Finally, the new year is upon us. We all agree that 2020 was shit, and sadly there are no do-overs. So let's wipe the slate clean, shall we? Start fresh. Let's say this year is going to be at least a little better than last year. Can we try that?
I know, it's off to a bad start. Politics, violence, hunger, terror and still that goddamn pandemic... OK, can we at least pretend? Or can we fake pretend? Just for today.
In that spirit, here's a morbid little playlist for you: this playlist is comprised of a bunch of musicians who died in 2020. Unfortunately not an exhaustive list by any means. Just something we threw together with what's in our collection. We're pretty happy with how it flows, the sequencing works quite well.
Looking at the names in this playlist, a few things come to find: first, we've lost quite a few legends this past year. From Eddie Van Halen to Neil Peart to Peter Green to Little Richard to McCoy Tyner, 2020 hasn't been kind to music. Second, we've paid quite a heavy price for that virus: John Prine, Manu Dibango, Toots Hibbert... Third, some bands have been hit quite severely: King Crimson has lost no less than three alumni this year, although with a band with such a high turnover the ratio is always going to be higher. And last, while death is always sad and you can't really rank tragedy, some deaths are even more crushing than others: seeing someone like Justin Townes Earle go so young, in such a tragically preventable fashion, was truly heartrbreaking.
On this note, we conclude our Friday's Playlist series. This also serves as the last entry for the blog, since concerts are a thing of the past. The site will remain up for a while, and may be re-activated if things ever go back to normal but right now this seems like a good way to end things.
Happy New Year!
Note: this is a massive playlist and in order to have access to all of the tracks you need to play it in the Apple Music app, as the web version is limited to a hundred songs. Subscribe HERE if you need an account or click on the logo below.
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti - Little Richard (Vocals, Piano): 1932-2020
The Arrows - I Love Rock & Roll - Alan Merrill (Vocals, Bass): 1951-2020
The Sweet - Hellraiser - Steve Priest (Bass): 1948-2020
Riot - This Is What I Get - Louie "L.A." Kouvaris (Guitar): 1954-2020
UFO - Doctor Doctor - Pete Way (Bass): 1951-2020
Molly Hatchet - Boogie No More - Steve Holland (Guitar): 1954-2020
Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride - Leslie West (Guitar, Vocals): 1945-2020
Lucifer's Friend - Ride the Sky - Dieter Horns (Bass): 1946-2020
Uriah Heep - Rainbow Demon - Lee Kerslake (Drums): 1947-2020
Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom - Adam Schlesinger (Bass): 1967-2020
Quiet Riot - Metal Health - Frankie Banali (Drums): 1951-2020
UFO - Lettin' Go - Paul Chapman (Guitar, Keyboards): 1954-2020
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers - Born to Lose - Walter Lure (Bass): 1949-2020
SNFU - She's Not On The Menu - Chi Pig (Vocals): 1962-2020
Junkyard - Hollywood - Clay Anthony (Bass): 1965-2020
Corrosion Conformity - Clean My Wounds - Reed Mullin (Drums): 1966-2020
Falling in Revers - Popular Monster - Derek Jones (Guitar): 1984-2020
Power Trip - Executioner's Tax (Swing of the Axe) - Riley Gale (Vocals): 1985-2020
Death - Suicide Machine - Sean Reinert (Drums): 1971-2020
Cynic - Uroboric Forms - Sean Malone (Bass): 1970-2020
Children of Bodom - Children of Bodom - Alexi Laiho (Guitar, Vocals): 1979-2020
Van Halen - Runnin' with the Devil - Eddie Van Halen (Guitar): 1955-2020
Uriah Heep - Easy Livin' - Ken Hensley (Keyboards): 1945-2020
Iron Maiden - Aces High - Martin Birch (Producer): 1948-2020
Rush - La Villa Strangiato - Neil Peart (Drums): 1952-2020
King Crimson - Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)/Meltdown/Radical Action II - Bill Rieflin (Drums): 1960-2020
Pauline Anna Strom - Freedom at the 45th Floor - Pauline Anna Strom (Synthesizers): 1946-2020
Silver Apples - Oscillations - Simeon Coxe (Synthesizers): 1938-2020
Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express - Florian Schneider (Synthesizers, Programming, Vocals): 1947-2020
Throbbing Gristle - Unity - Genesis P. Orridge (Synthesizers, Programming, Vocals): 1950-2020
Gang of Four - At Home He's A Tourist - Andy Gill (Vocals & Guitar): 1956-2020
Cardiacs - Is this the Life? - Tim Smith (Vocals, Guitar): 1961-2020
King Crimson - Cirkus - Gordon Haskell (Vocals, Bass): 1946-2020
The Stranglers - Golden Brown - David Greenfield (Keyboards): 1949-2020
The Outfield - Your Love - Tony Lewis (Vocals, Bass): 1957-2020
Midnight Oil- Blue Sky Mine - Bones Hillman (Bass): 1958-2020
Silver Sun - Golden Skin - James Broad (Vocals, Guitar): 19.. -2020
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You - David Roback (Guitar): 1058-2020
Primal Scream - Don't Fight It, Feel It - Denise Johnson (Vocals): 1963-2020
Bad Company -If You Needed Somebody - Brian Howe (Vocals): 1953-2020
King Crimson - Cat Food - Keith Tippett (Piano): 1947-2020
Patti Smith Group - Birdland - Ivan Král (Guitar, Keyboards): 1948-2020
The Soft Boys - I Wanna Destroy You - Matthew Seligman (Bass): 1955-2020
Love as Laughter - French Heroin - Sam Jayne (Guitar, Vocals): 1974-2020
Roxette - It Must Have Been Love - Pelle Alsing (Drums): 1960-2020
Royal Philharmonic Orchestraconducted by Antal Dorati - This Is How Things Stood (From Sergei Prokoviev's Peter & the Wolf) - Sean Connery (Narrator): 1930-2020
Kenny Rogers & the First Edition - I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) - Kenny Rogers (Vocals): 1938-2020
Kaleidoscope - Life Will Pass You By - Chris Darrow (Bass, Vocals): 1944-2020
The Spencer Davis Group - Time Seller - Spencer Davis (Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica): 1939-2020
The Pretty Things - Rosalyn - Phil May (Vocals): 1944-2020
The Left Banke - Pretty Ballerina - Steve Martin Caro (Vocals): 1948-2020
The Turtles - Grim Reaper of Love - Jim Tucker (Guitar): 1946-2020
Emitt Rhodes - Fresh as a Daisy - Emmit Rhodes (Vocals, Various Instruments): 1950-2020
Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons - Sherry - Tommy DeVito (Vocals): 1928-2020
The Dovelles - Bristol Stomp - Len Barry (Vocals): 1942-2020
Christophe - Aline - Christophe (Vocals, Piano): 1945-2020
Suzy Delair - Avec son tralala - Suzy Delair (Vocals): 1917-2020
Juliette Gréco - Déshabillez-moi - Juliette Gréco (Vocals): 1927-2020
Helen Reddy - I Am Woman - Helen Reddy (Vocals): 1941-2020
Mac Davis - In the Ghetto - Mac Davis (Vocals): 1942-2020
Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders - The Game of Love - Wayne Fontana (Vocals): 1945-2020
Chad & Jeremy - A Summer Song - Chad Stuart (Guitar, Vocals): 1941-2020
Ian Whitcomb - You Turn Me On - Ian Whitcomb (Vocals) 1941-2020
Trini Lopez - If I Had A Hammer - Trini Lopez (Guitar): 1937-2020
Fleetwood Mac - Black Magic Woman - Peter Green (Guitar): 1946-2020
Amboy Dukes - Journey to the Center of the Mind - Steve Famer (Guitar): 1948-2020
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By- Harold Beane (Guitar): 1946-2020
Rance Allen - Lying on the Truth - Rance Allen (Vocals, Guitar): 1948-2020
Lucky Peterson - Lifetime - Lucky Peterson (Vocals, Guitar, Piano): 1964-2020
Henry Gray - Mojo Boogie - Henry Gray (Piano, Vocals): 1925-2020
Little Charlie & the Nightcats - My Next Ex-Wife - Charlie Baty (Guitar): 1953-2020
Malo - Suavecito - Jorge Santana (Guitar): 1951-2020
Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa - Manu Dibango (Vocals, Saxophone): 1933-2020
Mory Kanté - Yéké Yéké - Mory Kanté (Vocals, Kora): 1950-2020
Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come - Hux Brown (Guitar): 1944-2020
Toots & the Maytals - Pomp & Pride - Toots Hibbert (Vocals): 1942-2020
Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash (Vocals): 1940-2020
Lambert, Hendrixks & Ross - Moanin' - Annie Ross (Vocals): 1930-2020
The Clayton Brothers - Touch and Go - Jeff Clayton (Saxophone) - 1954-2020
Bill Evans - Suicide is Painless - Johnny Mandel (Composer): 1925-2020
Claude Bolling & Alexandre Lagoya - Suite for Classical Guitar and Jazz Piano Trio Finale - Claude Bolling (Piano): 1930-2020
MCoy Tyner - Satin Doll - McCoy Tyner (Piano): 1938-2020
Stanley Cowell - Equipoise - Stanley Cowell (Piano): 1941-2020
Pat Metheney Group - Épisode d'Azur - Lyle Mays (Piano): 1953-2020
Lee Konitz & Jimi Giuffre - Palo Alto - Lee Konitz (Saxophone): 1927-2020
Tony Allen - Get Together - Tony Allen (Drums): 1940-2020
Paul Bley - Albert's Love Theme - Gary Peacock (Bass): 1935-2020
Miles Davis - So What - Jimmy Cobb (Drums): 1929-2020
Jimmy Heath - For Minors Only - Jimmy Heath (Saxophone): 1926-2020
Wallace Roney - Why Should There Be Stars - Wallace Roney (Trumpet): 1960-2020
Miles Davis - Trevere - Steve Grossman (Saxophone): 1951-2020
Sun Ra & his Astro-Infinity Arkestra - Danny Ray Thompson (Saxophone): 1947-2020
Sun Ra & his Arkestra - Where Pathways Meet - Eddie Gale (Saxophone): 1941-2020
Art Blakey - Cubano Chant - Càndido Camero (Percussions): 1921-2020
Ryo Kawasaki - Trinkets & Things - Ryo Kawasaki (Guitar): 1947-2020
Kool & the Gang - Jungle Boogie - Ronald Bell (1951-2020): Saxophone, Vocals
Toshinori Kondo - Dub Deep Inside - Toshinori Kondo (Trumpet): 1948-2020
Tower of Power- You Got To Funkifize - Rocco Prestia (Bass): 1951-2020
Was (Not Was) - Knocked Down, Made Small - Sweet Pea Atkinson (Vocals): 1945-2020
Chynna - Seasonal Depression - Chynna (Vocals): 1994-2020
King Von - I Am What I Am - King Von (Vocals): 1994-2020
MF DOOM - I Hear Voices (Pt. 1) - Daniel Dumile (Vocals): 1971-2020
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Get Up and Jump - Jack Sherman (Guitar): 1956-2020
Earth, Wind & Fire feat. the Emotion - Boogie Wonderland - Pamela Hutchinon (the Emotions, Vocals): 1959-2020
Bohannon - Let's Start the Dance - Hamilton Bohannon (Vocals, Drums): 1942-2020
The Pointer Sisters - Yes We Can Can - Bonnie Pointer (Vocals): 1950-2020
Tami Lynn - I'm Gonna Run Away From You - Tami Lynn (Vocals): 1942-2020
The Supremes - He's Seventeen - Barbara Martin (Vocals): 1943-2020
Charley Pride - Just Between You And Me - Charley Pride (Vocals, Guitar): 1934-2020
The Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels (Vocals, Fiddle): 1936-2020
Hal Ketchum - Small Town Saturday Night - Hal Ketchum (Guitar, Vocals): 1953-2020
K.T. Olson - 80's Ladies - K.T. Olson (Vocals): 1942-2020
Billie Joe Shaver - Live Forever - Billie Joe Shaver (Vocals, Guitar): 1939-2020
Jerry Jeff Walker - Mr. Bojangles - Jerry Jeff Walker (Vocals, Guitar): 1942-2020
Bryan Lee & the Jump Street Five - The Blues Is - Bryan Lee (Vocals, Guitar): 1943-2020
Holy Modal Rounders - Hey, Hey Baby - Steve Weber (Guitar, Vocals): 1943-2020
Tony Rice - Freeborn Man - Tony Rice (Guitar, Vocals): 1951-2020
Elyse Weinberg - Houses - Elyse Weinberg (Vocals, Guitar): 1945-2020
Statler Brothers - Flowers on the Wall - Harold Reid (Vocals): 1939-2020
Paul Simon - Homeless - Joseph Shabala (Vocals): 1940-2020
Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues - Justin Townes Earle (Vocals, Guitar): 1982-2020
Steve Earle - Someday - Bucky Baxter (Pedal Steel Guitar): 1955-2020
Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers (Vocals, Guitar): 1938-2020
John Prine - Angel from Montgomery - John Prine (Vocals, Guitar): 1946-2020
Vera Lynn - Well Meet Again - Vera Lynn (Vocals): 1917-2020
Ennio Morricone - The Untouchables End Title - Ennio Morricone (Composer): 1928-2020
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