What if stars such as Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, Johnny Horton, Patsy Cline, Richie Valens, Eddie Cochran, Jimi Hendrix, Alan Wilson, Janis Joplin, Duane Allman, Danny Gatton, John Lennon, Brian Jones, Otis Redding or Marc Bolan hadn't died so young?
What if Elvis hadn't been drafted? What if Lynyrd Skynyrd hadn't taken that plane trip? What if Little Richard hadn't found religion. What if Jerry Lee Lewis hadn't married his 13 year old cousin? What if Chuck Berry hadn't been arrested and sent to prison? What if Carl Perkins didn't have that suto crash and his own version of Blue Suede Shoes hit before Elvis? What if the Beatles somehow stayed together?
They all pale in comparison to my BIG QUESTION - What if the Kinks hadn't been banned from the US in the mid-late 60's?
_________________ The Yankees win, THE YANKEES WINNNNN!!!! Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass. FZ "Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankee win." -- Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto after reading a bulletin that Pope Paul VI had died
What if the Small Faces would have ever had a US tour? What if Arthur Lee wasn't eccentric and hater leaving California and the original Love toured? What if Elvis Costello didn't have the Ray Charles incident?
As I've said in other threads, you have to wonder if the history of black music would have played out very differently with a man like Hendrix continuing to be a pioneer/role model for young people well into the 1970s. A rock culture alternative, if you will.
I think that "Woodstock Nation" would have slowly turned on Lennon the more he continued to travel his own individualist path.
Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly both would have become Traveling Wilburys.
What if the Small Faces would have ever had a US tour?
They've had a lot of influence, considering!
What if Arthur Lee wasn't eccentric and hater leaving California and the original Love toured?
One of the era's geniuses fo sho.
What if Elvis Costello didn't have the Ray Charles incident?
Was just saying this Thursday night. He knew better! We could've grown up listening to him (was not damn likely, down South, where we did not get a lot of the NY scene on our radio)
As I've said in other threads, you have to wonder if the history of black music would have played out very differently with a man like Hendrix continuing to be a pioneer/role model for young people well into the 1970s. A rock culture alternative, if you will.
So interesting to imagine what direction he would've taken, both musically and as a cultural figure head. We can never predict when someone will become less part of the "buzz" but I could see entire festivals organized around his ideas.
I think that "Woodstock Nation" would have slowly turned on Lennon the more he continued to travel his own individualist path.
I've often thought the same thing; they already hated his new stuff.
Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly both would have become Traveling Wilburys.
Handle With Care, here!
What if Patti Smith hadn't stopped to raise a family? Or if Chilton hadn't basically disappeared into N'awlins for two decades?
I'm not sure Patti would have never achieved superstardom, as she always liked doing what she wanted either experimental poetry (Radio Ethiopia title track) or speaking her mind (Rock & Roll Ni**er)....we wouldv'e had alot more great music though.
Another huge what if....... What if Bob Dylan didn't go electric?
(Dylan's career is a whole "what if" category by itself)
if Chilton hadn't basically disappeared into N'awlins for two decades?
Seems to me that the only way that could have happened is if Big Star had become commercially successful ... and even then it's likely that Alex would have gone off and done his own thing anyway. He said more than once that his solo stuff was him for real, and Big Star was only him trying to write music that fit into Chris Bell's concept for the group. (It's sad, or ironic, that someone could be so gifted in a style that he himself didn't care that much for.)
The older I get, I tend to spend less time lamenting the fact that certain artists died young as I do wondering how much better their music might have been had they not spent large portions of their career drunk and/or completely wasted.
I do think the Hendrix question is interesting. If he had sobered up, i suspect he would have eventually gone primarily jazz or blues. If he had stayed a heavy drug user, there would have been some sort of major crash.
_________________ Putty Cats are God's gift to the universe.
They all pale in comparison to my BIG QUESTION - What if the Kinks hadn't been banned from the US in the mid-late 60's?
Never heard about this before??
Yeah-this was some sort of Musicians Union thing if I recall and it screwed the band here for several years. Didn't stop Ray from being awesome though!
_________________ "We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors."—College Basketball player Weldon Drew
As I've said in other threads, you have to wonder if the history of black music would have played out very differently with a man like Hendrix continuing to be a pioneer/role model for young people well into the 1970s. A rock culture alternative, if you will.
Hard to say... he was already headed into a funk/jam direction as evidenced by not only Band of Gypsies but several tracks on the posthumous First Rays album. While I could see him trying out various things throughout the '70s but not necessarily leading in any one direction, my IF would have seen how Hendrix could have finished that decade and carried on into the '80s, when so many scenes were changing and technology was coming to the fore.
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Handle With Care, here!
