Death Jamz 2012

Remember a couple of years ago, when celebrities were dying left and right and it seemed like there was some kind of plague that only affected people of recognizable status in society and we all sort of kind of believed Randy Quaid’s insane rants that there was a shadowy organization targeting famous people? I think it was the summer of 2009. There were a lot of deaths! I’ll never forget where I was when I heard that Michael Jackson died (the desolate mountains of Peru, duh). That entire summer prompted everyone to say that it was death happening in multiples of three, several times over. 30 Rock even parodied it, as 30 Rock is wont to do.

(30 Rock and the Rule of Three at 1:45 in, but the rest of it is funny too)

Anyway, it’s happening again. Celebrities are dying off like crazy. And this time, the Celebrity Angel of Death seems to be targeting musicians. Whitney Houston. Earl Scruggs. Levon Helm from the Band. And most recently, MCA/Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys.

The list goes on. If you head over to Wikipedia’s “Notable Deaths in 2012” page, you will see so many more. There are celebrities* dying every day! Did you know that Peter Connoly died this past month?!?! The Greek and Roman military equipment world will never be the same. FACT. The Awl always does a great job eugoogalizing people, and are always one of the first websites out there announcing another celebrity passing (I think this has something to do with the fact the Awl writers are self-described cynics and pessimists, to say the least).

It’s a lot for our celebrity-obsessed culture – and this celebrity-obsessed fangirl – to take. But rather than dwell on the negatives and the fact that these people are gone from this world, I have decided to remember them as they would like to be remembered. That’s right, I created a Spotify playlist.

This list contains what I consider notable music deaths, cataloged in order of who I remembered first and what popped up on the Wikipedia Death page. They are:

• Whitney Houston – February 11
• Levon Helm (the Band) April 19
• Adam Yauch aka MCA (Beastie Boys) May 4
• Earl Scruggs – March 28
• Tommy Marth (the Killers) April 23
• Greg Ham (Men at Work) April 19
• Barney McKenna (the Dubliners) April 5
• Eddie King – March 14
• Jerry McCain – March 28
• Davy Jones (the Monkees) February 29
• Louisiana Red – February 25
• Mike Kelley (Destroy All Monsters) January 31
• Patricia Neway – January 24

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Written by Sarah Davis

Sarah is a regular blogger for The Wheelhouse, as well as its Chief Marketing Officer/zombie apocalypse safety coordinator. She tumbls repeatedly and tweets, but doesn’t everybody?

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