Re: (TV) John Byrne dead at 61

[Phil Obbard <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

"Why is it though, that musicians seem to have shorter life spans? They live
shorter than presidents for example - who quite often do not expire until
their 90s. Am I falsely falling for for a red herring, or am I on to
something? Can someone devise a list of well known musicians who have made
it beyond 80? Any musical genre will do."

I've thought about this, too. For starters, you've got the "too fast to live" group -- the under-30 deaths due to excess, car/plane crash, or suicide: Cobain, Holly, Hendrix, Morrison, Aaliyah, etc. That skews the data, so let's leave it aside. 

That leaves us with a not insubstantial number of musicians who still died long before, let's say, the age of 75 (a fair life expectancy for males -- and overwhelming we're talking about males -- in the Western world). The first issue I run into is this: My own observational bias is that I'm mostly interested in musicians from 1960 onwards, and most of the well-known ones are still under the age of 70 (being born in 1940 or later). And even then, many of the post-30-something deaths have a "too fast to live" element to them: Entwhistle, Dee Dee Ramone, Dennis Wilson, Keith Moon, Johnny Thunders, Paul Butterfield, John Phillips, Denny Doherty, etc. 

As I was trying to figure out where to take my thoughts in this email, I just Googled "dead pop stars" and found this analysis of a study on exactly this subject. http://sentineleffect.wordpress.com/2007/09/19/debating-the-science-of-dead-pop-stars/. (Unfortunately, the link to the original study no longer appears to active).




________________________________
From: Russ <russvr@gmail.com>
To: tv@obbard.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 4:11:11 PM
Subject: Re: (TV) John Byrne dead at 61

Very sad. I always liked that song and Television's version of it was a high
point of the two times I've managed to see them.

This guy, John Byrne, only lived to be 61.
Why is it though, that musicians seem to have shorter life spans? They live
shorter than presidents for example - who quite often do not expire until
their 90s. Am I falsely falling for for a red herring, or am I on to
something? Can someone devise a list of well known musicians who have made
it beyond 80? Any musical genre will do.



On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 1:35 PM, Phil Obbard <pobbard@yahoo.com> wrote:

> He was the author of Television favorite "Psychotic Reaction" and a member
> of the Count Five.
>
>
> http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-passings28-2008dec28,0,3451708.story(second half)
>
> I feel depressed, I feel so bad
> 'Cause you're the best girl that I ever had
> I can't get your love, I can't get a fraction
> Uh-oh, little girl, psychotic reaction
>
> (And it feels like this!)
>
> I feel so lonely night and day
> I can't get your love, I must stay away
> I need you girl, by my side
> Uh-oh, little girl, would you like to take a ride, now
> I can't get your love, I can't get satisfaction
> Uh-oh, little girl, psychotic reaction
>
> --Phil
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