Only the good die young

I had time on my hands after seeing what the final score from the rugby was last night, so i went for a stroll down memory lane on You Tube. I found some absolutely blinding live performances by Led Zeppelin there, & came to the conclusion that they were at their utter best playing live rather than in an impersonal recording studio. To me, the mark of a good artist is being able to successfully jam during the instrumental breaks, & damn.Led Zep could do it with style. I also came across such curiosities as a band featuring Eric Clapton, John Lennon & Keith Richards playing some knockout blues. I'm not going to give you the links for this stuff. If you are sufficiently interested, go find it yourself. It's there. I also found Gary Moore & Eric Bell (lead guitar for Thin Lizzie) doing the most amazing version bar none of Whiskey in the Jar that I think I have ever experienced.

All this got me to thinking about how some people have shaped the course of rock music simply by dying. What I mean , is that their deaths have either radically changed the sound of the band, or affected the other members of it so badly that they have stopped playing altogether. in the latter group, the name John Bonham springs readily to mind. John Bonham , as we know, was the charismatic & agressive drummer for Led Zeppelin. He was only agressive behind his skins though. I have seen an interview of his with Billy Connolly where Billy was hard put to get more than two words at a time from him. The details of his rather pointless death are well documented all over the net for those who don't already know. needless to say, his death affected the other members of the band that much, that it was only this year that they performed in public again, & then with "Bonzo's " son on skins.. A nice touch I thought.

The Who sort of lost their impetus with the death of Keith Moon for a long time & subsequently "The Ox" Although Townsend & Daltry seem to have recovered heart on the wave of popularity follwing the Live8 concert & subsequent use of their music in a TV show.

Lynard Skynard lost Ronnie Van Zant in 77 & never really reformed. although a tribute band featuring Ronnies brother Johnnie is still playing. To my knowledge though, as a tribute to Ronnie for a long time when they played Freebird, nobody would sing the lyrics, leaving it to the Audience.

"I used to play my guitar as a kid
wishing that I could be like him
But today I changed my mind
I decided that I don't want to die
But it was a normal day for Brian
Rock and Roll's that way
It was a normal day for Brian
A man who died every day"

Thus wrote Pete Townsend on the death of Brian Jones. His estrangement from The Stones & subsequent death are well documented by better scribes than I. Just let it be said that his musical genius provided a depth & range of instrumental ability that was breathtaking. I'm not knocking Ronnie Woods here, because he is a very capable axeman, but it was said of Brian Jones that he could pick up any instrument & be able to play it well within half an hour. Wikipedia has this to say on the subject....

Throughout his career, Jones showed exceptional musical aptitude, able to play an array of instruments on Stones' recordings. As soon as the Stones earned enough money to record in professional studios like Olympic Studio, the RCA, and Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, and influenced by The Beach Boys 1966 album Pet Sounds and The Beatles experiment with Indian music (notably George Harrison's sitar and tamboura), Jones started experimenting with wind and stringed instruments.

Throughout his years with the band, he played stringed instruments (guitar, sitar, tamboura, Appalachian dulcimer), keyboards (organ, mellotron), wind instruments (recorder, harmonica) and several other instruments such as the xylophone and marimba. In fact, sources say that Jones could pick any instrument and learn to play it in less than half an hour. [14]

Jones' main guitar in the early years was a Gretsch Double Anniversary in two-tone green, but Jones is known for his signature teardrop-shaped prototype Vox Phantom Mark III. From late 1965 until his death, Jones used Gibson models (various Firebirds, ES-330, and a Les Paul model), as well as two Rickenbacker 12-String models.

Jones contributed to the 1960s sound of the Stones, playing slide guitar on "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Little Red Rooster" and "No Expectations", harmonica on "Come On", "Dear Doctor", "Prodigal Son", "2120 South Michigan Avenue", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", "Look What You've Done" and "Not Fade Away", tambura and sitar on "Street Fighting Man" and "Paint It, Black", organ on "Let's Spend The Night Together", "Complicated" and "2000 Man", marimba on "Under My Thumb" and "Yesterday's Papers", recorder on "Ruby Tuesday", saxophone on "Child of the Moon", appalachian dulcimer on "I Am Waiting" and "Lady Jane", accordion on "Backstreet Girl", harpsichord on "Sittin' on a Fence", harpsichord, saxophone and oboe on "Dandelion", harpsichord on Lady Jane, mellotron on "She's A Rainbow", "Stray Cat Blues", "We Love You" and on "2000 Light Years from Home", tambourine on "Can I Get a Witness" and "Tell Me (You're Coming Back), and autoharp on "You Got the Silver".

There are others that I could talk about, not only band members, but individual artists that have succumbed over the years to the temptations offered by sudden stardom & a free & easy lifestyle. I just can't help but wonder at the music the bands that I have mentioned have produced while at the top of their game & speculate in vain what they would be turning out now IF they had survived, & IF the members of their respective bands had managed to weather the turbulence that their lifestyle engendered. Damn, there is gonna be some big reunion concerts in Heaven.....