As I was driving in the Yugo today, I started thinking about the death of musicians and how their fan base increases a substantial amount when the lead singer dies.

Take Nirvana for instance, they were HUGELY popular in the early 90's when "Nevermind" hit the record stores, but I believe that Nirvana's fan base doubled after Kurt Cobain blew his brains out.
For instance my good friend in College hated Nirvana when they first came out, he thought the band was stupid, but this was back in 1992 when people were also listening to Warrents "Cherry Pie". When Kurt Cobian commited suicide,suddenly my friend Idolized Kurt Cobain and started wearing Nirvana T shirts and had Nirvana posters on his wall that replaced the "Warrent" and skid Row Posters that were on his wall before. But it wasn't just my friend who had this sudden obssession with Nirvana it was other people too. I was attending PSU bck in 93/94. Infact I remember coming to school the next week after Kurt Cobain killed himself and seeing TONS of students wearing Nirvana Tshirts. I always thought this was a bit weird because these were the same people who were listening to Guns N Roses and Warrent before Kurt died, and wanted NOTHING to do with Nirvana BEFORE Kurt killed himself.
Why is it when a lead singer dies, Suddenly an average band becomes Iconic and their fan base increases?
Same goes with Sublime, after Bradley Knowles died of a heroin overdose Sublime BLEW UP. Infact< If I remember Correctly Sublime didn't start getting heavy airplay until after the lead singer died. After Freddie Mercury died in 1991 Queen had a whole new generation of Queen fans that they probably didn't have before.

Johnny Cash is another example, before he died radio stations were not playing his music. Than after he died Suddenly Johnny Cash was getting airplay like Crazy. Now it seems almost trendy to like Johnny Cash. I saw a 17 year old girl wearing a Johnny Cash t shirt the other day and I wondered if Johnny Cash Was still alive today, would he be getting any airplay at all?? And would Johnny Cash be as "Trendy" as he is today, if he was still alive??

Nirvana was pretty darned big before Kurt Cobain blew his head off. Yeah, some came out of the woodwork when he did it, but their following was huge beforehand. As far as Queen and Freddie Mercury, I wonder how much of it was his death and how much of it was the re-release of Bohemian Rhapsody tied in with Wayne's World, because both happened at the same time.

Hmm . . when Ian Curtis offed himself, Joy Division sort of closed the department -- until New Order surfaced later. Buddy Holly pretty much competely died, airplay and lifeform wise, until Gary Busey restructured him in 1978 (and later in the 80's when "oldies" radio became popular).

As for Mr. Corbain, I might have dropped Nirvana a notch or two after his self-snuff fun.

Jim Morrison and The Doors is a prime example of a supergroup gone mega after lead singer's death. Once a decade since then The Doors come rolling in like the ninth wave. Non lead singer death can have the same result. Duane Allman and The Allman Brothers Band were rising but not yet peaked at Duane's death.

I think My theory is spot on with the group Sublime. Their last album they put out did NOTHING until the lead singer died of a heroin overdose. Once he died that album sold like hotcakes, and the CD had about 5 or 6 radio hits. Would Sublimes last CD be as big as it was if the lead singer was still alive today?
Me think not!
Im still trying to figure out why album sales increase and the group gets a bigger fanbase when the lead singer dies. Maybe its just the media attention or maybe society just has a morbid fascination with death and it brings out curiosity.

Ellllvis!...what's happening up there??

So has Layne Staley helped Alice In Chains at all? More airplay? Sales? I'd hate to think his death was wasted.

Layne Staley died in 2002, so unfortunately his death was a waste

Spealing of AIC, I just heard they will be having a new album coming out within the next year.
Would you be interested in a new Alice In Chains album with a completely new lead singer?

Gosh I'm not sure Justin, Layne's voice was so much the sound of Alice In Chains. It's somewhat like Journey without Steve Perry, or Styx without Dennis DeYoung to me. Yeah it can be done, but is it worth listening to?

I suppose it can be done though, perhaps. AC/DC largely reinvented themselves after Bon Scott's death, following up one of the greatest albums of all-time (Highway To Hell) with another one of the greatest ever (Back In Black).

It's hit or miss. Blind Melon faded into obscurity after the death of their lead singer from a drug overdose during a concert tour in the summer of 1995.

In my recollection, the popularity of The Greatful Dead was not affected by the death of Jerry Garcia that same year.

I do remember that shortly after Garcia's death some clever systems administrator created a whole bunch of USENET newsgroups whose names started with "alt.000." followed by dashes and asterisks. The idea behind this was that if you were to list the names of all the newsgroups available on your server, this names of the newsgroups in this block would spell out "jerry garcia" in big letters. The newsgroup reader that I was using at the time would list all of the new groups since my last login. I thus got to watch this Jerry Garcia tribute banner zip up my screen!

Or you postpone the fading into oblivion by selling the soul of the band's reputation by trying to find a new lead singer by staging a reality TV competition the way INXS did after Michael Hutchence's death put an end to INXS.

Yep.

That one hurt my feelings.

Some people, including Hutchence's relatives and girlfriend believed that Hutchence's death was the result of accidentally strangling himself while trying to masturbate, rather than a suicide, as the coroner had officially determined. I wonder how fans reacted to this hypothesis, compared to fans of Nirvana, whose lead vocalist was suffering from severe depression and who had tried to commit suicide before. In other words, I wonder whether there might have been more sympathy for Cobain because he had been suffering. Nonetheless, creating a reality TV show to find a new singer was incredibly tacky.

"strangling himself while trying to masturbate"

WTF???

I don't even want to know.

I forgot to post the link to the BBC news story where this was brought up:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/416509.stm

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hutchence#Death

He put a whole new meaning to the phrase "well hung".

ps: my apologies in advance.

the lack of a suicide note and other anecdotal evidence, such as the fact that Hutchence was found nude has led some - including some of Hutchence's closest relatives, including his brother - to suggest that the cause of death may have resulted from autoerotic asphyxiation (strangling himself during a sex act).[1]


My god is that weird! I thought Hutchence's death was a suicide from being depressed, but now it looks like thats not the case.
I would call his death "A Kinky sex act gone wrong".

Im still trying to figure out how someone would ACCIDENTLY strangle themselves during a sex act.

I do recall a mention of that being the reason rather than his being depressed shortly after his death. It was sort of glossed over in news reports and there was little if any mention of depression being associated with it.

When Stuart Adamson, the lead singer of 80's band Big Country, hung himself in 2001, it was quickly attributed to his struggling with alcoholism and depression for several years prior to his suicide. The reports for Hutchence were not similar to his, so I have to think those close to Hutchence somewhat suppressed the information that was disclosed to the media.

Maybe some of these euphemisms could have been put in Michael Hutchence's obituary.

Enticing spurt reynolds.

Tickling Yoda behind the Ears.

Unsheathing the meat-sabre.

Polishing Vaders helmet.

Preparing the charge of the white briggade.

cranking the love-truncheon.

palm-banging.

Wrestling with the the Bald champ.

Five knuckle shuffle.

Hand to Gland combat.

Juicing the Joystick.

Wanking the one-eyed wonder weasle.

Layne Staley -- I can't think of a more proundly talented songwriter. In terms of songwriters, I personally find his passing most tragic. I very much enjoy Alice in Chains, and always will.

AIC is one of my all time faves. For what's worth, the new singer that replaced him really sounded good when I saw them last summer. But, no one will ever replace Layne.

INXS did absolutely NOTHING for me musically, I thought most of their music was pretty forgetable. Although it is a shame that Michael Hutchence life ended while wacking off.

I agree that Layne Staley, was an awesome song writer, awesome band, I love AIC. I'D BE CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT THEIR NEW MATERIAL SOUNDS LIKE,