Nobody Knows You ‘Till Somebody Kills You

By Peter Long

I’m going to step in give a break to Wookie Wednesday’s usual tomfoolery and talk about death…no really though, I’m going to talk about dead people.

As human beings we become somewhat retrospective in the wake (no pun intended!) of death. We become nostalgic and look back at what the deceased have accomplished. This act of looking back creates that person’s legacy, it is written in stone and it is what people forever remember.

In some cases, death greatly enhances the legacy of someone who didn’t even do enough to even be judged in the first place. Or in other words, the story of every single alcoholic, Impressionist painter that had ever lived.

My theory about legacy could also be said for musicians. Death could be a deciding factor between a good album and a great album, a good singer and a great singer, etc.

Jimi Hendrix had released classic records such as Are You Experienced? and Electric Ladyland prior to his death in 1971 with much critical and artistic praise, but at the time mainstream America couldn’t relate to Hendrix’s interpretation of rock n’ roll, an interpretation that was only understood by a small pocket of hippies residing in New York and Los Angeles. Years later, Hendrix has had his face thrown on everything from t-shirts to lady’s underwear. People finally caught on to the virtuosity of Hendrix’s guitar playing after his death and his music has been heard by more people than the man himself could have imagined.

The force behind the stardom of Hendrix, and others as we’ll see, is due to what I like to call the Death Effect. The Death Effect is essentially the rise in popularity of a musician or group because of their death, due to a positive re-examination of a said musician’s or group’s body of work by music listeners, media members and current artists by citing them as influences.

In all honesty, I thought of this slightly-twisted idea prior to the tragic death of the latest member of the “27 Club” Amy Winehouse, but I will say this: prior to her death, Winehouse was seen as yet another hopeless talent, she was simply bait for the British tabloids and some thought that her best music was behind her. Since her death, she has been re-examined and proclaimed as the best female artist to come out of the Britain in the last 25 years (and I am disputing this accolade). But see how death can put a whole different spin on someone’s legacy and fame? Winehouse’s death turned her from crack addict to the 21^st century’s Dusty Springfield.

Prior to his drowning in the Mississippi River (supposedly drunk), Jeff Buckley was seen as a rising star in the already budding alternative-rock movement of the 1990’s. His 1994 debut Grace was seen as a very solid album, blending heavy riffs and big choruses with angelic vocals and even modern jazz. But after Buckley’s death, Grace was heralded as one of the most unique records of the 90’s and propelled Buckley into the bittersweet class of dead rock stars. Due to the Death Effect, and perhaps his cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, Buckley has a bigger audience today than during the days when he was alive, which is truly a shame.

The band Sublime were another artist that saw more fame as a result of the Death Effect.

Lead-singer/songwriter/guitar player Bradley Nowell was just seen as another talented junkie in an era of talented junkies. He finally succumbed to his addiction in May of 1996 during the final stages of recording Sublime’s third self-titled effort and yet the album was released one month after his death. Sublime peaked at number 13 on the charts with help behind the singles “What I Got,” “Santeria” and “Wrong Way” which still receive heavy rotation on alternative rock radio today.

You can almost say that due to Nowell’s death the album went on to go platinum five times over without any touring to support it. Granted it is a great album regardless of the front man’s death, but because it was the last one that the group ever recorded, both the album and Sublime were given cult status as one of the best bands of the nineties

The fact that these artists sold more records after their death is not a coincidence. Media members and fans alike have cherished the work of these artists because that’s all they left behind (also the fact that these artists have released a whopping combined average of two albums has made it easy for music listeners to collect their work as opposed to an artist such as Bob Dylan who has released over 20 albums).

The Death Effect turned albums such as Grace from a great debut into a magnum opus, bands such as Sublime from a good band to a great band, Jimi Hendrix from a peculiar guitar-smasher into a guitar god and Amy Winehouse from alcoholic lounge-act to eternal trailblazer. Because of their death they have been re-considered, re-analyzed and above all re-listened to, which is the most important thing.

Death is a terrible thing, but sometimes it makes people give another chance to art and appreciate things that they didn’t appreciate before. And that my friends, is essentially the Death Effect.