If they had lived: What music legends would have looked like today
Posted by staff / November 21, 2013
Jimi Hendrix
Died 1970, age 27
No one can say exactly how the music world would have been impacted had the likes of Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and Janis Joplin lived to a ripe old age, but Sachs Media Group and photo restoration and manipulation firm Phojoe thought it would be interesting to get a glimpse of what would never be.
They also asked professor emeritus Dr. Reebee Garofalo and musician/writer Elijah Wald to give their input as to how their careers might have developed beyond the age at which they were lost.
Jimi Hendrix
Insights by Dr. Reebee Garofalo and Elijah Wald: “At the time of his death, Hendrix had become frustrated with the limitations of rock and was discussing a duet project with Miles Davis. This would have opened up new worlds to both artists, and could have been the defining masterpiece of jazz-rock fusion. He would also undoubtedly have continued his innovative explorations of new sound technologies, and created increasingly complex and ambitious long-form compositions. Though in the process he would have moved further from the hit-focused rock-pop mainstream, he would have provided a bridge between the funk-jazz of Parliament and the growing experimental rock movement, and could now be reigning as the pioneer, father figure and supreme master of the jam-band scene.”
Bob Marley
Died 1981, age 36
Insights by Dr. Reebee Garofalo and Elijah Wald: “Marley’s success was globally inspirational in a way no previous superstar had been. Had he lived, he would undoubtedly have gone beyond his collaborations with Jamaican, American and British musicians, becoming the central figure in the ‘world music’ explosion and forging new fusions with artists from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Given his international stature and his devotion to the varied styles of the African diaspora, he would have been a dream partner for stars like the Fugees and Kanye West. It is also likely he would have also attempted to use his influence beyond the musical domain, challenging the ongoing dominance of the old colonial powers and serving as a spokesman for people of color around the world.”
Janis Joplin
Died 1970, age 27
Insights by Dr. Reebee Garofalo and Elijah Wald: “The pace and intensity of Joplin’s lifestyle and singing were unsustainable, and she would almost certainly have experienced a collapse of some kind in the early 1970s. However, by the 1980s she could have returned with the wisdom and depth of that experience, re-emerging like similarly troubled peers such as Joe Cocker and Tina Turner. Her voice would undoubtedly have lost much of its screaming power, but gained control. She could have surrounded herself with the best sidemen available and created music that – while it would have been less raw and wild than her youthful work – would have been surer, deeper and just as passionately soulful.”
Full story at Sachs Media Group via Buzzfeed.
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