ARTHUR LEE’S LEGEND LINGERS
There are stories about people like Iggy Pop, Brian Wilson, Lou Reed and Van Morrison. Most of these stories have words like genius, tremendously influential, tragic, and legendary floating around in them somewhere, right next to other words like disappointing, personal problems and misfit.
ARTHUR LEE’S LEGEND LINGERS
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Dave DiMartino
Through The Ages (Of Prophets, Seers and Sages):
There are stories about people like Iggy Pop, Brian Wilson, Lou Reed and Van Morrison. Most of these stories have words like genius, tremendously influential, tragic, and legendary floating around in them somewhere, right next to other words like disappointing, personal problems and misfit. And they all have one thing in common: they sound like obituaries written for people who haven’t died yet. What’s unspoken in such stories is usually this: it would be better if these people had died. Or at least neater, neater for rock history if Iggy had died two hours after recording Raw Power, Brian Wilson after Pet Sounds, Lou Reed after The Velvet Underground or Van Morrison after Astral Weeks. ESTABLISH THE LEGEND, THEN KINDLY EXIT is what’s unspoken. DON’T STAY AROUND TO TARNISH IT.