Had he lived, Tupac Shakur would have celebrated his 40th birthday this summer. It’s interesting to contemplate what a grizzled Tupac would sound like; The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, Shakur’s first posthumously released album, introduced his darker side, a sinister, new sound that, unfortunately, never got the chance to evolve. While the rapper is now notorious for his posthumous albums, having released nine since his death in 1996, The Don Killuminati puts most of Shakur’s early discography to shame.
While it’s true that posthumous albums can be exploitative, pushed onto the market by opportunistic handlers and record labels (ahem, Michael), they can also can be legitimate contributions to an artist’s discography and true gifts to their fans. Now, in hopes that chatter about new material from the late Amy Winehouse will add up to more than just an attempt to cash in, we’ve collected 15 great records that gave dearly departed musicians new life.
As you probably know by now, the end is near. In fact, it’s tomorrow — at least, according to these unquestionably sane and reasonable folks. So, while crafting a top-notch tinfoil hat or slapping together a stairway to heaven would also be perfectly defensible ways to prepare for the apocalypse, here at Flavorpill we’re celebrating by asking our contributors and some of our favorite music critics which song they’d most like to hear before they die. (No, nobody picked anything as obvious as “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.”) Read about and listen to their diverse, surprising, and fascinating picks after the jump.
We recently read an interesting discussion at Marginal Revolution about accessible pop albums that could have been big hits but never quite caught on. For an album to be a hit, a myriad of different factors needs to come together -– right sound, right time, right record company, right promotional strategy, and a healthy slice of luck. We’re resigned to the fact that some of our favorite bands are never going to sell a lot of records -– the world just doesn’t seem to want to hear a lot of Boris -– but there are some that clearly had the potential to be massive, yet somehow never hit the commercial big time. So here’s Flavorpill’s choice of ten albums that might have made it big in a parallel universe, one where Stefani Germanotta is still slumming it on the Lower East Side, Fergie never joined the Black Eyed Peas and Britney never made the cut for the Mickey Mouse Club.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we thought we’d lost Alex Chilton. M.I.A. for several days after the storm hit, fans and friends breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was reported that Chilton was alive and well on September 6, 2005.
On March 17th, the inaugural night of the 2010 South by Southwest Music festival in Austin, Texas, rumors of Chilton’s death added a dark undercurrent to the city, the same city where Chilton was to perform on Saturday with Big Star. It would have been the first Big Star show of 2010; the most recent performance anywhere was at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in November of 2009, a surprise one-off show in honor of the Big Star box set released last year. The news came later, scant and final: Alex Chilton was rushed to the hospital after complaining of chest pains and pronounced dead of a heart attack that evening. He was 59.
1. Alex Chilton of the Box Tops and Big Star died yesterday at a hospital in New Orleans. He was 59. [via The Commercial Appeal]
2. In the wake of reported infidelity by her husband Jesse James, Sandra Bullock has left the family home and canceled a trip to London for the UK premiere of The Blind Side. [via People]
3. This year’s Radio & Television Correspondents Dinner featured a hilarious comedic set from Joe Biden. He was then asked to leave. (video) [via Gawker]
4. Your next TV could be a Google TV. We want one now. [via Wired]
5. After watching the video for “Telephone,” Quentin Tarantino is reportedly eyeing Lady Gaga to play an assassin in his next film. [via Daily Mail]
