After a recording artist dies, do you find you have a new appreciation for their music?
Asked by
jca (
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February 13th, 2012
Today on the radio, they were paying tribute to Whitney Houston’s life. They were playing her songs and callers were calling in, discussing how much she meant to them. I was reflecting on her and how popular she was when I was in my high school years and 20’s. At the time she was popular, her music was not “my thing.” I don’t like ballads, usually. Her music was right in the middle of pop, and I was more into either hip hop or rock. However, today, I found myself listening to and actually enjoying and appreciating hearing Whitney Houston’s songs. She did have an incredible voice.
I remember that after Michael Jackson died, I felt the same way. They were playing all Michael Jackson songs on the radio, and I listened to them and let myself feel for him and his family.
Do you find that after a recording artist passes away, you have a new appreciation for their music? Or is it “business as usual?”
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If I didn’t like it then, I probably don’t like it now. With Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, I liked the works of neither. Dying had no effect upon making me suddenly appreciate their work, I still do not like the work of either.
No, appreciation is appreciation. No matter what form it comes in.
Business as usual for me. While I am a music lover I don’t canonize those who die.
The only real “tribute” I have ever engaged in was when Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Stayed up all night playing old Grateful dead and taking a trip down memory lane.
People die, life goes on.
My only thoughts about both MJ and WH are that it’s too bad with all their mega wealth they couldn’t get a handle on their mental/emotional problems.
Same goes for old Jerry.
These people have the means to access the best in medical and psychological intervention and yet they succumb to their issues.
Somehow I have a hard time feeling sorry for the elitist population that can’t manage to get all their little duckies lined up in a row when they have the resources most could only dream of.
I really enjoyed hearing Etta James’ music so much after she died, but I had liked it before.
I also found an appreciation that I hadn’t had for Amy Winehouse.
Sometimes I appreciate hearing it played on the radio again if I haven’t heard for some time but I don’t automatically go out and buy their albums or anything like that. I have to admit though, I got sick to death of hearing Man in the Mirror” after Michael Jackson died!
2nd Answer…..........
I think it also depends on how the artist died.
A good example is a Nashville artist and great piano player….Floyd Cramer. He died of natural casuses and I seem to listen to his music much more now. Floyd was a studio pianist that appeared on many, many songs as a backup artist.
One summer night, Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer and Boots Randolph were playing at a nightclub in Nashville in Printers Alley. Their drummer called in sick and I was fortunate to sit in on this nite’s show. I was so honored to be there and that night will be forever with me.
You may remember his No. 1 piano instrumental of Last Date. jp
Familiarity breeds appreciation, which is one reason the constant onslaught of an artist’s music that follows their death sometimes makes people who never paid much attention before suddenly think that their music wasn’t all that bad. There’s also the halo effect that death tends to bring with it, leading many to swear up and down that they love that to which they were once indifferent.
That said, I don’t listen to the radio and haven’t taken the time to listen to Michael Jackson’s or Whitney Houston’s music since their deaths. As such, their deaths have not affected my judgment with regards to their work. As for Amy Winehouse, I never heard a note she sang until after her death. What led me to start listening, however, was the recommendation of Tony Bennett.
No. Only time causes me to appreciate an artists music more than I did in the past. Bob Segar is an example.
I find it usually works the opposite with me. The dead artists work gets so overused for a couple weeks that I can’t stand to hear it again for a while.
If it is an artist I like, I usually will reacquire my taste for the music in about 6 months.
Only if their death makes me more aware of their music than I was and it appeals to me. Not enough musicians of that sort have died while I was paying attention for the situation to have a notable effect on my listening habits.
In my case, no it doesn’t. I’ve always hated Whitney Huston’s music and I always will. That annoying song from The Bodyguard will forever sound like someone’s fingernails down a blackboard.
A re-appreciation maybe. I rediscover songs I have not heard for ages and in terms of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, they bring back fond memories of listening to their music on my new record player, in bed after school and making up dances with my sisters, getting cross with each other when we make the record player jump if we were over enthusiatic with the dance moves!!
Wow, some cold-hearted jellies here, just sayin. I’ve always appreciated a great artist and Whitney Houston is no exception. I grew up listening to her and always grow nostalgic and find myself reminiscing on my childhood days growing up as I listen to her, so her passing was almost like a blow to my childhood. I felt the same when MJ passed, Don Cornelius, these are icons in my time. These are remnants of my growing up years I will always celebrate, because they have provided me with a foundation for the way life should be lived, through love. I mean, who doesn’t like to feel good?
No, never…..well, unless you include the genius that was Benny Hill ;¬}
New appreciation, no, but it helps remind me of what I used to appreciate… like “The Greatest Love of All.”
I had that with MJ. I think that maybe this new appreciation actually has to do with the fact that, like with me and Michael Jackson’s music, before their death, you just didn’t know a lot of their songs because you never got the idea to “immerse” yourself in it.
Sometimes. That was certainly the case with Amy Winehouse for me. I never really paid any attention to her while she was alive, I don’t think I even heard any of her music. When she died it was all over the radio and I was like, “wow, this stuff is GOOD!”
I won’t like Whitney Houston any better though.
@ucme Benny Hill was brilliant – a very fond memory from my childhood, watching the Benny Hill show. He was a genius.
@BoyWonder, my problem with Whitney is simply that my hearing is strange. I hear treble easily and without filter, and I don’t hear base likewise. Her voice, like that of most women, is too loud for me, and it actually hurts me to listen. For MJ I actually had forgotten how much I actually enjoyed his music. Amy Winehouse was not as hard for me to listen to as Whitney. She didn’t emote as much and it didn’t hurt for me to listen to as much as Whitney.
Not typically. I already liked Whitney’s music, though. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried yesterday morning when I heard the news. She’s one of those celebrities that I actually mourn.
@GracieT that’s what we have volume knobs for. Smh.
@BoyWonder, agreed. BUT what about the times when the volume is not under my control? I agree with you that I can control the volume when I’m responsible for it, but when I walk in on the song or when I’m with a friend whom loves it, what do I do in these situations?
I don’t know…cry hysterically?
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