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The 27 Club Poll - If they'd all lived which of them would have had the most success, and which of them would have faded away?


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The 27 Club Poll (musicians only)  

22 members have voted

  1. 1. Which of these members of the "27 club" would have had more success if they'd ALL lived until 2021?

    • Jimi Hendrix
    • Robert Johnson
      0
    • Jim Morrison
      0
    • Brian Jones
    • Janis Joplin
      0
    • Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
      0
    • Kurt Cobain
    • Richey Edwards
    • Amy Winehouse
  2. 2. Which of these members of the "27 club" would have been most likely to fade away into obscurity, if they'd ALL lived until 2021?

    • Jimi Hendrix
      0
    • Robert Johnson
      0
    • Jim Morrison
    • Brian Jones
      0
    • Janis Joplin
    • Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
    • Kurt Cobain
    • Richey Edwards
    • Amy Winehouse


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Interesting poll! I have to pick Hendrix as the one that would have had great success. His playing was so unique and inspired that you can't help but think he would have continued with new horizons on the guitar.

 

I'm thinking Jim Morrison would have faded into obscurity just because he was reported to have had such a heavy alcohol problem for several years. I know, a lot of the people on the list had problems but heavy alcohol use over many years is hard on the career I think. Breaks my heart to see Johnny Depp these days. From Edward Scissorhands and Gilbert Grape , he now seems like a parody of himself in movies like Alice Through the Looking Glass.

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A head scratching poll! -

 

In the 'most successful' poll Hendrix is the obvious choice although I am not so sure. His career was changing, he was getting more political and was surrounded by an entourage of 'hangers on'. I think the new generation of guitarists would have left him behind. Joplin was 'of the day' and would have fizzled out and to be honest, of the rest I think it would be Amy Winehouse who could have been anything (although I wasn't much fussed on her).

 

In the 'fade away' section, most of these are candidates but probably I would choose Pigpen, because, of them all, I think his career was the most dependent on other people.

Edited by zepphead
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Hendrix would've ended up a fabulous guitarist who toured and recorded regularly with a strong penchant for the blues while the flamboyance would've faded as is often the case when people grow older. Think Robin Trower with a much greater level of popularity, and that's not to denigrate Trower whom I love, just a comment on Jimi's level of respect and popularity worldwide that I believe he would've maintained.

 

Fun poll, very creative treeduck.

Edited by driventotheedge
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For success, I’d say Hendrix or Winehouse. Neither of them gave any indication they were already tired of the music business or had other interests when they passed.

 

I don’t know who McKernan is now, so . . .

 

He was a founding member of the Grateful Dead who weren't that good despite their followers, and I believe he'd have continued with the band but stayed about as popular or became less popular.

 

I think Amy Winehouse had the talent to go on to big things.

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Hendrix as best to succeed. A tone crazy innovator, up there with the likes of Zappa, Trower, and EJ. Blues, rock, fusion jazz, pick 'em.

 

Cobain most likely to fade.

 

In the spirit of the OP, Johnson, Pigpen, Morrison, and Joplin imho would never make it to 2021, too many self-destructive tendencies.

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Brian Jones. One talented musician and since The Stones are still going, Brian would still be in the band.

 

Janis Joplin. I don't think her voice would have lasted too many years. Pretty strenuous singing.

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Kurt Cobain had some much talent and promise...a truly gifted songsmith.

 

I think what we received from him in his short life was just a scratch of the surface.

 

I think he would branched out and gave us a wide variety of amazing music and songs.

 

His influences were so varied and he had a great knack of blending and interpreting them in his own unique way.

 

MTV Unplugged is just a glimpse of that.

 

—————————

 

Conversely, I think Jim Morrison was a shooting star of sorts.

 

I don’t think there was much gas left in the tank after L.A. Woman.

Edited by The Cat 3
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Hendrix for the first one. It certainly feels like he had a lot more to offer. Cobain for the second one. He said in his suicide note that writing and playing music was giving him no joy anymore and he wasn't comfortable with all the fan adulation. Obviously, he had other demons to overcome but I could see him just living in a secluded place away from the public eye if he was alive today. Similar to Syd Barrett after he left Pink Floyd.
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Hendrix for the first one. It certainly feels like he had a lot more to offer. Cobain for the second one. He said in his suicide note that writing and playing music was giving him no joy anymore and he wasn't comfortable with all the fan adulation. Obviously, he had other demons to overcome but I could see him just living in a secluded place away from the public eye if he was alive today. Similar to Syd Barrett after he left Pink Floyd.

 

I saw this AFTER I posted. Totally agree about Cobain.

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Hendrix for the first one. He was a real creative. It would've been amazing to see what he'd done in the 70s, and really interesting to watch him adapt to the 80s. He was said to be about to collaborate with Miles Davis and/or ELP when he passed.

 

For the second one I picked the guy from Manic Street Preachers since he was the only one on the list I didn't recognize, so in other words he was already obscure to me.

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Conversely, I think Jim Morrison was a shooting star of sorts.

 

I don’t think there was much gas left in the tank after L.A. Woman.

 

Given the events of October 1968 until he left the States, I think his desire to chase that was gone.

 

I think the comment Custom made about Joplin also would have applied to Morrison had he kept singing. He was headed for a vocal blowout in the 1970s.

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Hendrix for the first one. He was a real creative. It would've been amazing to see what he'd done in the 70s, and really interesting to watch him adapt to the 80s. He was said to be about to collaborate with Miles Davis and/or ELP when he passed.

 

For the second one I picked the guy from Manic Street Preachers since he was the only one on the list I didn't recognize, so in other words he was already obscure to me.

Jimi had reportedly also tried on several occasions to get Steve Winwood in a band with him to play keys and share vocal duties. That would've been amazing as would the collaborations you mentioned. I have little doubt he was already starting to break free from the constraints of a 3 or 4 piece rock band and would have given us so much more great music that would have likely been quite different from what he had created prior to his death.

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A lot of grunge/alt rock bands from the 90s are giants today and I don't think Cobain would've been an exception. I don't like Nirvana's music but that's my feeling. For better or worse, 90s rock is very much still relevant and popular today.

 

Jim Morrison, while very influential, would've faded like a ton of other musicians from the 60s, probably falling out of relevance by the early 80s. Rock music was so much more volatile to change back then and I think punk, new wave, prog, and arena rock would've blasted past him

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Richey Edwards is the obvious choice for success because the evidence is there in the fact that the MSP are massive today and he would have been part of that if he hadn't gone missing/committed suicide.

 

I have never heard of Pigpen so voted for him for that reason.

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Brian Jones. One talented musician and since The Stones are still going, Brian would still be in the band.

 

Janis Joplin. I don't think her voice would have lasted too many years. Pretty strenuous singing.

I thought about Brian Jones. I think he would have had some success, probably heading a blues band. I think he would have been eclipsed by Hendrix, though. Fade away? I know both Morrison and Cobain really didn't care about stardom. I voted Winehouse, though. I think people would have stopped caring. Or maybe I'm being too crass.

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Richey Edwards is the obvious choice for success because the evidence is there in the fact that the MSP are massive today and he would have been part of that if he hadn't gone missing/committed suicide.

 

I have never heard of Pigpen so voted for him for that reason.

 

I don't think the Manics would have achieved mass success without the attention they got from Richey going missing. I think they would have imploded. Aside from Richey being in very bad mental shape before he disappeared, there were rifts developing in the band over what musical direction to go. Hard to say what would have happened if he had stayed, but to quote James Dean Bradfield, "at that point in his life it was clear that Richey didn't give a flying f**k about trying to write a hit single." He also referred to the Manics's success as a Pyrrhic victory. Sad but true, tragedy is in that band's DNA.

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Richey Edwards is the obvious choice for success because the evidence is there in the fact that the MSP are massive today and he would have been part of that if he hadn't gone missing/committed suicide.

 

I have never heard of Pigpen so voted for him for that reason.

 

I don't think the Manics would have achieved mass success without the attention they got from Richey going missing. I think they would have imploded. Aside from Richey being in very bad mental shape before he disappeared, there were rifts developing in the band over what musical direction to go. Hard to say what would have happened if he had stayed, but to quote James Dean Bradfield, "at that point in his life it was clear that Richey didn't give a flying f**k about trying to write a hit single." He also referred to the Manics's success as a Pyrrhic victory. Sad but true, tragedy is in that band's DNA.

 

You're probably right on reflection

 

I think it's heartbreaking that Richeys genius was bound up in tragedy....but it's also a fact that without his troubles he wouldn't have been the visionary that he was...you simply can't write stuff like that until you've been to the edge of the abyss and stared into it's depths.

 

I know that his prose is jagged and often very uncomfortable, but I can't think of a better lyricist out there, and imo his work should be essential reading.

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