Who would it be if you had the power to bring a famous artist back from the dead? It has to be someone you think the world would be better off if alive.
This person has to be someone you think had so much more to offer but was taken too soon.
Right off the bat, Elvis and John Lennon probably would make your list, but there are others in recent memory whose departures are still in everyone’s mind.
The five on this list are some of the greatest or most memorable artists in the last few decades.
Michael Jackson (1958-2009)
The King of Pop has got to be on top of this list. This may be a matter of taste, but MJ is universal.
His popularity crosses generations and even kids of today still like his music and old videos. The Thriller album alone warrants a petition to heaven to bring this man back.
He can come back and do a one-night-only Thriller live show, and that would be enough to quit Netflix altogether and a concert hiatus.
Unfortunately, he left just before his “This is it” concert. Watching the rehearsals in the documentary made you feel like you lost a really good friend from high school.
There are just too many hours spent trying to copy his moonwalk and tears singing along to “You are not alone” not to wish him back. 1.2 billion people who watched this video would probably agree.
Michael Hutchence (1960-1997)
This guy is the most magnetic frontman ever. Watching INXS Live Baby Live is perhaps the best way to appreciate the genius that is Michael Hutchence. If Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison had a baby, that would be Michael.
His death due to suicide is so tragic, knowing that all this bad luck started from a head injury he suffered when a taxi driver in Denmark assaulted him. This resulted in his addiction to drugs and bouts of depression.
The band tried in vain to find a replacement, and they even joined a reality TV show to discover their next lead vocalist. It didn’t work. Hutchence shoes are just too big to fill.
This guy is pure charisma in a bottle.
George Michael (1963-2016)
Every year there is no escaping George Michael’s voice. The song Last Christmas from Wham has been long woven into the fabric of holiday celebrations and intimate family Christmas gatherings.
It is possible that the entire planet knows of or most of its inhabitants have sung that song at one point in their lives. He has such a distinct voice and a silky smooth way about him. What a waste of once-in-a-lifetime talent.
Prince (1958-2016)
No one is as talented as Prince. He could play all the instruments and was a great songwriter. People sometimes forget that he wrote Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares To You.
His guitar playing is out-of-this-world good. He was the coolest cat and the only one who could wear platform shoes, a purple robe, and a perm and still be the manliest man in the room.
And to prove how good he was in life, one only needs to watch his Super Bowl halftime performance in 2007. Considered by many as one of the best.
Whitney Houston (1963-2012)
We lost a great one when she was prematurely taken away from us. No one can hold a candle to Whitney. She arguably was the greatest female vocalist of our time. Countless karaoke hours and reality TV show singing contestants tried vainly to approximate the amazing vocals she did with I Will Always Love You, but now one compares.
She will always be loved.
There are others, of course, that more than deserve to be on this list. Many rock greats like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Ian Curtis of Joy Division, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, and the great Freddie Mercury, but we will have to make another list for that.
But for now, their spirit lives on through the ages and the collective memory of the world they left behind.
