the list of 9 for august 11, 1998:
NINE ROCK & ROLL SUICIDES OF THE 1990s
It is a distressing signal that so many famous musicians should check themselves out this decade; before the '90s, rock's only noteworthy suicides were Joy Division's Ian Curtis and the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious - both of whom died in relative obscurity.
- KURT COBAIN. The most significant suicide of the decade, if not rock history, the Nirvana singer/songwriter took his life while at the height of success. It was so startling that some still insist he was murdered.
- MICHAEL HUTCHENCE. The singer for the Australian band INXS, so popular in the 1980s, is now believed to have died accidentally of autoerotic asphyxiation. (Look it up.)
- DEL SHANNON. '60s singer best known for his classic hit song "Runaway" took his life at the beginning of the decade, just as he was being considered to replace the late Roy Orbison in the superstar band The Traveling Wilburys.
- WENDY O. WILLIAMS. Singer for the American punk band the Plasmatics - famous in the '80s for outrageous onstage antics such as chainsawing their guitars, etc. - had, in her later years, become a B-movie actress and an animal trainer. She blew her brains out earlier this year.
- DOUG HOPKINS. Guitarist/songwriter for The Gin Blossoms, he penned their two biggest hit songs, "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You". He was fired from the band (apparently for substance abuse) and soon after took his own life.
- CHRIS ACLAND. Drummer for the British "shoegazer" band Lush, which had a long-standing cult following, he committed suicide shortly after their 1996 American tour, allegedly depressed after a failed romance.
- ROB PILATUS. The former Milli Vanilli star - who with his bandmate Fab Morvan had a humiliating fall from grace when it was discovered that they didn't sing their own songs - reportedly died of an accidental drug overdose, but it's uncertain. A few months before his death, Pilatus did attempt suicide.
- JASON THIRSK. The bassist for '90s punk band Pennywise ended his life shortly after leaving the group.
- ELDON HOKE, a.k.a. "EL DUCE." Leader of punk band the Mentors, whose sexually violent lyrics gained the band notoriety in the mid-'80s as one of Tipper Gore's rationates for her infamous PMRC campaign, which successfully put warning labels on record albums. The often homeless El Duce, whose last boast was that Courtney Love had asked him to kill Kurt Cobain, ended his own life under a train.
|