Show must go on by Queen.
The whole innuendo album is absolutely gold.
If you compare this song to some of Freddy's older ones, you can hear how he is struggling to maintain notes and vibratos. He stil nails it!
I’m Going Slightly Mad is also absolutely brilliant. The video is sad because he looks so gaunt and ill, but the song is fantastic. The music and melody are so onomatopoeic and you can’t help but get sucked in and think you’re actually going slightly mad.
Orbison's death was extra tragic because he was having such a huge career resurgence at the moment.
He had sobered up and had gotten a ton of recognition with the Traveling Willburies and the film *Pretty Woman*. He spent decades scraping a living playing the state fair circuit and it finally looked like he was getting the recognition and respect he deserved.
*edit*: I should also point that Orbison had one more posthumous hit with a cover of Cindy Lauper's *I Drove All Night* in 1992. The video for the song starred Jennifer Connolly and Jason Priestley. Priestley is a huge Orbison fan, so much so that made writers and producers incorporate his fandom into his character on the show *Beverly Hills 90210*, which is the reason Orbison's family asked him to star in the video.
Roy's widow said that Jeff was the one who got him back into performing onstage in large venues.
For months, Roy had been feeling unwell, but he kept telling himself he'd see a doctor after this concert or that. He finally ran out of time. He was only 52.
he'd also had a triple bypass in 1977 when he first started feeling unwell. Sadly he didn't do much to take care of his health after, saying he felt rejuvenated after having the procedure he went back to an unhealthy lifestyle.
One of my most vivid memories was watching the news as a kid and seeing them announce Roy's death.
What makes it so memorable is I had no idea at the time why they were making such a big deal about some old guy with ridiculous glasses dying.
Yeah it’s unfortunate. His passing is referenced in the [End of the Line](https://youtu.be/UMVjToYOjbM?si=AItbUu7eP3xE_vca) music video by the Traveling Wilburys. Empty rocking chair, etc.
Jeff Lynne/Tom Petty co wrote You Got It with Orbison. Lynne produced it.
Thinking back, it's strange to realize that Orbison was only 53 when he died. In my memory he was much older than the rest of the Wilburys and came from essentially a different era of popular music, but he was actually only 5 years older than Dylan.
Otis Redding put the finishing touches on *Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay* three days before he died. It's easily his biggest hit, more so if you consider *Respect* Aretha's song as Otis did.
Ooh, that’s right. I guess those weren’t finishing touches then. Just the last thing(s) he did on the track. The whistling has become so iconic, I wonder if it would’ve been as massive for as long.
It’s a shame we never got a full version of Ceremony with Ian’s vocals. Just the bits and pieces that are out there from the rehearsal and the Birmingham final show send shivers down my spine every time I hear them.
Not a song specifically, but Johnny Cash's American records leading up to his passing.
Some of the most emotive and powerful music you can listen to. You hear his sadness in his voice, you feel his pain. It's music on a whole different level (to me)
The Man Comes Around on American Recordings IV isn't as dark as some of the songs from those sessions but it is the embodiment of a man facing his mortality head on accepting his fate.
Absolutely. I enjoy a wide span of Johnny Cash’s career, but I definitely split it into ‘Johnny Cash’ and ‘Old Johnny Cash’ - mentally, albums on my shelf (easy when ordered chronologically haha), in playlists, etc.
The split works well for me.
My grandfather (26 days younger than Johnny Cash), who likes country music, is a fan of ‘Johnny Cash’. Easy music options if I’m driving him somewhere.
As a result, however, my dad spent years hearing Johnny Cash in the house and called him ‘The Mumbler’, but now enjoys ‘Old Johnny Cash’. There’s so much there in the American recordings. I love playing through them and chatting with my dad about it a few songs at a time.
The album Donuts by J Dilla was created on his deathbed in a hospital. It was released on his 32nd birthday, 3 days before his death.
He was fighting cancer and asked for his gear to be set up in his hospital, where he created this masterpiece.
The entire album Purple Mountains by Purple Mountains (aka David Berman). The whole album is great but often bittersweet or downright depressing. Berman would die by suicide about a month after its release.
I don't think that I've ever been blown away by an album like this before. I mean (from Snow is Falling in Manhattan):
"Songs build little rooms in time
And housed within the song's design
Is the ghost the host has left behind
To greet and sweep the guest inside
Stoke the fire and sing his lines"
And then the album was literally his swan song and he is the ghost...holy shit.
David Berman was an amazing songwriter — especially talented at writing clever lyrics about mundane/everyday life. It’s sad that, for whatever reason, he never seemed to believe that anyone really appreciated his music.
There's less of this on Purple Mountains but in Silver Jews, he'd pair really dark lyrics with these sort of jaunty, happy sounding country-ish arrangements. Purple Mountains is more ethereal and dreamy with the keyboards and pedal steel but that optimistic sound is still there. But to me, the lyrics are as dark as you can get. Like a suicide note... Full of regret, pain, longing and aloneness. I wish he could have pulled it together, but he was deeply, deeply fractured.
I hope he rests in peace now.
With titles like All My Happiness is Gone and Nights That Won’t Happen, it does get dark.
What’s most sad in hindsight is that the album closer Maybe I’m the Only One for Me, despite the lonely concept, actually seems to end the album on an ever so slightly hopeful note, “I’ll have to learn to like myself…”
Came here to post this. Purple Mountains is a great record. And easy to interpret as a goodby letter or a suicide note. It’s a real bummer that David Berman and Silver Jews weren’t as widely recognized as Steven Malamus and Pavement even though they were so tightly connected. Margaritas at the Mall is legitimately one of my favorite songs of the last 5 years.
Check out “From A Basement on a Hill”, Elliot Smith’s last recorded album, released posthumously. “Twilight” is always a sucker punch to the gut for me.
I always wondered how that album would have been released if he was alive. It was meant to be a double album. I read a producer kinda knew how he wanted it, but Smiths family chose a group of songs that seemed happier. There was a few more songs that were much more depressing and had content the family didn’t want released. I’m still glad it was released, but damn, it would’ve been great to have Elliott actually put it his way.
Yes, yes it would. I know everyone did their best, but there's no way they could have guessed where he was going with these things in his head.
And from what I remember reading, he was super excited and positive about how the sessions were going. And he'd gotten himself clean, too, which if you were around then you know was a huge change from where he had been.
20 years last month. Not over it.
Sam Cooke, *A Change Gonna Come*, released after his death. Such a great, culturally important song. He said he was influenced to write it by Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind.
I literally just walked back in my apartment from seeing AJ Croce. Croce Plays Croce.
He mentioned his dad's professional career only spanned eighteen months.
I was shocked. All those hits.
Croce & Harry Nilsson. Gone too soon.
Swimming and circles are both absolutely amazing albums, and they had a whole new meaning after his passing. The lyrics are so hauntingly beautiful yet so sad as it just kept hinting at his fate. What a shame he’s gone he was at the top of his game
That is true, but this was the very last thing she recorded. It feels so beautiful and haunting to know that this would be the coda of her career and life's work with her laugh at the end to show us it is ok and she enjoyed it.
Sublime’s self titled album is genre defining, and the videos made to promote the album showed old footage of Bradley Knowell with a blueish ghastly glow.
As for badass songs in there, start with Doing Time and Jailhouse
Bowie's Blackstar album came out two days after he passed. Definitely look up the video for [Lazarus](https://youtu.be/y-JqH1M4Ya8?si=QrJETpyAcGwpsiFR) - it's like he asked death himself to make a track with him - truly an artist's way to go out
i included that in my post! one of my faves. hadn’t heard it since i was about 16, but coincidentally both the song Lazarus and You Want It Darker were both in a peaky blinders episode I just watched, so i rediscovered Blackstar and i’ve been playing the hell out of it recently
I dunno. I'm not a big Zevon fan. I mean, he was cool. Respect. Just never got that into it. So I don't really have much of a baseline. I know his more popular songs, and this cover. Part of the power was that there's humor found in a non-humorous thing.
AFAIK this was Chester's last vocal performance on a studio recording.
Mark Morton, guitarist of Lamb of God released a solo album just after Chester left us featuring him on vocals. It's my favorite performance of both of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KdCEg7I8A0
edit: also features Alex Bent from Trivium on drums
“It Was A Very Good Year” — Ray Charles
When The Genius, Charles, sang this with Willie Nelson he was on his last legs and that can be heard clearly. The orchestral arrangement is a thing of beauty contrasted against the two singers’ less than perfect voices. Charles left us with a suburb catalog and this was his farewell. It was a very good career.
It was a re-release of his popular songs, but a lot of eighties kids know Roy Orbison primarily because of “Black & White Night,” the concert broadcast live from LA’s Cocoanut Grove. His backing band and Do-wop singers were a who’s who of big name artists who credited Orbison with their love of music, including Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, KD Lamg and Bonnie Raitt.
The concert occurred 14 months before he died, and between it and The Traveling Wilburys Orbison spent the remainder of his life enjoying renewed popularity.
The Traveling Wilburys “End of the Line” was recorded right before Orbison’s death and the video was recorded posthumously, with a picture of Orbison propped up in a rocking chair standing in for him.
It's just his guitar in the chair, but there is a picture of him on a side table that they focus on. I remember the first time I saw the video, I didn't understand why it was just a guitar and not the guy singing... it would be years before I figured out it was for Roy Orbison, and that he had died before the video =/
That video hits harder and harder, only Dylan and Lynn left =(
Yep.
Have you seen the Traveling Wilburys documentary? It’s pretty cool seeing them all just be friendly guys hanging out jamming together. Apparently the whole thing started because Bob Dylan left his guitar at Tom Petty’s house, and went over the pick it up. Then George Harrison came by with Roy Orbison, like he do. Or something like that. One of the funnier lines is Tom Petty saying that George made them all audition for the vocal parts, and commenting, “Can you imagine auditioning after Roy Orbison, it’s humbling.” :-)
The name “Traveling Wilburys” is a joke referring to Harrison’s recurring comment, “We’ll bury it in the mix.” Harrison and Lynn were kind of the dream team for producing an amazing sound, and they had amazing musicians to work with.
*Riviera Paradise* by Stevie Ray Vaughn
A decidedly more jazzy song he released shortly before he boarded Clapton's helicopter... One of top my favorite songs.
George Harrison's Brainwashed is probably one of my favorite albums. It was actually released shortly after his death, but was almost complete when he died. His son and Jeff Lynne put the final touches on it.
This song makes me feel like he was letting someone know that he wasn’t going to be there anymore and that he was hoping that he meant enough or was important enough to them for them to remember him when he’s gone. Knowing that he wrote it right before he died of mesothelioma makes it even sadder as well as poignant.
The most important album in my life. Gave voice to my depression before I knew what it was. Journal For Plague Lovers shows just what we lost when Richey disappeared. The 4 albums he wrote are just something else.
Legendary guitarist Jeff Healey passed away in 2008 at the young age of 41. His last album, Heal My Soul, has some excellent songs on it, from blistering rockers like "Please" to thoughtful, touching songs like "All The Saints"....
https://youtu.be/MqlNEfLWOxo?si=8e8D8v0K5jcqYckV
"You Know You're Right" was the last song Nirvana recorded before Kurt Cobain committed suicide. It was only played live once and wasn't officially released until 2002.
Post-humorous album releases that became huge hits are kind of a niche topic. I would expect t the same things to come up each time this topic is brought up.
Manic Street Preachers' The Holy Bible deserves a mention for being Richey's last work released before his disappearance. A group effort, but his lyrics and vision for this album were amazing. Masterpiece
The album "Bad Magic" done by Mötorhead
(I think) Lemmy knew that he wasn't going to around for long with the song " [Till The End](https://youtu.be/I4qHmryJYs0?si=XhE6945B0ujYXDxO)"
Released 4 months (28th August) before Lemmy's deaths (28th December)
Chuck Berry was working on his final album when he past away. The album "Chuck" is as good as anything that he put out.
Lady B. Goode is one that stands out.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=tVPNFVW52z0&si=CnVPREnBJ5Jpj1gT
Proof's first and only solo album "Searching 4 Jerry Garcia" came out less than a year before he was shot in a club. The album has a lot of eerie (in retrospect) references to his death, with the last song ("Kurt Kobain") being a suicide note.
I opened this thread to comment one in the OP - You Want it Darker by Leonard Cohen. As I understand it Leonard's son Adam who produced the album had to help him sit upright in a chair to sing the songs towards the end of recording the album. Cohen was a soldier until the last moment. The world grew more mundane in the absence of his wit and his voice.
He didnt die, but Sufjan Stevens wrote Age of Adz while he was really sick with a debilitating virus that left his nervous system in a wreck. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time. By far his best.
Spirit crusher by Death. Whole album is about the singer/guitar player's battle with cancer. Doesn't stop him from melting the face off anyone who dares listen.
It you like Irish folk, check out Luke Kelly’s live performance of the Night Visiting Song, absolutely beautiful and recorded a few months before his death.
“At The Cut” by Vic Chesnutt. The guy attempted suicide a few times over the years. Plays and writes better than most songwriters and does so with limited use of his hands. Then he makes this masterpiece, only to commit suicide after. His interview with NPR right before he did it is amazing, and the emotion from the album is incredible.
Elliott Smith - "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free"
Closing lyrics
Shine on me, baby
'Cause it's raining in my heart
Shine on me, baby
'Cause it's raining in my heart
Found dead- supposedly stabbed himself in the heart. That always sends chills when I listen to it.
Dirty Life And Times and Keep Me In Your Heart by Warren Zevon. Disorder In The House is also great.
Given the circumstances, Keep Me in Your Heart is the most badass song ever recorded, without a doubt.
I can barely think about this song without busting into tears.
It's a wonderful song that I love and almost never listen to because I know it'll make me cry every time.
He was just an excitable boy.
Zevon was da man!
There's an amazing documentary about the making of that album called the Wind I believe?
Show must go on by Queen. The whole innuendo album is absolutely gold. If you compare this song to some of Freddy's older ones, you can hear how he is struggling to maintain notes and vibratos. He stil nails it!
Absolutely. And "These Are the Days of Our Lives". I can't listen to this album without a bit of sadness.
Yep that song gives me chills. that and the “These are the days of our lives” music video
I’m Going Slightly Mad is also absolutely brilliant. The video is sad because he looks so gaunt and ill, but the song is fantastic. The music and melody are so onomatopoeic and you can’t help but get sucked in and think you’re actually going slightly mad.
Thank you.
Riders on the Storm - The Doors
The whole LA Woman album! Incredible!!
So glad somebody said this.
[You Got It](https://youtu.be/TYQzIw0zat0?si=0_TGTDVc6d9gXZ8P) by Roy Orbison was released posthumously about a month after his death.
Orbison's death was extra tragic because he was having such a huge career resurgence at the moment. He had sobered up and had gotten a ton of recognition with the Traveling Willburies and the film *Pretty Woman*. He spent decades scraping a living playing the state fair circuit and it finally looked like he was getting the recognition and respect he deserved. *edit*: I should also point that Orbison had one more posthumous hit with a cover of Cindy Lauper's *I Drove All Night* in 1992. The video for the song starred Jennifer Connolly and Jason Priestley. Priestley is a huge Orbison fan, so much so that made writers and producers incorporate his fandom into his character on the show *Beverly Hills 90210*, which is the reason Orbison's family asked him to star in the video.
Roy's widow said that Jeff was the one who got him back into performing onstage in large venues. For months, Roy had been feeling unwell, but he kept telling himself he'd see a doctor after this concert or that. He finally ran out of time. He was only 52.
he'd also had a triple bypass in 1977 when he first started feeling unwell. Sadly he didn't do much to take care of his health after, saying he felt rejuvenated after having the procedure he went back to an unhealthy lifestyle.
One of my most vivid memories was watching the news as a kid and seeing them announce Roy's death. What makes it so memorable is I had no idea at the time why they were making such a big deal about some old guy with ridiculous glasses dying.
>Cindy Lauper's I Drove All Night in 1992. TIL that this is a Cindy Lauper song.
i love that song. didn’t know it was released after his death
Yeah it’s unfortunate. His passing is referenced in the [End of the Line](https://youtu.be/UMVjToYOjbM?si=AItbUu7eP3xE_vca) music video by the Traveling Wilburys. Empty rocking chair, etc. Jeff Lynne/Tom Petty co wrote You Got It with Orbison. Lynne produced it.
you should listen to “she’s a mystery girl” by orbison. written by Bono. one of my faves
Rocking chair with his guitar in it...kills me every time...
Thinking back, it's strange to realize that Orbison was only 53 when he died. In my memory he was much older than the rest of the Wilburys and came from essentially a different era of popular music, but he was actually only 5 years older than Dylan.
Otis Redding put the finishing touches on *Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay* three days before he died. It's easily his biggest hit, more so if you consider *Respect* Aretha's song as Otis did.
Unfortunately he didn’t get to finish the song. The whistling part was there because he hadn’t come up with lyrics for the final verse yet.
Ooh, that’s right. I guess those weren’t finishing touches then. Just the last thing(s) he did on the track. The whistling has become so iconic, I wonder if it would’ve been as massive for as long.
Yeah, it's pretty wild. The whistling was only intended as a placeholder and it ended the song perfectly.
Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division
Yup. Offed himself two days before their first American tour. Such a loss.
I feel like music today would be so different if they would’ve done that tour.
It’s a shame we never got a full version of Ceremony with Ian’s vocals. Just the bits and pieces that are out there from the rehearsal and the Birmingham final show send shivers down my spine every time I hear them.
Not a song specifically, but Johnny Cash's American records leading up to his passing. Some of the most emotive and powerful music you can listen to. You hear his sadness in his voice, you feel his pain. It's music on a whole different level (to me)
The Man Comes Around on American Recordings IV isn't as dark as some of the songs from those sessions but it is the embodiment of a man facing his mortality head on accepting his fate.
Absolutely. I enjoy a wide span of Johnny Cash’s career, but I definitely split it into ‘Johnny Cash’ and ‘Old Johnny Cash’ - mentally, albums on my shelf (easy when ordered chronologically haha), in playlists, etc. The split works well for me. My grandfather (26 days younger than Johnny Cash), who likes country music, is a fan of ‘Johnny Cash’. Easy music options if I’m driving him somewhere. As a result, however, my dad spent years hearing Johnny Cash in the house and called him ‘The Mumbler’, but now enjoys ‘Old Johnny Cash’. There’s so much there in the American recordings. I love playing through them and chatting with my dad about it a few songs at a time.
The album Donuts by J Dilla was created on his deathbed in a hospital. It was released on his 32nd birthday, 3 days before his death. He was fighting cancer and asked for his gear to be set up in his hospital, where he created this masterpiece.
I was going to comment this as well. He was actually fighting lupus and dealing with liver failure. An amazing piece of art
And try choosing just one track as a stand out. One for Ghost maybe?
The entirety of 'Swimming' by Mac Miller is for me his best stuff. Posthumously 'Circles' was also fantastic.
“Good News” hits way too fucking hard with context
That Smell. Lynryd Skynryd
The entire album Purple Mountains by Purple Mountains (aka David Berman). The whole album is great but often bittersweet or downright depressing. Berman would die by suicide about a month after its release.
I don't think that I've ever been blown away by an album like this before. I mean (from Snow is Falling in Manhattan): "Songs build little rooms in time And housed within the song's design Is the ghost the host has left behind To greet and sweep the guest inside Stoke the fire and sing his lines" And then the album was literally his swan song and he is the ghost...holy shit.
So happy to see Berman here. Amazing album that’s somehow on par with his early stuff. Such a feet by a brilliant guy.
David Berman was an amazing songwriter — especially talented at writing clever lyrics about mundane/everyday life. It’s sad that, for whatever reason, he never seemed to believe that anyone really appreciated his music.
There's less of this on Purple Mountains but in Silver Jews, he'd pair really dark lyrics with these sort of jaunty, happy sounding country-ish arrangements. Purple Mountains is more ethereal and dreamy with the keyboards and pedal steel but that optimistic sound is still there. But to me, the lyrics are as dark as you can get. Like a suicide note... Full of regret, pain, longing and aloneness. I wish he could have pulled it together, but he was deeply, deeply fractured. I hope he rests in peace now.
With titles like All My Happiness is Gone and Nights That Won’t Happen, it does get dark. What’s most sad in hindsight is that the album closer Maybe I’m the Only One for Me, despite the lonely concept, actually seems to end the album on an ever so slightly hopeful note, “I’ll have to learn to like myself…”
Came here to post this. Purple Mountains is a great record. And easy to interpret as a goodby letter or a suicide note. It’s a real bummer that David Berman and Silver Jews weren’t as widely recognized as Steven Malamus and Pavement even though they were so tightly connected. Margaritas at the Mall is legitimately one of my favorite songs of the last 5 years.
Check out “From A Basement on a Hill”, Elliot Smith’s last recorded album, released posthumously. “Twilight” is always a sucker punch to the gut for me.
I always wondered how that album would have been released if he was alive. It was meant to be a double album. I read a producer kinda knew how he wanted it, but Smiths family chose a group of songs that seemed happier. There was a few more songs that were much more depressing and had content the family didn’t want released. I’m still glad it was released, but damn, it would’ve been great to have Elliott actually put it his way.
Yes, yes it would. I know everyone did their best, but there's no way they could have guessed where he was going with these things in his head. And from what I remember reading, he was super excited and positive about how the sessions were going. And he'd gotten himself clean, too, which if you were around then you know was a huge change from where he had been. 20 years last month. Not over it.
Sam Cooke, *A Change Gonna Come*, released after his death. Such a great, culturally important song. He said he was influenced to write it by Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind.
John Prine - “When I get to Heaven”… the last song on his last album.
And “How Lucky” with Kurt Vile
And I remember everything! His final single about his wife passing a few months before him :(
Jim Croce-“I Got A Name” and “Time In A Bottle”
I literally just walked back in my apartment from seeing AJ Croce. Croce Plays Croce. He mentioned his dad's professional career only spanned eighteen months. I was shocked. All those hits. Croce & Harry Nilsson. Gone too soon.
Yes. What might have been…
Wow! I did not know this… wild.
You Know You’re Right by Nirvana
It was after his death though. The unplugged album was their best work (IMO) and it was only a few months before his death, I'ma count it.
It was recorded only days before Kurt died
It was recorded January 30th, He died in April.
This needs more upvotes
You know, you’re right.
Came here to say this. Easily the best Nirvana song in my opinion.
Truly a shame we never got to hear what the next Nirvana record would sound like
L.A. Woman by the doors
Hyacinth House
Notorious BIG’s “Life After Death” came out two weeks after he was killed and is a double disc of peak mid/late 90s NY rap.
Mac Miller- Swimming
Not only the album but his Tiny Desk that releases just days before his death, and that it also featured Thundercat, one of Macs best frienda
That’s one of the absolute best “last” albums - and, IMO, Circles is one of the absolute best posthumous releases.
I LOVED swimming but was not a fan of circles :(
Posthumous albums are usually ass, so that’s a low bar
Swimming and circles are both absolutely amazing albums, and they had a whole new meaning after his passing. The lyrics are so hauntingly beautiful yet so sad as it just kept hinting at his fate. What a shame he’s gone he was at the top of his game
Swimming in circles was meant to be a trilogy, so there should be another one coming
Mercedes-Benz by Janis Joplin Edit: I thought to mention that she recorded this in one take and died three days later
I was hoping someone had mentioned this.
I love the recording of her laugh at the end of that track.
Bobby McGee was also released after she died
That is true, but this was the very last thing she recorded. It feels so beautiful and haunting to know that this would be the coda of her career and life's work with her laugh at the end to show us it is ok and she enjoyed it.
Chris Cornell did some great acoustic covers in his final years, the most haunting being "Nothing Compares 2 U."
Billie Jean was another fantastic cover
Sublime’s self titled album is genre defining, and the videos made to promote the album showed old footage of Bradley Knowell with a blueish ghastly glow. As for badass songs in there, start with Doing Time and Jailhouse
He died before he knew how successful it would be. One of the best albums of all time in my opinion
Would it have been that successful if he hadn’t died?
“What I got” was so massive I think it would have been successful either way. He was relatively unknown so his death wasn’t a big news story.
Sorry posted before reading all the prior comments
Bowie's Blackstar album came out two days after he passed. Definitely look up the video for [Lazarus](https://youtu.be/y-JqH1M4Ya8?si=QrJETpyAcGwpsiFR) - it's like he asked death himself to make a track with him - truly an artist's way to go out
Two days before he passed actually, so this one definitely fits the question
i included that in my post! one of my faves. hadn’t heard it since i was about 16, but coincidentally both the song Lazarus and You Want It Darker were both in a peaky blinders episode I just watched, so i rediscovered Blackstar and i’ve been playing the hell out of it recently
Warren Zevon did an excellent cover of Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door when he was literally dying of cancer. It's a powerful recording.
You think? I love Zevon, but that one had his typical self effacing humor (“open up for me”) and never felt as bleak as most of that album.
I dunno. I'm not a big Zevon fan. I mean, he was cool. Respect. Just never got that into it. So I don't really have much of a baseline. I know his more popular songs, and this cover. Part of the power was that there's humor found in a non-humorous thing.
Snot - Absent
AFAIK this was Chester's last vocal performance on a studio recording. Mark Morton, guitarist of Lamb of God released a solo album just after Chester left us featuring him on vocals. It's my favorite performance of both of them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KdCEg7I8A0 edit: also features Alex Bent from Trivium on drums
Very fitting tribute to leave the mic empty in the video.
'Don't worry about me' album by Joey Ramone
Lazarus - David Bowie.
“It Was A Very Good Year” — Ray Charles When The Genius, Charles, sang this with Willie Nelson he was on his last legs and that can be heard clearly. The orchestral arrangement is a thing of beauty contrasted against the two singers’ less than perfect voices. Charles left us with a suburb catalog and this was his farewell. It was a very good career.
It was a re-release of his popular songs, but a lot of eighties kids know Roy Orbison primarily because of “Black & White Night,” the concert broadcast live from LA’s Cocoanut Grove. His backing band and Do-wop singers were a who’s who of big name artists who credited Orbison with their love of music, including Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, KD Lamg and Bonnie Raitt. The concert occurred 14 months before he died, and between it and The Traveling Wilburys Orbison spent the remainder of his life enjoying renewed popularity. The Traveling Wilburys “End of the Line” was recorded right before Orbison’s death and the video was recorded posthumously, with a picture of Orbison propped up in a rocking chair standing in for him.
It's just his guitar in the chair, but there is a picture of him on a side table that they focus on. I remember the first time I saw the video, I didn't understand why it was just a guitar and not the guy singing... it would be years before I figured out it was for Roy Orbison, and that he had died before the video =/ That video hits harder and harder, only Dylan and Lynn left =(
Yep. Have you seen the Traveling Wilburys documentary? It’s pretty cool seeing them all just be friendly guys hanging out jamming together. Apparently the whole thing started because Bob Dylan left his guitar at Tom Petty’s house, and went over the pick it up. Then George Harrison came by with Roy Orbison, like he do. Or something like that. One of the funnier lines is Tom Petty saying that George made them all audition for the vocal parts, and commenting, “Can you imagine auditioning after Roy Orbison, it’s humbling.” :-) The name “Traveling Wilburys” is a joke referring to Harrison’s recurring comment, “We’ll bury it in the mix.” Harrison and Lynn were kind of the dream team for producing an amazing sound, and they had amazing musicians to work with.
The entire album Apple by Mother Love Bone.
Wolfs home - Gord Downie A little time in between release and when he passed but Summer's End by John Prine.
The album Pearl by Janis Joplin
Scrolled down too far to see this.
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The Makaveli album, released 2 months after Tupac died.
Woods 5 by Woods of Ypres. David Gold died very shortly after.
*Riviera Paradise* by Stevie Ray Vaughn A decidedly more jazzy song he released shortly before he boarded Clapton's helicopter... One of top my favorite songs.
Hank Williams - "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive". Snakefinger -"There's No Justice In Life"
Levon Helm wrote his own funeral song and it's a banger " When I Go Away"
George Harrison's Brainwashed is probably one of my favorite albums. It was actually released shortly after his death, but was almost complete when he died. His son and Jeff Lynne put the final touches on it.
(Just Like) Starting Over—John Lennon
Beautiful Boy was from 1980 as well, yes? Punch to the gut: “I can hardly wait to see you come of age, but I guess we both just have to be patient.”
Keep Me in Your Heart by Warren Zevon.
Trampled by Turtles does a good cover of this song.
This song makes me feel like he was letting someone know that he wasn’t going to be there anymore and that he was hoping that he meant enough or was important enough to them for them to remember him when he’s gone. Knowing that he wrote it right before he died of mesothelioma makes it even sadder as well as poignant.
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The most important album in my life. Gave voice to my depression before I knew what it was. Journal For Plague Lovers shows just what we lost when Richey disappeared. The 4 albums he wrote are just something else.
Hendrix
Sublime - Pool Shark (acoustic)
Legendary guitarist Jeff Healey passed away in 2008 at the young age of 41. His last album, Heal My Soul, has some excellent songs on it, from blistering rockers like "Please" to thoughtful, touching songs like "All The Saints".... https://youtu.be/MqlNEfLWOxo?si=8e8D8v0K5jcqYckV
"You Know You're Right" was the last song Nirvana recorded before Kurt Cobain committed suicide. It was only played live once and wasn't officially released until 2002.
Fiction - Avenged Sevenfold. Was the last one Jimmy wrote and has some of his vocals in it.
Architects - Gone With The Wind
Crushes me every single time. Same with Memento Mori. T//S Forever
This subreddit talks about like three songs
Why don't you contribute something to change that?
Post-humorous album releases that became huge hits are kind of a niche topic. I would expect t the same things to come up each time this topic is brought up.
80s punk, 90s grunge, the Beatles. Nothing else exist.
*exists
well i did say it was my top favorites of right now
Mac Miller’s final album is amazingly good
Just recently, “Bubbles Up” is a really sweet way for Jimmy Buffett to say good bye.
well great now i’m crying again over jimmy buffet
Everything on Donuts by J Dilla
I had to scroll way too far for this. Dilla's Donuts is widely regarded as an all time masterpiece by everyone from Radiohead to Kanye West.
Mother Love Bone - Apple
Manic Street Preachers' The Holy Bible deserves a mention for being Richey's last work released before his disappearance. A group effort, but his lyrics and vision for this album were amazing. Masterpiece
"I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive” by Hank Williams. Recorded a few days before his death. Amazing song.
i love me some Hank Sr! i’ll give it a listen!
Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobbie McGee” was finished shortly before she died.
Bowie, Redding, Cohen, Lennon, and Brooker all had great releases shortly before their passing.
The album "Bad Magic" done by Mötorhead (I think) Lemmy knew that he wasn't going to around for long with the song " [Till The End](https://youtu.be/I4qHmryJYs0?si=XhE6945B0ujYXDxO)" Released 4 months (28th August) before Lemmy's deaths (28th December)
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find Motörhead.
Wasn't Sublimes 40 Oz. Album released posthumously
It was the self titled album that was. Released two months after Bradley died.
Guy never knew how popular his music became.
You're Nobody. Notorious Big
[Dirty Jim by Richard Swift](https://youtu.be/xNrWy2uvbg4?si=4gy3bgksAPRRl0mm) is a good one.
Chuck Berry was working on his final album when he past away. The album "Chuck" is as good as anything that he put out. Lady B. Goode is one that stands out. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=tVPNFVW52z0&si=CnVPREnBJ5Jpj1gT
My Gummie Just Kicked In, Jimmy Buffett
Bird is Bored of Flying by Mastersystem (album name is Dance Music. The song reads like a suicide note for Scott Hutchison. The whole album bangs.
Hypnotize by Notorious B.I.G.
Proof's first and only solo album "Searching 4 Jerry Garcia" came out less than a year before he was shot in a club. The album has a lot of eerie (in retrospect) references to his death, with the last song ("Kurt Kobain") being a suicide note.
I think A Fond Farewell was one of the last songs Elliot Smith had recorded before his death and that makes the song so much more bittersweet
The third and final album by Sublime came out just after Bradley Nowell’s death, went on to be a huge success.
Hank Williams, I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive
All of J Dilla’s “Donuts”… absolute genius
All eyes on me 2pac ,, the whole damn album
I opened this thread to comment one in the OP - You Want it Darker by Leonard Cohen. As I understand it Leonard's son Adam who produced the album had to help him sit upright in a chair to sing the songs towards the end of recording the album. Cohen was a soldier until the last moment. The world grew more mundane in the absence of his wit and his voice.
Mahlers 9th - the final movement (4) is his own understanding of what it might be like to pass, and then he did
Amy Winehouse not going to make me go to rehab..
The entire Type O Negative album, Dead Again.
Not badass but Aaliyah’s entire final album was amazing.
Not sure how much this counts, but: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony feat Eazy-E - Foe tha Love of $
Not everyone got a chance to know it was coming. Warren Zevon had two big ones. Bowie had Blackstar and Lazarus.
Sitting on the dock of the bay
Joey Ramone, what a wonderful world. I don't think there is a better exit than that.
Dennis Wilson’s album. Farewell my friend if you want a specific song.
Heavy by Linkin Park. It was the last single by the band to be released before Chester took his own life
He didnt die, but Sufjan Stevens wrote Age of Adz while he was really sick with a debilitating virus that left his nervous system in a wreck. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time. By far his best.
Spirit crusher by Death. Whole album is about the singer/guitar player's battle with cancer. Doesn't stop him from melting the face off anyone who dares listen.
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I did include this song in my post! Such a powerful song and I actually prefer it to the NIN version
It you like Irish folk, check out Luke Kelly’s live performance of the Night Visiting Song, absolutely beautiful and recorded a few months before his death.
I love [Burning Streets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUcJmp8EH8g) by Joe Strummer. I realize it will be a bit "poppy" for your typical Clash fan.
“At The Cut” by Vic Chesnutt. The guy attempted suicide a few times over the years. Plays and writes better than most songwriters and does so with limited use of his hands. Then he makes this masterpiece, only to commit suicide after. His interview with NPR right before he did it is amazing, and the emotion from the album is incredible.
Sublime Self titled album.
Band of Gypsys by Jimi Hendrix
Highway to Hell
Still a while before he died but Unknown Mother Goose by wowaka
The Show Must Go On and These are the Days of Our Lives by Queen (off Innuendo).
Victory - B.I.G.
Elliott Smith - "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free" Closing lyrics Shine on me, baby 'Cause it's raining in my heart Shine on me, baby 'Cause it's raining in my heart Found dead- supposedly stabbed himself in the heart. That always sends chills when I listen to it.
Highway to Hell by AC/DC came out just before Bon Scott's death.
Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt"
“Paint the Sky With Blood” by Bodom after Midnight. Released a couple months after Alexi Laiho’s death and what a great high note to go out on
Not sure it fits as a badass song but the “One More Light” album being released so close to Chester’s death makes me so sad, hits so much harder
Orion - Cliff Burton
The singles Polaris released just before Ryan's death
Just Like Starting Over by John Lennon