Which band would have had the biggest following had the singer not died?

That Led Zep/ACDC thread made me think of this... There may be more bands out there like this, but basically all were on the verge of really hitting mainstream and the passing of their frontman stopped the band in their tracks. If you know of any other bands, I'd love to see it just to see where everyone stacks up.

Nirvana, I think. In fact Nirvana still has a large following, partially because Kurt Cobain died, and it elevated him to being almost legendary.

I voted Sublime since Nirvana, in a commercial sense, may have been helped by Cobain's death. Sublime just kind of went away and aren't nearly as popular.

Queen would be big too, but they were successful in the first place, which I don't think is what you're looking for.

I agree on Nirvana,
But I also think that Kurt Cobain is almost legendary because of people making him out to be some kind of rock god.... He's not though.

I hate Cobain. I really have a hard time respecting anybody who kills themselves. Also I hate how every idolizes him. Why??!?!

If he left one thing its, "if life gets to hard kill yourself".

Out of those three...Nirvana. Mother Love bone and especially Sublime might have been great bands with cult following and technically superior musicians, but it was Nirvana's Nevermind that brought "alternative rock" to mainstream and literally blown away M. Jackson's Thriller from the 1st place on the billboard charts.Some of you are probably a bit too young to remember, but a few weeks after Nevermind came out we had a freakin' cultural revolution on our hands.

Opinion to each his own.:P

Nirvana were already mainstream before Cobain died. You could argue that they were on a downward spiral anyway so they would have possibly split anyway, and Cobain's death has sort of cemented Nirvana's place as Rock Legends. Mother Love Bone paved the way for bands like Nirvana, so it could be Andrew Wood of MLB, especially considering that MLB contained future members of Pearl Jam who went on to become mega popular.

I really love Sublime. If Brad Nowell hadn't have died then Sublime would have definately hit it big.

If the question was "which band would have had the largest increase in popularity if the singer hadn't have died?" then I would say Sublime.

blackholesun speaks truth. And to GB: he wasn't a rock god, you're right... but he was like the voice of the youth generation.

To add one to the list (i tried would not let me)

with out a doubt the Grateful Dead had a bigger concert following than all those other bands had combined x1000.

whats the deal, I think nirvana sucked live, mother love bone just sucked, Subline i just did not get. what about Alice in Chains? Since we're talking about dead singers why not the doors, Janis Joplin, Hendrix, there are lots of others too

True, true.

The band wasn't even really talented.. Kurt said himself that he just made up some lyrics to fill the gap... that's not rock-god like.

It just annoys me when people worship people who aren't what they make them out to be...


And I think that if Layne Stayley hadn't died, Alice In Chains would still be rising in popularity and putting out some sick music.

But apparently on UG I read that AIC is putting a new album out soon for the first time in 13 years o.O

http://ultimate-guitar.com/news/video_news/alice_in_chains_readying_first_album_in_13_years.html

Nah, Layne Staley died in 2002, AIC hadn't released an actual album since 1995, and grunge was no longer cool. If anything (and I don't mean this cruely because I love Layne and I love AIC), him dying was the best thing that could have happened for the band. It meant they could carry on with a new singer, one without a serious heroin addiction, without having to fire the old one.

The Grateful Dead formed in the 60s, so you couldn't really say that they would have become a lot more popular had Jerry Garcia not died in 1995.

Are all the bands you are talking about in the Grunge genre?

No, The Grateful Dead were psychedelic/jam rock and Sublime were ska.

i never considered AIC grunge though. they were a rock/metal band that escaped the 80's hair metal death of the likes of ratt and motley crue. becuase of timing I look at the videos to face lift and i think hair metal


The dead were something really unique where they blended tridional folk and country with old rock and roll and psychedelic type music and really created the jam band genera. back then it was not called jam rock

Blind Melon is definitely a cult following, but damn, us Melonheads are rabid fans.

I think blind melon would have had an even bigger following(as if they didnt have a big enough one)i mean after shannon hoon died they kinda roppe a bit from the radar, but lately theyve been back on the scene with a new singer, so we might be seeing a little more of them.

Nirvana, or Sublime.

what about jimi hendrix?

Wasn't Hendrix aready huge when he died? I voted for Sublime b/c they had only toured the West Coast (mostly just California), had one moderate hit. Then Brad dies right before the release of there first record with a major label.

Good Point, bhs.

And yeah Hendrix already was huge when he died.
So it wouldn't really make a difference since he was like the biggest thing.

don't be naive my friend. Rock-god like or not, every lyricist has done that from time to time. Including, the greatest of 'em all, Bob Dylan.So I wouldn't exactly call it a lack of talent.They couldn't be that bad if Patti Smith considered herself a Nirvana fan.If anyone, she should know a thing or two about poetry.:P
don't get me wrong it's completely understandable to be skeptical about the whole hype around Nirvana. But mind you that most cult/legendary bands/musicians like the Beatles, the Doors, Pink floyd,Bob Dylan, Black sabbath,The Clash to Manic street preachers received an extra amount of publicity and hype due to the charisma/looks/mysteriousity/faked persona and even a mental health of their frontmen. Does that make them talentless musicians/songwriters?

i voted the doors

I don't see how Nirvana are leading this poll at the moment. They were already massive before Cobain died - In Utero hit number 1 in both America and the UK, number 2 in Australia, 3 in New Zealand, 4 in the Netherlands, 5 in Finland, need I go on? They were a worldwide phenomenon.

Are you guys saying that they would have been even bigger if Cobain hadn't have died? Bearing in mind that Cobain had a massive drug addiction, and that In Utero was far less commercial than Nevermind.

Compare Nirvana's story to that of Sublime's. Formed in 1988, first album released in 1992, second album in 1994, but the singer/guitarist died in May 1996, just months before their third album (first on a major label) was released. The album got to #13 in The Billboard 200, and I have no doubt (no pun intended) that Brad Nowell could have easily have been the Kurt Cobain of the ska world. But he wasn't, because he had died, which is the point of this poll isn't it?

BHS, I entirely agree with you... In retrospect, I should not have included Nirvana for the same reasons I didn't list Hendrix or the Doors (worldly renown)...

I'm not sure if I'd catorgorize Sublime as Ska... They are more of a mesh of Punk/Rock/Hip-Hop/Reggae that has never surfaced before or after. I associate ska with bands with horn sections. All well not important.

I am shocked that no one has voted for Mother Love b/c Pearl Jam has disputedly become one of the world's largest bands.

Sublime are a weird fusion of genres, I personally would call them a ska/reggae band with hip hop, dub and punk influences. They are definately ska though.

I'm quite surprised by MLB's lack of votes too, but I think quite a bit of Pearl Jam's success is down to Eddie Vedder though.

no, we're just saying that it's safe to assume that Sublime wouldn't come even close to Nirvana in terms of popularity or influence.It was just not the right time for that. If CTown rephrased the question I'd be among the first people to vote for Sublime.

As for MLB, well, I just believe that they sounded too similar to other hard rock bands of the time(like Ugly Kid Joe, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith.Extreme etc, etc) to actually "make it". PJ with Eddie and his singing style on board was of course a completely different story.

I duno, grunge was only in Seattle until it broke out in '91. If you had said to the average person in LA in '89 that in three years time the whole world would all be listening to bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam etc then they would probably think you were being pretty dumb making predictions like that.

In the years after Nowell's death, the third wave of ska hit its commercial peak with bands like Reel Big Fish, No Doubt, Less Than Jake and Goldfinger etc all recieving heavy radio and video play. If Sublime had gone worldwide in the mid 90s, then there were the bands to back them up to create a huge global scene.

Instead, what did we get? Post grunge and nu metal :|

i say skynyrd, i hope i didnt misintereret what hes aasking but i think hes asking which band would have become the biggest? ronnie van zants death almost marked the end of skynyrd but now they are huge.