If the greats who died had lived...

monquixote

The vast majority of these revered individuals who died would have probably produced one or two decent albums and then produced mostly tired shite for the next 30 years like the vast majority of those who lived.

DLM

octatonic said:

Imagine how huge Shawn Lane would be by now?

@octatonic I'm going to call you on that, James. Not fair game for punning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Lane#Health_and_2003_death

xSkarloey

octatonic said:

Bucket said:

For example, I highly doubt Hendrix would have stayed doing heavy blues-rock. I think in the mid to late 70s he'd have experimented with jazz fusion and would have probably had some coke-fuelled processed 80s pop hits too.

There was actually a collaboration with Miles planned.
I do wonder if Hendrix could have stepped up to that challenge actually.

I think Hendrix had collaborations with Miles Davis and Gil Evans lined up, so I think he would have gone into that fusion area in the early 70s.

It depends very much on how that music would have been structured. I could easily imagine Hendrix fitting into the 1975 era Miles stuff, as effectively Pete Cosey on guitar was doing wacka wacka rhythm and wigging out when soloing. 

The Gil Evans stuff could potentially have been very special. As an arranger he would have given it structure and helped Hendrix develop melodic ideas for sure. 

Given the nature of other trends in black US music in the 70s I could easily imagine Hendrix doing things in a Stevie Wonder kind of style too.

But then I could imagine that the emergence of people like Van Halen in the late 70s and then Prince in the 80s would have thrown down a serious gauntlet to him, so maybe he would have gone back to straight ahead rock.

And in 1995, bowing to the inevitable commercial pressures and the lure of a multi million dollar payday, which Hendrix  said he'd use to renovate his large Irish castle and estate , he agreed at last to record and tour with Eric Clapton. But only after Slowhand made a public apology for his infamous ' Enoch was right' comments made in Birmingham two decades before. 

Philly_Q

octatonic said:

Imagine how huge Shawn Lane would be by now?

Are we talking commercial success or clothes size?

(Edit:  Sorry, missed above post by DLM.  But hey, innocent mistake.)

DLM

@Philly_Q

Meh. Read about his health issues before taking the piss. The poor, talented sod.

The "healthcare" system in the US is inhuman.

Bucket

DLM said:

@Philly_Q

Meh. Read about his health issues before taking the piss. The poor, talented sod.

The "healthcare" system in the US is inhuman.

Speaking of which - Chuck Schuldiner from Death, who lost a long fight with a brain tumour in 2001 due to being unable to pay his medical bills - despite numerous high-profile fund-raising gigs etc. I think the total of the bills was $70,000, and he couldn't get health insurance.

He was only 34.

He really was a tragic loss - I think we could have seen plenty more amazing stuff from him had he lived.

ICBM

Teetonetal said:

So few guitar players have been able to genuinely stay relevant for a long period. Music is too fickle for that. To be a true star, you gotta be Neil Young

Fixed.

DLM

@bucket Exactly the sort of thing I was talking about.

Philly_Q

DLM said:

@Philly_Q

Meh. Read about his health issues before taking the piss. The poor, talented sod.

The "healthcare" system in the US is inhuman.

Point taken, it's a sad story.  But I'm not going to spend an hour on Google before I say anything about anything.

TheBlueWolf

There are quite a few artists that I wonder "What if?" about but it's a rare breed who change enough with the times to stay relevant.

LoFi

Charles Shaar Murray wrote an article in the late 90's about "What if Hendrix had lived" - it was published in a guitar mag, but I can't remember which one (nor find it now). Basically, it followed the Miles/Fusion path others have mentioned above, included Nirvana and ended up with him accidentally burning himself to death whilst setting his guitar on fire on stage on his 50th birthday.

(I may have some details wrong).

Philly_Q

LoFi said:

Charles Shaar Murray wrote an article in the late 90's about "What if Hendrix had lived" - it was published in a guitar mag, but I can't remember which one (nor find it now). Basically, it followed the Miles/Fusion path others have mentioned above, included Nirvana and ended up with him accidentally burning himself to death whilst setting his guitar on fire on stage on his 50th birthday.

(I may have some details wrong).

I think it was in Guitarist (if that's where CSM had a monthly column for a while). 

It was interesting enough, but the "interview" had Hendrix in the 1990s still calling people "cats" and talking like he was stoned out of his mind.  I suppose that might have happened, but he might also have cleaned up his act, embraced the modern world and reinvented himself a few times.  Who knows. 

Garthy

I'd laugh by cock off had Hendrix lived and had an Ibanez endorsement with a lefty Universe.

stickyfiddle

Am I the only one thinking a lot of them would've still died from drugs & booze, just a bit later?

snakemanStoo

They mocked up a picture of Hendrix playing a Parker Fly upside down  IIRC

DLM

@Philly_Q No one expects you to. But pretty much anyone who knows of Lane's existence will also know that he was ill, and not "just fat". He's that sort of artist. Niche, for niche people. I was taking issue with James, really, who I am positive knows a fair bit about Lane's story.

And you are correct: the fictional Hendrix interview by CSM was in Guitarist. I think I've got it somewhere. It caused a big stink at the time and is often brought up as when the mag really jumped the shark.

octatonic

DLM said:

@Philly_Q No one expects you to. But pretty much anyone who knows of Lane's existence will also know that he was ill, and not "just fat". He's that sort of artist. Niche, for niche people. I was taking issue with James, really, who I am positive knows a fair bit about Lane's story.

Yeah, fair enough
Sorry- didn't mean to offend.

Evilmags

Tommy Bolin. If he´d have lived another 10 years a lot of unfortunate musicians would never have had to work with Blackmore again...

lustycourtier

Bucket said:

Stevepage said:

If Randy Rhoads didn't die he would of gone on to further his classical guitar. I doubt he would of continued through the 80's with Ozzy. 

Dimebag Darrell? I think he would of continued with Damageplan and there might have been a Pantera reunion by now. He might have slowed his drinking down too.

I'm sure Bon Scott would still be in AC/DC now. Would they have been as big as they are without Back In Black?

Randy wouldn't have stayed with Ozzy, I'm sure. I'd have been interested to see what his next move was to be though.

Agreed re. Dimebag, probably Bon Scott too.

I wondered about Danny Gatton and Shawn Lane, but I wonder if either of them would have done anything different or just continued down the paths they were on anyway. It's hard to imagine Shawn getting any better than he already was  

Bon Scott with ill be been 70 now. I doubt he'd still be in acdc 

Axe_meister

I wonder if Hendrix may well have died of AIDS come the 80s being s bit of a ladies man.