I tend to be a bit contrary here, as I think some of those mentioned are only famous today BECAUSE they died young. You can't compare the output of Buddy Holly with Richie Valens for example. Not saying Valens wouldn't have done more if he'd lived, but had he not written another song and just got old and fat he'd be seen basically as a one-hit wonder except for afficianados of 50s music.

Anyway, why isn't the one out of Mel and Kim that died on anybody's list?

Have to agree with this, to use Buddy Holly as an example there is no reason to assume that he would still be producing cutting edge popular music through the 1960s or 70s if his plane hadn't crashed that night or that anyone would venerate his 1950s work in the way that they have since, who amongst the under 50s (for instance) know who Carl Perkins is, yet he lived to an old age and wrote at least one of the most influential songs of the 1950s - each generation has a similar example who's star rises and then fades, each contribute to the music but most are quickly discarded when the next fad comes along.

If you don't actually know, then there's little point in explaining

Please explain, if he hadn't took his own life he would be long forgotten by now just like April Wine, a mediocre Musician at best, very poor guitarist, the best thing about Nirvana was Dave Grohl

I often think that if Hendrix had not died he would be nowhere near as legendary as he is, but thats just me

Both Cobain and Hendrix did a similar thing. They smashed a great big fsckin hole in the existing walls of rock and dragged the astonished to places they hadn't been before. Cobain did that whilst he lived. It didn't happen after he died. Same with Hendrix. Both came up with something that blew your mind, and both were utterly compelling performers. Here's a snippet about Hendrix Quote Hendrix blew into a version of [Howlin' Wolf's 'Killing Floor',There was also curiosity from the emergent powerhouse of British blues: Cream and Eric Clapton. There was a particular night when Cream allowed Jimi to join them for a jam at the Regent Street Polytechnic in central London. Meeting Clapton had been among the enticements Chandler had used to lure Hendrix to Britain: "Hendrix blew into a version of [Howlin' Wolf's 'Killing Floor'," recalls Garland, "and plays it at breakneck tempo, just like that – it stopped you in your tracks." Altham recalls Chandler going backstage after Clapton left in the middle of the song "which he had yet to master himself"; Clapton was furiously puffing on a cigarette and telling Chas: "You never told me he was that fzcking good." www.theguardian.com/music/2010/a ... sary-death '" You are of course perfectly entitled to say Clapton doesn't know what he's on about.

Both Cobain and Hendrix did a similar thing. They smashed a great big fsckin hole in the existing walls of rock and dragged the astonished to places they hadn't been before. Cobain did that whilst he lived. It didn't happen after he died. Same with Hendrix. Both came up with something that blew your mind, and both were utterly compelling performers. Here's a snippet about Hendrix Quote Hendrix blew into a version of [Howlin' Wolf's 'Killing Floor',There was also curiosity from the emergent powerhouse of British blues: Cream and Eric Clapton. There was a particular night when Cream allowed Jimi to join them for a jam at the Regent Street Polytechnic in central London. Meeting Clapton had been among the enticements Chandler had used to lure Hendrix to Britain: "Hendrix blew into a version of [Howlin' Wolf's 'Killing Floor'," recalls Garland, "and plays it at breakneck tempo, just like that – it stopped you in your tracks." Altham recalls Chandler going backstage after Clapton left in the middle of the song "which he had yet to master himself"; Clapton was furiously puffing on a cigarette and telling Chas: "You never told me he was that fzcking good." www.theguardian.com/music/2010/a ... sary-death '" You are of course perfectly entitled to say Clapton doesn't know what he's on about.

Nirvana had far less influence on music than Ozzy osbourne's guitarist. No, really.

I recall seeing Jeff Beck on TV telling the same tale a few years back, and he said (in a very admiring tone) "he just blew Clapton off his own stage, man !"

i never said Hendrix wasn't any good, as for Cobain he was nothing more than the poster boy for the made up genre that the masses know as grunge, there was other musicians far more important to that movement than Cobain, and btw i remember when he was alive, he was more famous after he died, Nirvana was nothing more than the Duran Duran of the Seattle scene, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Green River, Skin Yard, The Melvins, Tad Doyle and others where the true innovators of the Seattle scene

You damned Hendrix with faint praise. The last thing Cobain wanted was posterboydom. Him ending up dead is probably down to his inability to be that or cope with it. Oh, and poster boys don't tend to write albums like Nevermind, on the whole. It was genius, and still is because it has stood the test of time. Teen Spirit still sounds awesome in 2015 to my ears and it has nothing to do with whether or not Kurt Cobain is fulfilling his wellness potential. Hendrix tracks like Hey Joe or Purple Haze would still be genius in 2015 even if Hendrix was still alive and selling washing machines.

Rattling off obscure names from the Sub Pop label and claiming Nirvana were "Duran Duran" is very much not an argument. I saw Mudhoney on the Sub Pop tour when they played in London at, I think, The Astoria. Tad were supporting and guest opening act were Nirvana. I was a big fan if Mudhoney but Nirvana blew them away. The only interesting thing about Tad's show was Tad stage diving. Tad were boring and monotone.
Nirvana were simply a much better band than any of them - with the possible exception of Soundgarden. Better musicians, better songwriters and Cobain had whatever "it" is that makes a star.
Nevermind was out nearly 12 months before it broke big, if they were "poster boys" then they were poster boys in the way the Beatles were for Mersey Beat.
And Cobain had balls, to release In Utero after Nevermind which Covain thought was far too clean, was amazing. In Utero is a masterpiece.

Sometimes people get jealous when fans outside their world buy into bands from "their" genre and sometimes this same fans resent the success of bands because if this.

I'd just like to add that I've never heard of any of these popular beat combos, but I'm still way, way cooler than anyone else, its just the law.