First of the Bands to Die?

The sad death a couple of weeks ago of Mitch Mitchell means that all of the Jimi Hendrix Experience are gone. Jimi of course died in 1970, aged just 27, whilst Noel Redding went in 2003, aged 57. With Mitchell only being 61, none of them reached pensionable age, and now we'll never hear any of the Experience play live again. Are they the first of the great rock'n'roll bands to go? Off the top of my head I can't think of any major band that has lost all of its members. Some of Bill Haley's Comets are still kicking around, and there are still at least one or two living members of, alphabetically, AC/DC, the Beatles, the Bee Gees, the Drifters (though there are so many present and ex-members that they'll probably never die), the Doors, the Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, the Small Faces, the Velvet Underground, and the Who. If I've overlooked an important dead band, I apologize, and look forward to being corrected.

Meanwhile, in a conversation with a wine-slugging, mountain-loving, Ebbsfleet-supporting man on a train, he asked me what the largest town in Washington State was. I said Seattle. He asked me who the most famous person to come out of Seattle was. I said Jimi Hendrix. He was surprised I knew this, and asked if I was a fan. Oh yes, said I. 'What about you?' he asked the 40-something woman sitting opposite. 'Oh no,' she said, 'he was before my time.' I almost spluttered like a buffoon at the madness of this. Before your time? Before your time?! I'm 31, love, I was born 7 years after Jimi Hendrix snuffed it! You, being at least 10 years older than me, were alive when he was! The idea that he can be before your time, but not before mine, is preposterous! What next? Do you not bother with Shakespeare, or Beethoven, or Monet for the same reason? I knew then she was an idiot, and when she commented that 'a friend recommended Leonard Cohen, and I won't be listening to her recommendations again,' there could be no doubt. Thankfully, she soon disembarked.

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