Tuesday Top Ten: Dead Rock Stars, Part 3

Following up on last week's Tuesday Top Ten and the one from the week before, this is the final installment in the "Dead Rock Stars" series.

More interesting, in my mind, than which rock stars helped or hurt their legacy by dying early is Greg's second question: Who would have cemented their legacy by an early death?

In some respects, this question is nothing more than mental masturbation because any rock star who dies at the pinnacle of his or her career would have cemented a legacy that is arguably greater than if he or she continues on without achieving the same success. You can always say, based on the great music that an artist made before his or her untimely passing, "If that music was that good, can you imagine what even better music he would have made?" But then if he lives, you get The Spaghetti Incident?.

Before I get started, I will iterate in no uncertain terms that I like nine of the artists listed below very much and am glad they are alive.

Top Ten Living Rock Stars Whose Legacy and/or Rock and Roll in General Could Have Benefitted Greatly If They Had Died Early (in alphabetical order):

10. Brian Wilson. Brian Wilson is generally revered as a musical genius. However, he's also thought by many to be a little out of his mind. After hearing The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" and then the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the legend is that he realized he would never be able to make something as good, so he had a nervous breakdown and famously stayed in bed for a while and did a lot of drugs. Had he died after the release of Pet Sounds, I think his legend would have been greater and certainly not tainted with the unfortunate post-Pet Sounds mental issues.
9. Axl Rose. Greg suggested this, and as sad as it is to say, I think Axl Rose is the perfect example of a rock star whose early death would have cemented his legacy. Many (myself included) consider Axl to be one of the greatest frontmen in rock history. Appetite for Destruction, GN'R Lies, and the Use Your Illusion albums are all fantastic albums. Unfortunately, Axl's clashes with fellow band members led to GNR's breakup -- or, I should say, Axl using the GNR name for whatever band he might have been fronting. A post-Use Your Illusion death would have helped his status immensely, and it might have pushed some other former GNR members to form other bands more quickly (read: Velvet Revolver).
8. Courtney Love. It could have been a modern-day Romeo & Juliet. Instead, it has been the life of Courtney Love post-1994.
7. George Michael. I think he would be less of a punch line had he been offed sometime after Faith and before soliciting sex from an undercover male police officer in a public restroom.
6. Jerry Lee Lewis. I'm not saying marrying your 13-year-old cousin is a bad idea, but just make sure you do it after you've died a tragic death, assuming you want to cement yourself as a rock legend without qualification.
5. Michael Jackson. I'm not sure there's a rock star who has gone from as universally loved as he was in the 1980s and early '90s to how universally panned he is now. I guess getting kids drunk and sleeping with them will do that.
4. Bob Dylan. I understand that he has made some Grammy-winning albums in the last decade, but there's not much, but, in my opinion, much of what he has done since his born-again phase of the late '70s has hurt his legacy. And I don't know if you've seen him in concert, but it often takes half a song to figure out what song he is singing. I'm not saying the man is not still a songwriting genius, because that is unquestionable. All I'm saying is that his legend would be even greater had he spontaneously combusted sometime in 1979.
3. Eric Clapton. At one point in 1967, a London graffiti artist declared "Clapton is God." That was true, up until some point in the mid '70s. Then he started to lose his edge. Sure, the Journeyman album in the late '80s was pretty good, his Unplugged album was serviceable (although I don't like the slow version of "Layla" at all), and Me and Mr. Johnson was cute, but for the most part, the music he's made during my lifetime has been subpar compared to what he did before that. And I know it's horrible to say, but had he died in the mid '70s, he wouldn't have married and then cheated on Pattie Boyd Harrison (Layla), thus preventing the birth and death of his son Conor and the writing of "Tears in Heaven."
2. Chuck Berry. Has any aging rock legend faded into obscurity as much as Chuck Berry? This man was the essence of rock and roll between 1955 and 1959, until he went to the slammer for a few years for violating the Mann Act. While he had some additional hits after his release (1964's "No Particular Place to Go" is great, and 1972's "My Ding-a-Ling" is an innuendo-laden classic), he hasn't made any relevant music in 40 years. Had he tragically perished before transporting a woman across state lines for an immoral purpose, I think his legend would be even larger than it is today.
1 (tie). Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. I'm not sure rock and roll -- or the world in general -- could have been benefitted more than if these two self-important SOBs had been brutally raped and murdered (not necessarily in that order) before founding Steely Dan.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on who else should be on this list (or if you think I'm insane -- in relation to my inclusion of certain people on this list, I mean).