Nominations for a poll: worst tragedies in pop music history

Thought about doing a morbid poll, but could only think of a few big tragedies off the top of my head. Throw out some others, and I'll do a poll of the top 30 or so.

My nominations:
22 December 1985 - Death of D. Boon
3 February 1959 - Deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper
10 December 1967 - Death of Otis Redding
1 June 1973 - Paralyzation of Robert Wyatt
8 December 1980 - murder of John Lennon

there's too many tragedies in rock n roll to count

Death of Duane Allman
Rape and murder of Mia Zapata
Murder of Sam Cooke

Zapp and Roger shoot and kill each other

Murder of Marvin Gaye

^^^by his preacher father

shit fell on curtis mayfield

Bobby Fuller commits suicide

Ian Curtis commits suicide

hmmm, yes, this may be bigger than a poll thread can handle

Arcade Fire release 2nd album.

Cancer, religion, Danny Baker conspire to kill Bob Marley

Drowning death of Dennis Wilson

why don't you just go with the first 50 non-joke responses? I imagine the big ones will be covered

Arcade Fire form as a band

Drummer out of Feeder hangs himself.

oh man you guys really don't like the arcade fire!

Nick Drake accidental death/suicide

Michael Hutchence's adventures with autoerotic asphyxiation

Brian Wilson/ Syd Barrett - marbles lost

that guy walks in to the river.

Keith Moon dies choking on his own vomit

maybe we could have a non-suicide division. if you want to do this seriously at all, that is

John Bonham follows suit (or do I have that sequence backwards)

x-post

Badfinger

Death of Brian Jones

Hendrix murdered by his manager allegedly

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/cryingeagle8oq.jpg

Sly Stone - drug intake

Chris Bell dies in car crash shortly after release of first solo single

Marc Bolan wraps his car around a tree

Kaiser Chiefs dropped by record label

sad and pathetic wasting away of Bob Stinson

Kurt Cobain blows head off (can't believe this wasn't one of the first listed tbh)

acquired immune deficiency syndrome

^^^related - death of Freddie Mercury

just poll the 27 club

Susan Boyle admitted to the Priory

Adge Cutler dies in a car crash

ILM re-coded with poll function

Animal Collective is created by/for/on the Internet.

Geir Hongro

death of Eazy-E
Tupac murdered
Biggie murdered

Lady Gaga given a free pass by hipsters

Jam Master Jay murdered

Classic rock act treated with insufficient reverence by snarky anonymous message board posters

Tammy Terrell dying onstage in Marvin Gaye's arms is probably the most dramatic tragedy. But how I wish D. Boon lived into the Bush era.

"Swallowed" inaugurates Bush era.

that guy from Morphine has a heart attack onstage, dies

You're remarkably well-informed on celebrity deaths, Shakey.

Mozart - 35
Schubert - 31
Chopin - 39

all musicians are wasting their time then?
Pretty much, but what else are you going to do in the hours between puberty and death?

OK..

The death of Princess Diana, which led to the issue of "Candle in the wind" with mawkish new words, which becamethe biggest selling song ever. Which means that for all the work and creativity of all music ever, none of it is as important as one popular member of the Royal Family.

Michael Jackson's face

Going back to Tuomas' argument, I think it's a mistake to equate loss of pleasure of potential great music due to the death of a musician with the loss of pleasure due to the death of a close friend or family member.

Jackie Wilson laying in a coma bed for eight years.

Yes let's all go back to Tuomas' argument.

the lolz of the many outweight the lols of the few.

clifford brown, dead in a car crash @ 26
booker little, kidney failure @ 23

Think you should probably just save the poll a massive clusterfuck and cut out the suicides and ODs really.

Would you leave in the autoerotic asphyxiations?

Autoerotic asphyxiation is usually too funny to be a tragedy.

Has there ever been a high profile case of death by autoerotic asphyxiation that wasn't funny? I'm only aware of three and they're all hilarious.

roy orbison's kids dying in a house fire? or his wife (motorcycle accident, i think?)

(Think it's probably best to stick to actual musicians here, see also Eric Clapton's son and whatever it is Tuomas is wittering on about).

Hey, the guitarist from Great White died in that fire too.

(Lennon remains most tragic though)

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, June 11, 2009 7:21 PM

Awww bless.

Kirsty MacColl getting decapitated by a speedboat in front of her family strikes me as pretty tragic

also all those guys in Mayhem who shot/bludgeoned/blew up/ate each other :(

/stabbed

That plane crash probably wasn't the worst tragedy, but it went down in history as the first tragedy.

Glenn Miller's disappearance in 1944 would probably qualify as the first.

Django Reinhardt died early too - brain hemorrhage I believe.

Robert Johnson, murdered at 27, 1938.

Eddie Cochrane, died in a road accident aged 21, 1960.

Eddie Cochran rather.

Sandy Denny, brain haemorrhage aged 31, 1978.

Bix Beiderbecke, died from "alcohol withdrawal" aged 28, 1931.

Mozart - 35
Schubert - 31
Chopin - 39

Defining them as "pop music" may be a bit borderline though. Particularly considering the first two didn't become really popular until after their deaths.

neither did diana

The Kirsty MacColl death I found to be particularly terrible, horrifying and cruel, especially considering she saved her child in the process of being ripped in half

although that fucken Pogues song pisses me off, I might vote for her

I didn't actually know she saved her child, fuck :(

Actually, listening to "Fairytale in NY" and watching the video and all, it seems pretty weird that the guy would survive the girl.

a speedboat to the head is one of those things that even the top doctors can't predict

xpost I always thought that also, re: Ivor Cutler and John Peel.

Jeff Buckley goes for an evening swim in the Wolf River: June 4, 1997

Obv I should have caffinated, and expanded the thread, before doing page searches.

Actually, listening to "Fairytale in NY" and watching the video and all, it seems pretty weird that the guy would survive the girl.

they were truly the Hart Foundation of popular music

"Bix Beiderbecke, died from "alcohol withdrawal" aged 28, 1931."

Whoah, holy shit.

My second vote is the assassination of the Bag.

Who gives a shit about tragedy. Who had the coolest death? Anyone explode? Hacked to pieces?

That drummer from Toto.

'Coolest' ?

Ricky Nelson, I believe.

I'm still upset about Eddie Cochran.

'Anyone explode? hacked to pieces?'

Bobby Fuller -

"Just after "I Fought The Law" became a top ten hit, Bobby Fuller was found dead in his automobile, which was parked near his Los Angeles home. The police considered the death an apparent suicide/accident, however, many people believe Fuller was murdered. The investigation was botched from the start. The crime scene was not secured and no fingerprints were obtained. A witness also claimed seeing a police officer throw a can of gasoline found at the scene into the trash. Fuller was found with multiple wounds all over his body and covered in gasoline leading many to speculate that the perpetrators fled before they could set the car on fire."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fuller

jesus Bix was only 28!?!

tragedy
when your mom's in bed with your uncle fred
tragedy
when your balls get stuck to a moving truck

tragedy
when you need a poo and it won't come through

Greil Marcus devised something called the "Rock Death Meter" in an old Creem (Voice?) piece, where he applied a (mostly ironic, I think) rating system based on past contributions, future contributions, and manner of death. I can't find an online link to the original piece--I think maybe Sam Cooke came out on top--but here's a link to an update by somebody else. My real answer would be somebody obvious like Cobain or Hendrix, where there was probably lots of good stuff still to come. My wiseguy answer would be the time I left an import copy of White Light/White Heat in a friend's trunk overnight and it came out looking like a sponge.

WTF @ thread.

Was going to mention sandy denny, but someone already did.

Dolly Collins, Randy California, eh.

Many many years ago when I was laid up in bed with a bout of Asperger's I tried to replicate Marcus' chart for 90s rock deaths. Quickly realised it wasn't worth it. Seem to recall I shoehorned in Bill Hicks to make it more 'interesting'

Keith Moon's death was boringly uncool compared to the many wild things he had done previously which did not kill him.

Styx's Live Debut of the enitrety of Kilroy Was Here at Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont IL. 10/20/83