Have you ever heard the tragic news that one of your favorite rockstars just passed away, and instantly said, "Damn, I wish I saw them in concert at least one time!" Me, too. So here is our list of modern, contemporary (within the last 20-25 years or so) artists who passed away that we wished we saw live. They are in no particular order, but I'd love to hear how you rank them, or who else you would have liked to see! Feel free to comment or
email us!
Kurt Cobain
Nirvana’s leading man rose to meteoric music fame and
brought Seattle’s grunge sound with him, but wasn’t long for this world. He committed suicide with a shotgun (though
there are still theories that Courtney Love had something to do with it,) on
April 5, 1994. We only wish we could
have seen Kurt Cobain in concert before then, like in the eerily-transcendent
MTV Unplugged concerts or Nirvana’s brain-shaking high-energy shows.
James Brown
The Godfather of Soul entertained audiences and electrified
America with a new brand of funk music during a remarkable 6-decade
career. He left his mark on R&B,
soul, funk, hip-hop, and even blues music, and equally became a pop culture icon. Unfortunately, James Joseph Brown succumbed
to congestive heart failure and pneumonia in 1996, so if you haven’t got down
with yo bad self at one of his live shows, it’s too late.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
One of the best blues guitarists (or guitarists from any
genre!) of all time, Stevie rose to the top of the music mountain in a very
7-year career before dying in a helicopter crash on August 27, 1990 at only
35-years old. He won countless awards
and is still celebrated posthumously, but how insane would it be if we got to
see him play in a little Texas roadhouse bar one night before he passed?
Bradley Nowell
The front man of Long Beach, California’s surf, skate, and
ska band, Sublime, died of a heroin overdose in 1996. But the early days in the
LBC where Sublime was playing live at backyard barbecues, college bars and music
festivals (including with Gwen Stefani as their little sis/protégée,) must have
been epic!
There was none greater than the King of Pop, redefining music as an art form like no one before him. Since he was a little kid performing with the Jackson 5 to Thriller (still the best selling album of all time,) to his later music, we would have loved to catch a show (despite the astronomical ticket prices) before he died in 2009 under the care of his physician that eventually led to manslaughter charges.
Jerry Garica
The Dead, dude! If you never caught a show, a carnival of psychedelic hippydom, then you missed out on one of the only bands to make almost their entire living off live performing, as opposed to studio albums. The fatherly figure of the Grateful Dead and the hippy-music movement played with the Dead his entire career, from 1965 until his death in 1995.
Notorious B.I.G.
Biggie Smalls blew up on the rap scene with Ready to Die in 1994, and then rewrote the rap game rap like no one before him or probably since. His early concerts on the black college circuit and New York City underground with Puff Daddy as a promoter are legendary. On March 9, 1997, the title of his first album became prescient as he was gunned down in Los Angeles.
Amy Winehouse
Love her or hate her, the diminutive British singer was the
perfect rock star archetype – going on historic drinking and partying binges –
and paid for it with her life. Her
album, Back to Black, won five Grammys, and we would have loved to see her
perform live before her death in 2011.
Whitney Houston
Sometimes we remember the sad images of Whitney later in her
career, strung out on drugs and entangled in an abusive relationship with
husband Bobby Brown, but don’t forget that Whitney is the most awarded female
act of all time. Her early songs were
soulful and exuded joy and she was unsurpassed as a pure vocalist before her
death in 2012.
2Pac
The West Coast’s answer to B.I.G., Tupac Shakur reached
rap-prophet status and a reputation as one of the most talented all-around
entertainers in show business.
Before he
was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996, 2Pac started his career performing as
an MC and dancer with Digital Underground before branching out on his own and
becoming one of the top selling rappers of all time.
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