04 June 2006

Nothing of importance, really.

So the death of yet another Grateful Dead keyboardist (the number is at 4) got me thinking about my favorite all-star dead rock n roller bands. It's getting harder though, since we're reaching a time where some rock stars are dying of natural causes rather than the usual drug overdoses, suicides, and vehicular accidents. Or mysterious gardening accidents.

So here's my top band:

1. Joe Strummer
2. Brian Jones
3. John Entwistle
4. Keith Moon

Sure, there's bound to be someone pissed off that I left out Frank Zappa, but so be it. You can't argue with Keith Moon. Sorry. No other drummer comes close except maybe John Bonham from Led Zeppelin, but it's really not very close. Moon and Entwistle are pure geniuses.

The problem really is leaving all those talented people sitting on the sidelines: Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia...sorry but that dude from Alice in Chains doesn't make the first cut. Neither does Sid Vicious, because I want the band members actually to play, not stand on stage looking dazed, even if they are all dead.

I'm willing also to accept Cobain as a replacement for Brian Jones; he might mesh with Strummer a bit better.

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