Call for chapters
Death and the Rock Star
Deadline for proposals: 15 July 2012
The recent untimely deaths of Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, and the resurrection of Tupac Shakur for a performance at the Coachella music festival, have focused the media spotlight, yet again, on the relationship between rock, popular music and death. The ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’ lifestyle has left many casualties in its wake. Over time, however, as the ranks of dead musicians have grown, so the types of death involved and the reactions to them have diversified. Conversely, as the artists who were at the forefront of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution of the 1950s and 1960s continue to age, the idea of dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse (which gave rise, for instance, to the myth of the ’27 Club’), no longer carries the same resonance that it once might have. Continue reading →