What if... but it never happened...
Date: May 15, 2011 05:40
December 20, 1981: The Day All the Stones Died in a Fiery Plane Crash (leaving nothing behind but their smoking corpses and a mythic legacy of Homeric proportions)
Look...apologies in advance for a morbid post. But here's the deal: the Beatles disbanded in '70; one of their principals was assassinated in '80, forever closing the book on them. Whatever mythology they enjoyed before December 8, 1980 was ratcheted up by a factor of 5000 on that day.
Led Zeppelin never toured the US after '77, or anywhere else after '80. They exited essentially on top, even if the Europe '80 tour was streamlined and "less intense" than say even their later US tours of '75 or even most of '77. Thus, their "legacy" is very strong as they didn't hang around long enough to dilute it while they were active.
The Doors are given WAY more status these days than they deserve...I'll admit I think they did a good album or two, but that's it...and they are now given rock-god iconic stature based on the fact that Oliver Stone likes them and some people actually do think Jim Morrison was good. I think he was Eddie Vedder who had the good fortune to die young and have his legacy inflated way beyond what is warranted. (Similar to the no-talent James Dean. The only good things he did was appear in a crappy movie with a great title, and have the good fortune of dying in style, in a Porsche. He's perhaps the epitomy of how one can be mythologized beyond what is deserved by simply bowing out before the rot sets in or before you're around long enough for people to realize that you're basically a mediocrity.)
Imagine for a moment (yes, do it anyway) if the Stones, perhaps the best live band of all, were incinerated in a fiery plane crash on December 20, 1981, the day after finishing a HUGE mega-successful tour of the US (every ticket sold to every venue). Even though sober analysis in hindsight sees the '81 tour as perhaps being the first hint of a "nostalgia" tour despite occasional bursts of brilliance. If that plane carrying all five band members back to England (imagining for a moment they actually traveled together and resided in the same country, etc.) had burst into flames, in subesquent years they would be given God-like status for their bowing out (unintentially) after the most successful tour in Rock History, while never lingering on "too long" and diluting their legacy. Which now happens, incrementally in dribs and drabs, every time they take the stage. Well, come on, it's true. Okay, for you purists and MT disciples, had they all died after July 26, 1972, would that signify their peak "bowing out" date for historical legacy? In my opinion, no.. because 1981 signified a mass popularity on a much larger scale, even if the live music had suffered by that point. (And I know some think '81 -- and Hampton in particular -- represents some kind of high-point. No problem if you think that, as that just means they go out on a high note in your opinion.)
Even though the tours since '89 have been crowd-pleasing affairs and have introduced new generations of fans to them, every subsequent show after December 19, 1981 has essentially been a gradual blood-letting exercise in legacy degeneration.
I run the risk of really pissing people off with this post, but I don't care. In a purely obscene discussion of "legacy", at what date would the Stones perpetual and iconic/mythic stature have been most reinforced for posterity had they collectively "bit it" in a group annihilation such as a Skynyrd or Buddy Holly plane event? (or in a Lennon assassination or Hendrix choke-on-your-vomit scenario, etc.)
At some point in time they hit a high point before they became a weaker parody of themselves, thus diminishing their "historical" legacy. My vote for when their long-term legacy would've stood the best chance of being mythologized to Beatles or even Zeppelin standards is December 20, 1981, the day after the US leg of that tour finished. Everything that has followed has diminished their legacy to some degree. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they kicked ass in Alpine Valley in '89 or whatever. Still, on balance, they would've been held in higher esteem critically and for posterity had they DIED after the 1981 tour.
That's when they were in the best position to capitalize on any mythic stature they'd acquired by that date, and before any rot, age, arthritis, Streets of Love, strokes/palm tree accidents, constant guitar trainwrecks, horn sections and keyboards louder than guitars, hilariously awful SFTD solos, awol guitiars, lead-singer-impersonating Charles Nelson Reilly vocal inflections, or other cringe-inducing decay set in.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-05-15 20:24 by bv.