Who Would've Stayed Cool Had They Not Died Before Their Time

Given the music we talk about in most threads on this board, there's a reason that the majority of users are older here--the stuff we focus on is mostly uncool now. Our core demographic is like the core demographic at a Todd Rundgren show, where I always get the impression that I'm on the "young" side of the average age, and I'm 55. At Rundgren shows, you see the occasional person in their 30s or below, but they're almost without fail there with their parents, and it's not more than 1% of the audience.

We might love something and still feel that it's cool--heck, I loved (and still love) Jefferson Starship and even Starship, but in a broader cultural context, we're old farts who tend to like very uncool stuff.

 

what then is considered 'cool', pray tell?

 

The Buddy Holly votes confuse me, as he was already becoming uncool (in my opinion) with the orchestral backing in his later work.

 

Even though I'm not a Sid or Pistols fan, and am a fan of Eddie Cochran, and generally would hate punk covers of rockabilly songs, I think Sid was real cool with those Cochran songs.

 

At the moment, stuff like (just listed in alphabetical order) Aphex Twin, Brockhampton, Car Seat Headrest, Death Grips, Deerhunter, Fleet Foxes, Frank Ocean, Joanna Newsom, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, LCD Soundsystem, Mount Eerie, Nick Cave, Oneohtrix Point Never, Radiohead, Run the Jewels, Slowdive, Swans, Tame Impala

 

I picked Ronnie Van Zant. He wouldn't have changed.

 

Yeah, Holly might have been a bridge between 50s rock & roll and Beatles-era rock, but I always had the impression of people lumping him in more with the 50s side of things, and basically none of those artists remained cool for very long.

I think a lot of that was due to radio playlists. From the later 60s at least, most rock-oriented radio stations had playlists that "acted" like rock began more or less in 1965-1966, which gave the impression of earlier stuff being passe if not kind of corny.

 

Cobain was so adamantly punk that it's hard to imagine him making the same techno-inspired work that many of his rock peers turned to in the late 90s.

 

I'm convinced Cliff Burton eventually would have leave Metallica in the early 90's and start a band with Glenn Danzig, probably the coolest band we'll never see/hear

 

As tempted as I was to say "Jimi Hendrix," "Ian Curtis," and "Kurt Cobain," I feel like their music would have eventually gotten stale as they kept releasing albums. (At least that's my guess.) But, Nick Drake is kind of artsy and seems like he wouldn't be the kind of musician to realease so many albums that he just would've just exhausted fan's enthusiasm for new albums. I also thought of Stevie Ray Vaughn because of his raw technical proficiency. Even if his music started leaving the public eye as most blues rock did, he seems like he'd be able to adapt or keep those blues rock fans satisfied forever.

 

As a niche thing, yeah, but technical proficiency (in that sense) on an instrument stopped being cool by the early to nud 90s. The hair metal bands are what ultimately proved to be the death knell of that in broader culture.

 

nobody, because the very nature of cool lays side by side with the tall poppy syndrome, and as soon as they're up people cut them down.

for every person that loves the beatles there is a person that abhors the beatles because of that love.

for every person that loves the stones as an exciting rock band there is a person that thinks they are boring

for every person that thinks the sex pistols were exciting and changed rock there is a person that thinks that they were just another form of the monkees in a different age with different clothes

 

SRV and Morrison my guess...

 

Kevin Gilbert.

 

Jimi Hendrix
Nick Drake
Elliott Smith

 

Plus, his music around the time of hid death (Solo and Queen) was not that 'cool'. 70's Freddie was cool, though.

 

Pete Ham

 

Benjamin Orr

 

John Bonham
Cliff Burton
Duane Allman
Bon Scott
Pigpen

 

Yes, he was seen as cool in 1980. Who do you think was? Reagun?

 

Buddy Holly c. 1967, contact lenses and hippy gear.

 

Getting that Nick Drake is now seen as a big influence, but this wasn't really the case during his lifetime. Plus, wasn't the guy manic depressive? How is that cool?

 

I've only heard 3 of those, and then not a lot ~ looks as though I've some catching up.. good of you to post !

 

astonishing .. I never noticed the vague resemblance between Robin and Buddy ..

 

From the list I went with Hendrix.

I also think Duane Allman should be on the list. Given his session work with various artists and his playing with The Allman Brothers he definitely would have continued to be a relevant musician.