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RE: Nirvana & Society



> >Somehow dying young in a blaze of glory lends that mythic quality, and 
>sticking around to deal with things gets you forgotten.  Why is that, 
>please?  Seems like sticking around shows a lot more guts.
>
>There's an Elvis Costello line I've always deliberately misheard as "the 
>romance of an early death." Rock music is hardly alone in this.

I have another question about this.  Musicians who die young are always 
preserved in the public conciousness as young and beautiful, while 
performers who continue after they become very old and/or ill seem to 
tarnish their images.  I can think of a lot of examples of this, including 
Freddie Mercury, Rock Hudson, Rudolph Nureyev, Johnny Cash, and (maybe) Paul 
Simon.

Cash recently made the statement that he plans to continue as a musician 
despite his illness.  Is he setting a good example of courage, or should he 
have retired from the public eye as soon as he got sick in order to preserve 
his legacy?


keets
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