h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good entry.

I liked your point about those that die young being cooler than those that grow old. I think an excellent example of this would be Jimi Hendrix, who released some great records and is now thought of as being really cool, and Mick Jagger who also wrote some good songs, but is now thought of as being a bit of an embarrassment.

Also Elvis, who was old enough to have already made a "comeback" before he died, and Marilyn Monroe, who likely would have faded from memory if she hadn't died in her prime.

Personally, I'd rather live well, die well and couldn't care less what anyone thinks about the looks of my corpse.

I hope Elvis didn't care about the state of his corpse either, otherwise his afterlife's going to be full of regrets...

I never really thought of Elvis as living 'fast'. I always thought of him as being kind of nice and polite and eating cheeseburgers and watching tv.

Marylin Monroe was 36 when she died, and I suppose she might have lived a bit fast, but not really in the sense I was thinking of, which is that kind of living that puts absolute headonism first over fear of death (or at least seems to). That's the Jimi Hendrix experience for you...

Mick Jagger is a real curiosity. Why he seems so ridiculous now is a bit of a mystery to me. Especially, as I have mentioned elsewhere, when you have people like Iggy Pop who seem to be still doing relatively alright.

But then I'm very much with the 'live slow' people, so perhaps there are mysteries that have yet to be revealed to me.

You're right -- neither Elvis nor Marilyn lived very "fast," but they died young enough to make themselves icons. If they had died older, I don't think we would remember them as well.

Also, keep in mind that Jimi Hendrix, although he lived "fast" in terms of enjoying "free love" and trying drugs, he died of a reaction to sleeping pills which made him vomit, and he asphyxiated on the vomit. It's a myth that he died of a suicidal or abusive drug overdose. His autopsy report and news articles about it ought to be available on the web for anyone interested in debating the point.

I also heard quite a bit about him refusing a fair amount of the drugs offered to him.

I don't think Mick Jagger is an embarrassment. Sure he's odd, but rock stars are supposed to. And he's written enough good songs (Jumpin Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Saint of Me, She's a Rainbow, She Saw Me Coming are just the tip of the iceberg) to excuse practically ANY behaviour. even if he were seriously embarrasing, I'd stand it. There are a lot of embarrassing persons in popular culture these days, and none of them provide just a single song near to what Jagger has provided. So even if he were to compete with them in embarrassing behaviour, I'd still be on his side :D