Post by Joanna on Nov 14, 2013 3:32:10 GMT -5
The Forever 27 Club
On the afternoon of Saturday 23 July 2011, five-time Grammy Award-winning singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London home at the age of 27. Winehouse, often described as a “lost soul,” never seemed entirely comfortable with stardom and her battles with drugs and alcohol are well documented. The passing of this popular and unique talent is a tragic loss indeed, but her premature demise solidifies her position not just in pop culture but also within the realms of folklore – because only in death could she be granted entry into the fabled 27 Club.
The 27 Club – variously known as Club 27, the Curse of 27 and the Forever 27 Club – comprises an eclectic and exclusive collection of influential musicians, all of whom died at the age of 27. Some of the more notable additions include Rolling Stone Brian Jones (died July 3, 1969), Jimi Hendrix (September 18, 1970), Janis Joplin (October 4, 1970), Jim Morrison (July 3, 1971) and Kurt Cobain (April 5, 1994).
It should be noted, too, that most of these deaths occurred under mysterious circumstances and, to this day, speculation and controversy continue regarding many of them. As recently as August 2009, Sussex police launched a review of the Brian Jones case, 40 years after he was found dead in his swimming pool, when new allegations were leveled at a builder working on Jones’s property at the time of his death.
Another member, Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers, officially joined the 27 Club when he was declared dead November 23, 2008, having gone missing more than 13 years earlier. He is believed to have committed suicide by jumping from the Severn Bridge, although his body was never found.
Many of the foregoing celebrity deaths are linked by some bizarre and unlikely correlations. For example, Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison all knew each other and died within a 10-month period. Jones and Morrison died on the same day, two years apart. And Cobain was married to Courtney Love, who was pictured as a five-year-old child on the back of the Grateful Dead’s 1969 album Aoxomoxoa along with Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (who joined the 27 Club March 8, 1973), and played in the grunge band Hole with Kristen Pfaff (who became a member June 16, 1994). Hendrix, who was born November 27, counted astrology as one of his hobbies and said many times that he expected to die at 27. This kind of foresight or foreboding seems to have been mirrored in Winehouse’s behaviour in the final weeks of her life. Though she stopped short of openly predicting her death (unless you believe some of the more bizarre internet theories) she is known to have spent time tracking down long-lost friends and acquaintances, as if wanting to say goodbye.
There are more than 40 other musicians who met their end at 27. The Drifters, Canned Heat, the Stooges, Badfinger, Uriah Heep, Minutemen, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Mars Volta and American Head Charge have all lost members, as have a plethora of lesser-known acts. Admittedly, most are hardly household names, and skeptics would argue that if you took the trouble to research how old every musician was when he, or she, died, statistically no more would have died at 26, say, or 28, than 27. But even the most cursory research blows this theory out of the water. There are a few other ages with slightly higher results, such as 29 and 33, but even these pale in comparison. As biographer Charles R Cross says, “The number of musicians who passed away at 27 is truly remarkable by any standard. Though humans die regularly at all ages, there is a statistical spike for those who die at 27.”
Chris Bell was the lead guitarist, and along with Alex Chilton, the primary songwriter for Big Star. Bell left the band following its influential, but commercially overlooked, power pop gem No. 1 Record. He went on to release two songs in 1978, “I Am the Cosmos” and “You and Your Sister.” These two songs were also included in his posthumous debut solo, “I Am the Cosmos,” which wasn't released until 1992. Bell died December 27, 1978, when he lost control of his Triumph TR7 sports car. His funeral took place the following day (December 28), which sadly coincided with the birthday of former band mate Alex Chilton. Bell is still an influential figure in the development of power pop and indie rock.
Another guitarist who died at the age of 27 in a motor vehicle accident was D. Boon, lead vocalist and one of the primary songwriters (along with Mike Watt) in the influential hardcore punk band Minutemen. Boon was listed as No. 89 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. His guitar style, which had a heavy funk and blues feel, helped make Minutemen more diverse than the average band from the 80s hardcore scene. Boon died December 22, 1985, in a van accident. Because he had a fever, he was lying in the back recuperating when the van crashed, sending him flying through the back. Since his tragic death, Mike Watt and George Hurley of Minutemen continued as fIREHOSE and Watt continued developing his highly influential style of bass playing. All of Mike Watt’s albums, whether solo or as part of fIREHOSE, has been dedicated to his fallen band mate. He has also written a number of songs in tribute to D. Boon.
Another guitarist who died at the age of 27 in a motor vehicle accident was D. Boon, lead vocalist and one of the primary songwriters (along with Mike Watt) in the influential hardcore punk band Minutemen. Boon was listed as No. 89 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. His guitar style, which had a heavy funk and blues feel, helped make Minutemen more diverse than the average band from the 80s hardcore scene. Boon died December 22, 1985, in a van accident. Because he had a fever, he was lying in the back recuperating when the van crashed, sending him flying through the back. Since his tragic death, Mike Watt and George Hurley of Minutemen continued as fIREHOSE and Watt continued developing his highly influential style of bass playing. All of Mike Watt’s albums, whether solo or as part of fIREHOSE, has been dedicated to his fallen band mate. He has also written a number of songs in tribute to D. Boon.
In another strange twist, the curse of 27 is believed by some to have started with the legendary Bluesman Robert Johnson, a primary influence on many modern guitar slingers, who is famously said to have made a Faustian deal with the Devil. Johnson’s life (and death) was poorly documented but the widely accepted, heavily romanticized version of events maintains that after beginning his career as a mediocre guitarist playing on street corners, he met the Devil at a crossroads near Dockery Plantation in Mississippi, at midnight. There, the Devil took his guitar, tuned it, and handed it back, giving him a mastery of the instrument and thereby inventing the Delta Blues. Johnson’s popularity soared, and by the time he was 27, he was one of the most sought-after musicians in the area. With his new-found fame came success with the ladies and his death on August 16, 1938, is said to have been a result of strychnine poisoning, the deadly substance passed to him in a whiskey bottle by a jealous husband. We’ll probably never know the exact circumstances of Johnson’s death, but all these years later, and in light of other developments, we can make certain observations. During his lifetime, Johnson was a nomadic traveler and notorious womanizer. He never really made it big and at the peak of his powers only ever played small dance halls and the like, never achieving any level of fame until 1961, when Columbia bought the rights to his back catalogue and released the seminal album King of the Delta Blues Singers, Volume I. It has been suggested (though never proven) that during the mastering process, the original recordings were increased in speed, giving them an “otherworldly” quality and making them sound much more impressive than they really were. Furthermore, some observers claim the “Devil” he so often sang and talked about was, in fact, a metaphorical name he had for whiskey. The 1986 film Crossroads is loosely based on Johnson’s story.
Certainly, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and years of excess seem to be major contributing factors in a great number of 27 Club deaths, but among the overdoses and suicides, there have also been some bizarre and unlikely “accidents.” Malcolm Hale of Spanky and Our Gang was gassed by a faulty space heater; Leslie Harvey of the Scottish Blues band Stone the Crows, was electrocuted live on stage by a microphone; and Roger Lee Durham of Bloodstone fell off a horse. Yes, accidents happen, but there does seem to be a higher probability of “something happening” to musicians when they are 27-years-old. A significant number were murdered, with Mia Zapata of Seattle punk band the Gits being the subject of an Unsolved Mysteries segment. Incidentally, a benefit concert in her honour marked one of Kurt Cobain’s last live appearances before he committed suicide, yet another of those tenuous, yet undeniable, links between various members of the 27 Club.
It has been suggested the lure of joining the exclusive 27 Club and guaranteeing some level of rock ‘n’ roll immortality has been too much for some to resist. Shortly after Cobain’s death, his mother Wendy O’Connor proclaimed: “Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club! I told him not to join that stupid club!” This attests to the fact that mother and son must have discussed the 27 Club. Interestingly, several researchers have noted that during his formative years, Cobain mistakenly believed the “Big Five” all died by their own hand. This may have had some influence on him in later years, though this is pure speculation.
Since Cobain’s death, which roughly coincided with the birth of the internet, interest and debate about the 27 Club has increased immeasurably, leading to a deluge of articles and dedicated websites. While it may be true that people now actively seek out new additions to support the myth, this in itself presents a “chicken and egg” scenario.
So, is there anything special about the number 27? Well, the short answer is yes, there is (though this is true of most numbers if you look hard enough). To begin with, 27 is the cube of 3 (total sum of 3x3x3), with 3 being the original “Magic Number.” Much like its famous cousin 23, 27 is one of those numbers that recurs time and time again in nature and popular culture. For example, the Moon takes 27 days to orbit the Earth, the Sun revolves on its axis every 27 days, there are 27 bones in the human hand, and human outer skin cells are shed and regrown every 27 days. The number also features prominently in various sections of the Bible. The 27 Project aims to collate instances of the number occurring in the world around us.
The 27 Club is making steady inroads into popular culture, aided no end by a best-selling book by Eric Segalstad called The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock and Roll, which weaves the lives of 34 club members into a narrative; and The 27 Club, a 2008 movie in which the surviving member of a rock band attempts to carry out his best friend and bandmate’s last request following his suicide. The number 27 has been used in the titles of tracks by Fallout Boy, Biffy Clyro, Lagwagon, Cartel and the Dave Mathews Band, while US parodist “Weird” Al Yankovic is known to bury the number in his songs and videos and there is even a band from Boston simply called 27 – all of which reinforces the number’s seemingly powerful association with music.
Sources: Christian Saunders, Fortean Times, January 2012, and The 27 Club.
Certainly, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and years of excess seem to be major contributing factors in a great number of 27 Club deaths, but among the overdoses and suicides, there have also been some bizarre and unlikely “accidents.” Malcolm Hale of Spanky and Our Gang was gassed by a faulty space heater; Leslie Harvey of the Scottish Blues band Stone the Crows, was electrocuted live on stage by a microphone; and Roger Lee Durham of Bloodstone fell off a horse. Yes, accidents happen, but there does seem to be a higher probability of “something happening” to musicians when they are 27-years-old. A significant number were murdered, with Mia Zapata of Seattle punk band the Gits being the subject of an Unsolved Mysteries segment. Incidentally, a benefit concert in her honour marked one of Kurt Cobain’s last live appearances before he committed suicide, yet another of those tenuous, yet undeniable, links between various members of the 27 Club.
It has been suggested the lure of joining the exclusive 27 Club and guaranteeing some level of rock ‘n’ roll immortality has been too much for some to resist. Shortly after Cobain’s death, his mother Wendy O’Connor proclaimed: “Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club! I told him not to join that stupid club!” This attests to the fact that mother and son must have discussed the 27 Club. Interestingly, several researchers have noted that during his formative years, Cobain mistakenly believed the “Big Five” all died by their own hand. This may have had some influence on him in later years, though this is pure speculation.
Since Cobain’s death, which roughly coincided with the birth of the internet, interest and debate about the 27 Club has increased immeasurably, leading to a deluge of articles and dedicated websites. While it may be true that people now actively seek out new additions to support the myth, this in itself presents a “chicken and egg” scenario.
So, is there anything special about the number 27? Well, the short answer is yes, there is (though this is true of most numbers if you look hard enough). To begin with, 27 is the cube of 3 (total sum of 3x3x3), with 3 being the original “Magic Number.” Much like its famous cousin 23, 27 is one of those numbers that recurs time and time again in nature and popular culture. For example, the Moon takes 27 days to orbit the Earth, the Sun revolves on its axis every 27 days, there are 27 bones in the human hand, and human outer skin cells are shed and regrown every 27 days. The number also features prominently in various sections of the Bible. The 27 Project aims to collate instances of the number occurring in the world around us.
The 27 Club is making steady inroads into popular culture, aided no end by a best-selling book by Eric Segalstad called The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock and Roll, which weaves the lives of 34 club members into a narrative; and The 27 Club, a 2008 movie in which the surviving member of a rock band attempts to carry out his best friend and bandmate’s last request following his suicide. The number 27 has been used in the titles of tracks by Fallout Boy, Biffy Clyro, Lagwagon, Cartel and the Dave Mathews Band, while US parodist “Weird” Al Yankovic is known to bury the number in his songs and videos and there is even a band from Boston simply called 27 – all of which reinforces the number’s seemingly powerful association with music.
Sources: Christian Saunders, Fortean Times, January 2012, and The 27 Club.
