Thoughts from an Old Rock & Roll Lover

As a 65 year old lover of all things Rock & Roll I was deeply saddened to hear about Tom Petty’s death. I began to think back about all of my heroes. Some are still alive today but, sadly too many have passed. So I began thinking about my own history with Soul, Jazz and my biggest influence, Rock & Roll!

For me the first time it hit home was in the 60’s. I looked up rock star deaths on Wikipedia and scrolled down to the first deaths that I recognized as someone’s whose music I thoroughly enjoyed.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the Big Bopper (J. P. Richardson) and Ritchie Valens. Songs like Peggy Sue, an all-time favorite of mine, Not Fade Away, That’ll be the Day, Chantilly Lace, Li’l Red Riding Hood, and La Bamba. All of these songs were, pun intended, music to my ears. I would lay in bed at night under my pillows and put my transistor radio right up to my ear and turn the volume to ten.

When they died, I realized what it meant to be alive, and that there was a finality to it. I asked my mother why people had to die and why we couldn’t live forever. She said something to the effect that all people die of many different things and if we never died there would be no appreciation for the miracle of life. That didn’t sit well in my eight year old mind.

The next person, I wasn't immediately familiar with, because I never heard the original version of Summertime Blues, was Eddie Cochran. He was a master of many instruments; guitar, ukulele, bass, piano, percussion and of course vocals. So I went on ITunes to take a listen for myself. My lord, it's fantastic. All acoustic and the man has a voice. So I proceeded to listen to his other songs and he is definitely one of the original Rockers.

After Eddie comes Sam Cooke's, Working on the Chain Gang. He was the King of Soul in the early sixties.

I would go to my friends house to listen to records on Saturdays because his mom worked. We were both excited by a new song out from a young girl, Peggy March who was only 14, called "I Will Follow Him".

The song came out in 1963. As we'd pass the den, his two older brothers were "making out" with two girls. At the tender age of eleven we had no interest in girls whatsoever, just the music. Boy would that change.

There were many other singer, songwriters that I listened to in the mid-sixties. A lot were jazz or soul musicians. Among those were Harry Belafonte, a Calypso artist who is still alive today, Otis Redding "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" and Nat King Cole. My mother would play their songs over and over again while we played Yahtzee.

My next two artists both died in 1970 at age 27. Unfortunately, the age of 27 for Rock & Roll would become a pattern, as would the cause of death, "Overdose". The first was a legend then and now. I had the outright privilege to see him in person at the Berkeley Community Theater May 30th, 1970. Little did anyone there think his mainstream career was only going to last four years, and would be coming to a tragic end a few months later. Songs like "Purple Haze", "Hey Joe", "Foxy Lady", and the most famous version of the "Star Spangled Banner" ever played.

Here's what Wikipedia says of him;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music".

One month later another legend died. Her name was Janis Joplin. I also watched her live in Fresno Ca. April of 68. She played with Big Brother and the Holding Company. They were the warm up act for Creedence Clearwater Revival. I took my girlfriend Marcia and the tickets were, I believe, $4.50 each. She was dead two years later.

In 1971 we lost Jim Morrison of the Doors, heart failure from OD and Duane Allman from a car accident.

Another two years would pass before someone I was familiar with died. Jim Croce and Bobby Darin. The former, a folk style singer/songwriter and the latter a doo-wop singer.

Then, in 1977, the King died. Elvis Presley. Just short of five years after his death, Graceland was opened and ~600,000 visitors view it annually.

1978, Keith Moon, the drummer for the Who, was found dead in his swimming pool from a overdose followed the next year by Sid Vicious, the lead singer for the band The Sex Pistols. This was a band that broke onto the scene with Punk Rock. Loud and crazy, the band had a cult like following.

1980; Bon Scott, AC/DC, died of alcohol poisoning. John Bonham, Led Zeppelin, died of his own vomit. John Lennon, Killed by a deranged fool.

1981-1990; John Belushi, The blues Brothers, drug overdose. James Honeyman-Scott, The Pretenders, cocaine OD. Pete Farndon, The Pretenders, drowns from drug OD. David Byron, Uriah Heep, Alcohol poisoning. Phil Lynott, Thin Lizzy, alcohol and drug induced heart failure. Hollywood Flats, Canned Heat, drug OD. Hillel Slovak, Red Hot Chili Peppers, OD. Brent Mydland, The Grateful Dead, OD.

After the 90's drug overdoses declined but many died of the after effects. Heart failure in one form or another. Another interesting side note from all of this is the high rate of those in bands who were murdered. Cancer rounds out most of the other deaths.

I'm surprised I'm still around with everything I've done, but I'm grateful I saw the light, so to speak, before it was too late for me.