Which Dead Musician Would you Bring Back?

[Mr. TM]

Because no one wants zombie Bach, lets keep it since the 1950s, in the Rock and Roll era of music. Let us actually just make this musicians who died young as well, because that is what I am interested in.

I think back to all those musicians who did die young, the Buddy Hollys, the Bon Scotts, the Shannon Hoons. Such an array of musicians who still would be making some fantastic music.

MY choice is Brad Nowell from the band Sublime. Brad died of a heroin overdose before the band's first album came out. If he had not, And lived a health lfe up until this day, I think Sublime would have made some incredible incredible albums into this millenium, and woudl have helped ska music become more popular than last decade allowed, with them being the main force behind it.

I can probably think of many others. Imagine if John Bonham was still alive, Led Zeppelin could have kept going through the early 80s. It could have kept Plant and Page together and had the band touring.

 

[Super Hans]

freddie mercury,i love all queens music from the early stuff right through to barcelona.i would love to have seen how himself and his music evolved.

 

[The People's Peep]

i agree with TM. sublime is an amazing band and there just isnt enough of their music to listen to. With Brad still alive, i feel that they wouldve only got better and ska would probably be one of the most widely listened-to genres.

 

[INDYjon22]

Kurt Cobain. My favorite band is Nirvana and I would love nothing more then to hear his voice singing some new songs, not that I don't love the old ones. He is a musical icon and it would be awesome to hear what his music and Nirvana sounded like today. It would be interesting to see if they stuck with their grunge roots or progressed into a more Foo Fighter-esq sound or even if they sounded like something else.

 

[Dave]

I am really torn in this thread because there is two musicians that I would love to bring back and have write music again and I cannot decide which one it should be. Hell, I will do both of them.

The first one would be Freddie Mercury. He was a wonderful talent and someone whom I have the greatest of respect for. He was brave and bold with his musical choices and it paid off for him most times. He was strange but so are most of the best musicians. Greatly talented with a side of crazy. That is a formula for success and he had it all. Bohemian Rhapsody is still one of my favourite pieces of music to ever have been recoded and that is not likely to change. As someone has already said, it would have been great to see how much his musical style evolved with him, if he had been alive a little longer and I am sure that he would still be writing wonderful music.

The second is John Lennon. Lennon is one of the biggest pioneers of musical genius that has ever lived and the musical world died a little the day he was killed. I still think about how different the world would have been if he was alive and if Beatle-Mania would have been as strong today if he had not died in an untimely manner.

 

[The Doctor]

I'm going to go with someone not-so-obvious, and for completely selfish reasons:

Franky Gee

You may or may not know Captain Jack as the man who did songs for the Dance Dance Revolution series of games. Here is his most well-known song:


Franky Gee is the stage name of Francisco Gutierrez, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 2005. Franky was an American soldier who became the frontman of Captain Jack, a Eurodance group.

I love Captain Jack. The band has made some excellent dancing tunes, and I'm upset that he was taken so soon. Until I discovered The Protomen, I would say that Captain Jack was my favorite band. His son has revived the name, but his style is completely different from the original Captain Jack, and I don't like that.

I want the old Captain Jack back. I want Eurodance with the gruff voice of Franky barking drill songs and orders. I want him to be alive.

 

[Kashagi]

I know that if I had to choose any musician I to would choose John Lennon, while the guy had many issues with his life, Lennon was murdered in a time when he really was becoming a fantastic man, spending so much of his life with his son and really getting his act together. While few of his material after The Beatles was great, there were still gems here and there. I for one would have loved to have seen where John would have gone with his music and his life in general. I also am quite a fan of Sean and Yoko, and though its irrelevant to music, I would love to see them reunited with their man again. Lets not even mention the possible Beatles reunion that could have occurred either.

 

[Theo Mays]

John Lennon is a great choice. First guy that came into my head. Second was Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was mad awesome and no one could work the guitar like he did. I imagine his songs are so much better when you tripping on pills and stuff, but I throughly enjoy it without. Another person who came to mind was Janis Joplin. Her only song to hit the charts during her lifetime was "Piece of my Heart" and that is definitely a solid song. My mom always wondered what Joplin could have done if she hadn't passed. She put so much passion into her music, so I would definitely would have enjoyed some more of her stuff.

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

For me, It would be Kurt Cobain. At the time of his death, he was only 27. Just imagine how many more songs he and Nirvana could have produced. Nirvana would still be around today. Good rock music would still be easy to come by. There would be no Rap and Hip-Hop songs on the top-10 list every single week. They would have influenced so many bands to become big. If Kurt were still alive, he would have a hell of a lot more influence than we think he would be...

 

[The Roid Rage]

No doubt, Michael Jackson. The "This is It" tour was going to be an insane success, and Michael was about to shock the world again. This really was going to be a big comeback, and there was supposed to be an album released last year called "MJ09". He had been working on it for a few years much like he had on the "Thriller" album and it was highly anticipated as it was said that Michael was making the best music of his career, and working harder than ever on this album. I have been a Michael Jackson fan my entire life. Born in 1985 I don't think I had much choice really, LOL.

I always loved his music, I always loved his dancing, and I loved his imagination, his message, and the charitable things he did for so many across the world. There are always the arguments about you know what, but I am not getting into that., that's a whole other debate. I'm just saying, if I could bring someone back that's who it would be. He was only 50 and still in good shape actually despite what tabloids and such reported. One lethal dose did him in, and because of someones carelessness, and a lot of people turning their heads, this man died right when he was about to relaunch his career and reclaim the throne of King Of Pop.

 

[J-Dogg]

My choice would be Kurt Cobain, its been 16 years since his death but his music always and still speaks to people no matter what music they listen to, he had a profound ability to make great music, just a shame Kurt's life was cut short.

 

[Alex]

I'd probably pick everyone in my sig, but one of them definitely would have been Hillel Slovak.

When he died he had only done two albums with Red Hot Chili Peppers (Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan) and these were really good mainly due to Hillel's guitar playing and I would have loved to see what he could have done on albums such as Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the riffs he could have made for songs such as Higher Ground, Give It Away and Suck My Kiss would have been brilliant.

 

[Cookie]

Elliot Smith. His death was looming all along and that's why one of the most heartbreaking things about listening to his music is finding out he really meant every single word he wrote.

Buddy Holly is a no brainer for this thread - it's a fucking shame we were never able to watch this genius flourish. Absolutely one of the greatest (and most influential) artists of all-time and he established that in such a short amount of time... imagine what would've happened if he hadn't died.

 

[Hacksaw Highway]

As tempted as I am to say Old Dirty Bastard, who is far and away my favorite rapper ever, I really didn't listen to him enough to justify him as my pick. With Cobain, I love him and his songs, but again, he's not the right choice. He'd easily be my second pick, but first has to be Cliff Burton. Unlike so many dead musicians who died of drug overdoses, suicide, or other self-destructive behaviour, Cliff was killed in a bus crash that was out of his control. Metallica's first post-Cliff album, ...And Justic For All, is actually my favorite Metallica album, but it is plagued by the fact that the bass was virtually turned out of the mix completely as a hazing to replacement bassist Jason Newstead. With Cliff's heavy bass present, the album would have sounded much better, although, to be fair, the title track as well as the instrumental To Live Is To Die, 2 of the better songs, were written in response to Cliff's death and the legal aftermath, so we wuldn't have those songs. Still, I think that Cliff might have been able to prevent Metallica's slump from Load to St Anger, really during that time James and especially Lars's egoes got out of hand and Kirk is too much of a pushover to have done anything about it. I think Cliff might have kept the band grounded in their heavier roots, and rather than having to wait 16+ years for another good Metallica album (Death Magnetic) we could have had quality music through the 90s. Purely hypothetical opf course.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

There really is no wrong answer to this question because there really is no one that I listened to that I wouldn't bring back. You have my number 1 first person to bring back which TM said in the OP Bradley Nowell as well as Kurt Cobain, Freddy Mercury, Ronnie Van Zant, Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Dimebag Darell, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Bon Scott, and Bob Marley.

Every single one of the people I listed have had huge impacts on the music industry. The worst part about most of these musicians is what they have in common, herion. If it wasn't for herion we wouldn't be having this discussion, it really makes me hate that drug so much more knowing that it took the life of so many great musicians and robbed us of so much great music that they could have potentially written.

Back on topic, I too would bring back Brad Nowell, he was in my favorite band and I have always loved Sublime, I remember being in elementary school wearing a Skunk Records shirt. R.I.P. Bradley you have always been missed.

 

[Tim]

Wow there are so many. If I could only pick one, i'd have to go with Freddie Mercury.

The man was an astounding singer and songwriter, and had a great musical gift. He planned out all of Bohemian Rhapsody in his mind! He had a great range, and he had an attitude when singing songs like Another One Bites The Dust that you just don't see these days. Queen could've made so many more great albums if Freddie were still alive, and we wouldn't have to listen to things such as Queen + Paul Rodgers. Freddie was strange and different, and it showed in his songwriting. But you can't help but wonder what sort of songs he would've written if he was still around today.

 

[Ty Burna]

I would have to go with either Eazy-E or Jim Morrison. Eazy is one of my favorite rappers, and I think hip hop is missing his influence on the industry big time. He had an eye for talent and would really bring back that old West Coast vibe that's been missing for a number of years. That and Eazy is funny as hell with his stories he put in his songs.

Jim Morrison meanwhile was a musical genius and a poetic writer. The music he and The Doors made was outstanding and made me pursue poetry and lyric writing in ways no other artist has before. I love The Doors so Jim Morrison would be a definite pick.

One more person would be Bob Marley. The man was a legend, and his music was inspirational to me. Bob Marley was in a class all to himself when he was alive and his lyrics are still relevant even though it's been so long since his death.

Like others have said, there's really no wrong answer here, but the three aforementioned above would be my top picks. They've influenced their respective genres in ways others couldn't begin to comprehend.

 

[DEAMONS-666]

ive got 2 i cant decide between the 2 of them
first off MICHAEL JACKSON his music is the siz and i would love 2 see him live.
also is ELVIS PRESLY the guy is the king and no 1 cant beat him

 

[Twiztid Rodimus]

There's so many, and for so many reasons:

Dimebag Darrell: Damageplan could have done amazing things, and the possibility of a Pantera reunion wouldnt be imaginary. And to hear a new Dime solo right now is what the music world needs to get off of their hands and make some good music.

Cliff Burton: The definitive metallica bassist, and their best. He was the glue that held them together in those early years. It seems like they've been trying different things, sounds and such to find themselves again. I dont think it was until Death Magnetic that we found the true metallica post Burton.

Micheal Jackson: If I had to choose one, he'd be at the top of my list. Bring him back, give him about 20 years back of good health, Let him do his tour and make more music, And we would appreciate him more this time around and NOT pay so much attention to things he did off the mic.

 

[Loveless]

I know that if I had to choose any musician I to would choose John Lennon, while the guy had many issues with his life, Lennon was murdered in a time when he really was becoming a fantastic man, spending so much of his life with his son and really getting his act together. While few of his material after The Beatles was great, there were still gems here and there. I for one would have loved to have seen where John would have gone with his music and his life in general. I also am quite a fan of Sean and Yoko, and though its irrelevant to music, I would love to see them reunited with their man again. Lets not even mention the possible Beatles reunion that could have occurred either.

Yeah there's my choice as well. After all the problems he had, the guy was finally at peace with himself and the world, had settled down and become a family man. I wouldn't even care if he never made another album, I just feel the timing of his death was utterly tragic.

As for others, right at the top of my list would be Nick Drake. The guy was just so ridiculously talented and it's such a shame he couldn't get over his illness. Buddy Holly was also a massive loss and for the short time he was around, was probably the most influential artist of the 20th century.

 

[TwistofRKO]

1. Kurt Cobain- I love Nirvana, and Cobain was one of the best lyricists in rock. I really enjoyed their songs, and they were fun to listen to. I felt emotion in their music and Cobain would be an asset to the music world still today.

2. The Rev- Huge AX7 fan, so it sucks that he's gone. He wrote some great songs for them and fit the band perfectly. They've temporarily replaced him, but they cant really replace the void he's going to leave.

3. Freddie Mercury- Extraordinary vocals, Queen is obviously one of the greatest of all-time. Even nearing his death, he belted out some great songs. If only he had more time.

 

[Mortician]

Since I’m always a day late and a dollar short I hope I won’t get in trouble for contributing to a two month old thread.

I’d have to say Michael Jackson. It’s just so sad that he couldn’t have shown that he still had it and is the reason young singers now do what they do. Without him there would be no Usher or Timberlake. Teenagers now don’t even know that. Some kid said Michael stole from Beiber (SP). It’s sad. I’d bring him back just so he could shine and then go on and raise his kids. Or make more music.

 

[Green Thunder]

OK, first off WTF is wrong with that kid. Second, my choice is Stevie Ray Vaughn. He was an amazing guitarist, and had something not many other musicians had at his time, soul. You could feel his passion in every song that he wrote. My other choices would have to be Hendrix, Lennon, Scott, Cobain, Mercury, Gatton, the list goes on and on.

 

[Drunken Aviator]

My choice is Rory Gallegher he is an extraordinary artist, he has great vocals and i'd love to see him make more songs that i can Rock out to.

 

[The Jabroni]

1. John Lennon- The Beatles were one of the greatest influences on most of today's music. They were innovative and, overall, legendary. John's solo career was no different. He didn't believe in making the same thing twice. He made sure that everything he did was better than what he did before it.

2. Frank "The Chairman" Sinatra- He was the greatest jazz singer of all time; there's really no debate about that. He interpreted jazz standards in a way that made him entirely his. If he were around today, vocal jazz may have never faded into the minor genre it is today.

3. Freddy Mercury- Mercury was, by far, one of the greatest rock singers of all time. He was as creative as he was versatile. If he were alive today, he would build an even greater legacy of classic music to leave for the world.

4. George Harrison- If George and John were still alive today, there would be the possibility of a Beatles reunion, and who knows what they would do? Imagine the innovations they would make and the music they would create.