1986_10 The Daily Collegian October 1986

              'EmilcBirila'Smrmcgmil!
. Thursday, Oct. 2,1986 .
page
Dead rockers fade to fame
Coincidence
or a part of
the business
By Jon Matsune
Staff Writer
"It's a rock and roll heaven." said the
Righteous Brothers back in 1974. and the
boys were not lying. Over the past 30 years
it's been proven that rock performers have
a bad habit of dying prematurely.
Elvis Presley, thc biggest rock star of all
time, is dead. John Lennon and Buddy
Holly; two of rock's most inventive song
craftsmen, are both dead. The legendary
guitarist Jimi Hendrix is dead, R & B
greats Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and
Marvin Gaye are all dead.
Jim Morrison is dead. Janis Joplin is
dead and Bob Marley is dead. So is
Dennis Wilson. So are Keith Moon and
John Bonham. So are Cass Elliot, Harry
Chapin, Jim Croce, Rick Nelson, Bill
Haley and Bon Scott. So are Ronnie Van
Zandt, Duane Allman ar\d Sid Vicious.
What i^this? A roster of legendary rock
stars or the passenger list of a downed
airliner?
These people, of course, are just the
most well-known members of "rock and
roll heaven." There^is a host of lesser-
known artists that also met early ends. To
name a small minority of them:
Donnie Hathaway, Roberta Flack's duet
partner, and Paul Williams of the Tempta¬
tions, who committed suicide; Eddie
Cochran, Marc Bolan of T. Rex and the
Allman Borthers' Berry Oakley, who died
in motor-vehicle accidents; and Greg Her¬
bert of Blood, Sweat and Tears; Danny
Whitten of Neil Young's Crazy Horse and
Motown sessionman James Jamerson,
who died as a result of substance abuse.
Former-Supreme Florence Ballard,
Santana percussionist Coke Escovedo and
vocalist Minnie Ripcrton all died from
illness or stroke, and Chicago guitarist
Terry Kath and rock pioneer Johnny'Ace
both expired as the result of self-inflicted
gunshot wounds (the latter occuring in a
game of Russian roulette). Tami Terrell,
the pretty Motown songbird I known for
her duets with Marvin Gaye (Ain't No
Mountain High Enough,""Ain't Nothing
Like the Real Thing") died from brairi
damage sustained after a fall down a flight
of stairs.
None of these 36 artists made it to the
age of 50 and less than half of them even
reached 35 I can (but won't) bring up about
20 more rockers who died from something
other than natural causes, and just imagine
how many there are that 1 don't know of.
, The ultra-rightists probably believe that
these deaths are suitable retribution to
those who play the"devil's music", and
who knows? Maybe Springsteen and
Prince are destined to go down in plane
crashes. U2's stage is bound to collapse on
them, and Michael Jackson and Madonna
are on the brink of drug overdoses. Maybe
Eric Clapton and Phil Collins are headed
at this very moment into fatal automobile
accidents; maybe George Michael and
Boy George are currently contracting hor¬
rible diseases. Like I said, who knows?
A more accepted explanation is that the
fast lifestyle lived by rock performers lead
to substance abuse which, in turn, lead to
death. This, while true in many cases, does
not- explain the frequent plane crashes,
auto wrecks, shootings, and other catas¬
trophes that have claimed so many lives in
the world of rock.
Another area with a torrid lifestyle is
the motion-picture business, and there
also have been many tragedies here. You
might think of Marilyn Monroe, Grace
Kelly, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne,
William Holden, Carole Lombard and
Rudolph Valentino as stars who died
before their time; and you might think of
James Dean, Sal Mined and Natalie Wood,
the three stars of "Rebel Without A
Cause"all meeting coincidentally horrible
ends.
The fact is, though, that these death; all
occured over a period of a half century
and that they cannot compare with the
"rock deaths" which happened much more
frequently and over a muoh shorter period
of time. In addition, the tragic movie star
deaths, as a whole, have not claimed
people as young as those in rock.
There is also the explanation-that dead
rock and roll legends do not become
legends unless they are dead. In the cases
of Joplin, Morrison, a*nd Hendrix. this is
true. All three of these stars, while popular
while they were alive, became giants once
they died. It has to be said, though, that
Lennon, Presley, Gaye and others were
considered immortals before their passing
on, and some, of course, never became
legends defnucjheir achievements.
James Jamerson, for example, was
considered by- many critics to be the
greatest bassist who ever lived, but he
never got label credit for his creative work
in the Motown sessions and few, other
than dedicated followers of Motown
music, have even heard of him. Tami
Terrell, said by some to have the sweetest
voice of the Motown female vocalists, is
obscure when compared to an inferior
singer, Diana Ross. Terrell died at the age
of 24, so she never really had a shot at
superstardom.
Eddie Cochran, best know for his hit,
"Summertime Blues" was a talented guit¬
arist, lively stage performer and one of the
early masters of studio dubbing; but he
was dead in an auto crash when he was
just 21. Needless to say, few people nowa¬
days have heard of him.
No mauer what the case is. it's still a
fact that the casualty rate among rock
performers is comparable to that of some
World War II combat battalions. Believe
it or not, it sometimes seems that the ultra-
rightists are correct and that rock recording
artists are destined to expire early.
Cochran, for instance, was riding the
charts with a hit called "Three Steps to
Heaven" when he was killed. Sam Cooke's
final record was titled "A Change Is
Gonna Come." When John Lennon was
gunned down, his hit was "(Just Like)
Starting Over." Buddy Holly's final release
was "It Doesn't Matter Anymorc^Is ttiis
all just coincidence?
How about Lynyrd Skynyrd putting
out "That Smell" just prior to their tragic
airplane, crash or one of Elvis Presley's
final albums being called The Promised
Land! On the Who Are You LP, the '
Who's last album before Keith Mooh's
death. Moon is seen on the cover sitting in
a chair stenciled "Not to be talcen away."
Pretty freaky, isn'Lrt?
Maybe death itself is a part of rock and
roll; or maybe music as a whole, for that
matter. After all. Hank Williams, Billie
' Holliday and Bessie Smith all died before
they were 50 and Mozart and Schubert
never reached 40. In the ancient Greek
myths, the lyre player Orpheus was com¬
pelled to go down to the world of the dead
before it was his time to die. I wonder if
old Orpheus knew that he was setting a
precedent?
Hornsby & Range   piano welcome difference
By Gayle Gingold
Contributing Writer
Two words describe Bruce Hornsby &
The Range — "ivory touch."
The album "The Way It Is" is loaded
with piano. A refreshing change from
most of today's rock tunes.
The Hornsby sound is similar to Tears
for Fears in that,both groups use complex
musical arrangements, emphasizing heavy
keyboards.
In a recent interview. Hornsby & Thftp
Range talked about f he difficult time they
had finding a record contract.
"Record companies didn't quite know
what to bill us under. One guy said we
were^sort of a western-folk band. And
another company thought it would be
great if we toured with Windham Hill
artists," Hornsby said.'
Indeed, some songs on the album have a
lot of guitar twang. But western? No way!
If anything. Windham Hill would have
been a better gamble. At least then, the
instrumental attributes of Hornsby & The
Range would have been recognized.
Huey Lewis is the reason for the guitar
sound. He produced three songs on thc
album. vThe Long Race." "Down the
Road Tonite,"and "The Rivers Run Low."
"Every Little Kiss" was the first hit for
Hornsby & The Range.
Hornsby. who is from Virginia, said he
wrote "Every Little Kiss" when he first
moved to California.
"I remember I felt so lonely when I
came out to Los Angeles. One day I sat
down to write a song about an old girl¬
friend, and it ('Every Little Kiss') just
came out." Hornsby said.
Music fans caught onto the Hornsby
sound with "Every Little Kiss." but now
an even bigger hit is the album's title track
"The Way It Is."
This cut really gets into the piano. "The
Way It Is" is a classier sound for Top 40
music in general.
Standing in line marking time/waiting
for the welfare dime/ 'cause they cant buy
a job/ the man in the silk suit hurries by/ as
he catches the poor old ladies eyes just for
fun he says "get a job."
Other songs on thc album are bound to
be top AOR (album oriented rock) hits as
well.
Probably the greatest thing about the
music of Bruce Hornsby & The Range is
that it doesn't use any pre-fabricated
sound, i.e., synthesizers and drum mach¬
ines.
Maybe J'ni^S* sucker for sentimental
driving music, because with Hornsby in
the tape deck, a drive to'the local,7-||
could easily turn into a trip to the
mountains.