists and was probably the single biggest influence on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. Until 1967, the Beach Boys had always been a counterpoint to the Beatles, the American answer to the beat scene. After his breakdown, the Beatles were the undisputed kings of rock music and would become a prototype for mainstream rock for generations to come. Frustration with their monopoly on rock music came to a head in the late '70s, when punk musicians revived the surf rock sound and declared a rebellion on mainstream rock. Would this have happened if the Beach Boys had continued as key figures in rock music? Who knows.

- Assassination of John Lennon

Of all of the musical figureheads to be prematurely felled by tragedy, John Lennon was probably the most beloved. He was only just emerging from a long break from public life in 1980 and his last release, Double Fantasy, was arguably his most accomplished work in 10 years. Though Paul was still very successful on the charts, he had long since gone from shaping trends to riding them. John's music and personality had always carried more weight on the cutting edge of the music world, cavorting with such figures and David Bowie and Elton John. While the Beatles were distinctly in the rearview at the time of his death, there is no telling what kind of influence he would have had on the rock world had he lived into the '80s and '90s.

[Guest]

[AlexZangari]

Not sure if you'd consider this relevant but I've always considered the biggest tragedy to be how much much music we've lost to history.
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[Error Finn]

Allman Tragedy:

Duane Allman died not long after the Fillmore East album was certified gold, killed in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971 in Macon, Georgia; on November 11, 1972, Berry Oakley died from head injuries he received in another motorcycle accident near Napier Avenue and Inverness Street, only three blocks from the site of Duane's accident the previous year.
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