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Robbie Bachman, drummer of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, dead at 69


Old Joad

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I wonder if anyone's ever done an analysis of life expectancies for different musical specialties. Maybe I'm still in mourning over Neil Peart, but it does seem that drummers generally don't enjoy long longevity. Sure, 69 doesn't sound young, but it depends on which side of 69 you're on.

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On 1/16/2023 at 11:33 AM, bitflipper said:

I wonder if anyone's ever done an analysis of life expectancies for different musical specialties. Maybe I'm still in mourning over Neil Peart, but it does seem that drummers generally don't enjoy long longevity.

Spinal Tap.

but Ringo seems to be doing ok.

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5 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Holy scheizer! I've been through a few drummers, but none of them actually died. Most of them were just doing their best to shorten their lives with drugs 'n booze and stressful relationships. AFAIK, none were actually successful.

Yeah... I know I've told the story before, but we had the one I mentioned above who was drunk after a gig at a bar called the TomCat that catered to the military crowd from Miramar Naval Air Base which was pretty much right across the street.  He started walking across Miramar Blvd., which is a very busy street, when he was hit by a car.  But it was the second car that decapitated him!

We had one who died like Bonham (drowning on his puke), one that committed suicide after a gig when his girlfriend broke up with him.  He went home and, apparently, downed an entire 5th of vodka with a full bottle of sleeping pills.  The final one I really don't know what happened, but he (Michael Grove) was a guy I went to school with who was one of the first guys to play drums for Mickey Ratt (who became Ratt) and was also doing something with Jake E. Lee (who Goldy, see below, took the place of in Rough Cut so that Jake could join Ozzy).  Mike was the drummer for Foolish Pleasure that I got to play in for a very short time (where Craig Goldy, of Guiffria and Dio fame, was the guitarist).  He was only 23 and I only learned about it at my high school's ten-year reunion...

No spontaneous human combustions though!

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On 1/18/2023 at 11:20 PM, craigb said:

Yeah... I know I've told the story before, but we had the one I mentioned above who was drunk after a gig at a bar called the TomCat that catered to the military crowd from Miramar Naval Air Base which was pretty much right across the street.  He started walking across Miramar Blvd., which is a very busy street, when he was hit by a car.  

The last time I jaywalked across Miramar Blvd I was sober, it was 1987, and there were three lanes each way doing at least 55 mph both ways. Not good as a sobriety test.

I'm sure, however, that Robertos was involved.

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Just now, PhonoBrainer said:

The last time I jaywalked across Miramar Blvd I was sober, it was 1987, and there were three lanes each way doing at least 55 mph both ways. Not good as a sobriety test.

I'm sure, however, that Robertos was involved.

Damn!  Really?  1987?  I might have been one of those cars.  I moved north to Orange County in 1988 so I was still with the defense contractor until then.

Not sure about Roberto's, but Naugles Tacos and Burgers was a popular late-night food place in that area!

Small world!

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On 1/16/2023 at 10:33 AM, bitflipper said:

Maybe I'm still in mourning over Neil Peart, but it does seem that drummers generally don't enjoy long longevity.

Maybe it's just Canadian drummers? Well, okay, I guess Keith Moon and John Bonham....

However, Jimi H., Janis J., Jim M., Amy W., Minnie R., Bon S., John L., Kurt C., Hank W., Buddy H., Richie V., Big B., Tupac S., Biggie S., Nick D., Freddie M., Ronnie V., Cassie G. Sam C., Jim R., Kyu S. and Judy G. made the case that singers can check out pretty early.

Neil and Robbie beat Judy Garland by 20 years. She's the geezer in the bunch at age 47. Of the rest of them, Minnie Riperton, Sam Cooke, John Lennon, Jim Reeves and Kyu Sakamoto were the only ones who even made it out of their 20's.

21 singers, and none of them made it to 50! Only two of them (Minnie and Freddie) died of natural causes. Of the rest, 7 of them died in plane crashes on the way to gigs, and with the rest, it was drugs and/or violence.

Yeah, I know, I'm about to turn 62, and I kinda hope that I've got more than 5 years left in this theme park we call "life," but all of those I listed crammed a LOT of living into their time. Well, except maybe Nick Drake 😥, but if you're trying for a lasting legacy, Nicky baby knocked that one out of the park.

Edited by Starship Krupa
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On 1/30/2023 at 1:13 PM, Old Joad said:

The key to staying alive for a musician is to avoid being famous.

I think you meant this in a humorous way, but there is much truth in it.

Pressures of fame, pressures of having to keep delivering the goods, access to plenty of cash and willing hangers-on are all more likely to send someone to drugsville.

And if you're famous, you'll have the gigs and naturally end up traveling a lot, and the more miles traveled, by whatever means (we've lost a lot of musicians to motor vehicle accidents, too), the greater the chance of catastrophic failure. Add to that the fact that big timers don't usually fly commercial, relying on pilots and equipment that may be less squared away, and you get the recipe for the plane crash deaths (I forgot to mention Jim Croce and Aliyah).

Sakamoto is the only one on my list who bought it on a commercial flight (along with 519 other people, the deadliest plane crash in history).

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