50 year old Rock Stars

You ever hear people talk about artists like James Dean or Jimi Hendrix who died way before their time? They always talk about how great they would have been. My question is, do we know that for a fact? Look at Miles Davis for instance. Miles was on top of the world, and then in the summer of 69, he went to the Newport Jazz festival and saw Sly and the Family Stone and then got the ingenious idea of doing Bitches Brew because he wanted to be cool. That was the birth of Fusion and the death of Jazz.

Look at Peter O’toole. He did Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion In Winter, Man of La Mancha, only to do films later in his career like King Ralph. Hey, his fellow warrior Omar Sharif did Funny Girl (which I secretly love but will never admit it in public). Do you mean to really tell me that James Dean wouldn’t have had to play the Dad in a few cheesy chick flicks? You can’t see him hosting a bad game show or reality TV series? Do you really think that Hendrix would have been that great forever? Or do you suspect, like I do, that he would have had to stick to the standards until he became so mad that he actually turned into a purple haze. Or, would he have sold out like Miles did? All I know is that it’s like Grace Slick said, “There is nothing sadder than 50 year old Rock Stars.”