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What about Kurt Cobain, Buddy Holly, Tupac? All get remembered disproportionately for their deaths. Not just because they died young - you could pick equally f

What about Kurt Cobain, Buddy Holly, Tupac? All get remembered disproportionately for their deaths. Not just because they died young - you could pick equally famous artists who died young but whose life is more famous than their death. Try Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley or Hank Williams. I don't see anything that clearly links the artists "defined by their death". But despite the BBC's efforts, it's probably not sexism.

sokoloff 5y ago
I wonder how much of that is generational. For me, Kurt Cobain’s suicide or Tupac’s murder don’t overshadow their music. Buddy Holly I know about more from Don McLean’s song, so his death does overshadow his music, but the opposite is likely true for my parents because they lived with his music in a way that I never did.
- moate 5y ago
  >>For me, Kurt Cobain’s suicide or Tupac’s murder don’t overshadow their music. I don't know what "overshadow" means here. They were both considered top artists in their genres, and their untimely deaths are massive parts of their legacy. I don't think people know them more for their deaths than their songs, but I feel like there are very few people who would consider themselves fans of Nirvana that don't know about how Cobain's mental health/relationship affected and influence their sound or who love Tupac and don't know about the East vs. West coast feud in rap at the time and Pac's place in it. I feel the exact opposite about Buddy Holly. He died in a tragic plane crash. I don't know what that means about his legacy other than "he died in a plane crash". It obviously didn't influence his art other than him not being able to make any more (I'm 36 fwiw.)
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    I meant overshadow in the sense of how they’re remembered/casually described by people. “Pretend I’ve never heard about Person X; tell me what you know about them.” For me, Buddy Holly’s death gets mentioned in the first or second sentence. None of the others do, including Sylvia Plath. (Kurt Cobain might, depending on how long I go in my description.)
wutbrodo 5y ago
> What about Kurt Cobain, Buddy Holly, Tupac? All get remembered disproportionately for their deaths. Fwiw, Cobain and Tupac's deaths are pretty far from mind when I think about them. > But despite the BBC's efforts, it's probably not sexism. Sure, this is practically a new Betteridge's Law. Journalism has been consumed by a bizarre ideology that fixates on a couple of social ills, so "no, it's not sexism" is a reasonable response a good chunk of the time.

sokoloff 5y ago

I wonder how much of that is generational. For me, Kurt Cobain’s suicide or Tupac’s murder don’t overshadow their music. Buddy Holly I know about more from Don McLean’s song, so his death does overshadow his music, but the opposite is likely true for my parents because they lived with his music in a way that I never did.

moate 5y ago
>>For me, Kurt Cobain’s suicide or Tupac’s murder don’t overshadow their music. I don't know what "overshadow" means here. They were both considered top artists in their genres, and their untimely deaths are massive parts of their legacy. I don't think people know them more for their deaths than their songs, but I feel like there are very few people who would consider themselves fans of Nirvana that don't know about how Cobain's mental health/relationship affected and influence their sound or who love Tupac and don't know about the East vs. West coast feud in rap at the time and Pac's place in it. I feel the exact opposite about Buddy Holly. He died in a tragic plane crash. I don't know what that means about his legacy other than "he died in a plane crash". It obviously didn't influence his art other than him not being able to make any more (I'm 36 fwiw.)
- sokoloff 5y ago
  I meant overshadow in the sense of how they’re remembered/casually described by people. “Pretend I’ve never heard about Person X; tell me what you know about them.” For me, Buddy Holly’s death gets mentioned in the first or second sentence. None of the others do, including Sylvia Plath. (Kurt Cobain might, depending on how long I go in my description.)

wutbrodo 5y ago

> What about Kurt Cobain, Buddy Holly, Tupac? All get remembered disproportionately for their deaths. Fwiw, Cobain and Tupac's deaths are pretty far from mind when I think about them. > But despite the BBC's efforts, it's probably not sexism. Sure, this is practically a new Betteridge's Law. Journalism has been consumed by a bizarre ideology that fixates on a couple of social ills, so "no, it's not sexism" is a reasonable response a good chunk of the time.