Jimi was definitely one of the greatest guitar players of all time. Tragic demise is a key factor in achieving legendary status... there's no chance to fizzle out into mediocrity. It's not a matter of "letting everyone down"... who gives a f*ck about "everyone"? That's not what motivates real artists to be creative. And Jimi didn't O.D. on psychedelics either.

obviously you cant od on psychadelics, but they are notorious for pushing people over the edge psychologically which then can lead to far worse things.

not that i really like him but, eminem wouldnt have had a chance if dre died from smoking crack.

big names in music often find "spiritual successors" to pick up where they left off. and jimi hendrix was SOO good that its just sad he never had the chance to pass the torch.

corporations cant bring up talent. TALENT has to bring up talent. if the musicians dont do it, then the good musicians get left in the dust.

plus i bet hendrix would have made crazy beats if he was around for the advent of samplers.

band of gypsys forever.

Ah, so that's what you've meant. Yeah, you're right for the most part.

When it comes to specific artist though, I'm not so sure what to think of their success when it comes to commercial 'popularity'.

I think Eminem is somewhat of a true genius himself and a very skilled rapper. He'll perhaps never be as good as 2-Pac was or even Dre, but we can't deny he's been having success because of Eminem doing Eminem, his own thing.

I'm not saying Eminem had a chance without him, but Dre merely made it possible for him to get into the industry, but by now Eminem is a far bigger commercial success than Dre ever was. Eminem at that time was extremely motivated to get into the industry and become a superstar artist, it could hardly go wrong together with his skills.

Don't forget the early times must have been really hard for him, he.. just like everyone else, sort of 'had' to wait for his chance and just got lucky when he grabbed onto it and turned out to have what it takes to become someone in the music industry.

I'm convinced true talent will find it's way out, but it takes a little bit more than posting anonymous posts on a forum or making beats in a basement nobody hears. Having said that, I'm so down for doing a few gigs some time, I'm anxious to prove myself even though I'm feeling I am not really there yet.

Of course there's an obvious difference between me and Eminem (apart from not being able to rap like him lol), I am making music mostly for fun. I don't think Eminem's early work has been 'for fun'.

Anyways, enough of analyzing this artist, his success definitely shows stars sometimes come from far before having reached the commercial top. It's very interesting to see which artists survive initial hype and which one's don't, but it's somewhat of a different topic altogether.

apparently before jimi died he was talking to his friends about moving away from psychedelia and creating rock music that would be entirely orchestrated.

all the friends just lamented that he'd never get the chance. dig it.