Additional Information: 27 Club

Left to right: Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Brian Jones. All three musicians died at the age of 27 and within two years of each other (1969-1971).

The 27 Club is a term referring to popular musicians, artists or actors who died either at the age of 27, or between the ages of eighteen and 35, with 27 being the statistical average between the minimum and maximum ages. Regardless of which group of celebrities this should refer to, it has become a cultural phenomenon by documenting their deaths, with some being known for risky lifestyles such as drug and alcohol abuse or violent means such as homicide, suicide, or transport-related accidents.

The term initially came to popular usage when Brian Jones (the Rolling Stones), Janis Joplin (Big Brother and the Holding Company) and Jim Morrison (the Doors) all died at twenty-seven between the years of 1969 and 1971 - Jimi Hendrix had a very close call in 1970, and so was able to celebrate his 28th birthday the same year. However, an earlier example was in 1938, when blues musician Robert Johnson died of unknown causes, aged 27.

Upon Phil Spector's death by car accident in 1974, at the age of 34, the topic of people involved with music dying young was brought up again, even suggesting that they could be as old as 35 and still be considered having died young. This was proposed in an article by the New York Times, close to Spector's birthplace, even including those who died between eighteen and 26 (Buddy Holly at 22, Otis Redding at 26, etc.) or between 28 and 35 (The Big Bopper at 28, Danny Whitten at 29, etc.).[1]

The article by the New York Times prompted a response by the Hollywood Reporter, arguing that if the 27 Club also included those who died as young as eighteen or as old as 35, then it would become overcrowded and disorganized. Many fans of rock music also got in on the debate that still goes on to this day, especially on internet forums and sites.

It wouldn't be until late 1977 when the topic of the 27 Club would be raised once again - as well as further arguments on how it should be defined - when Syd Barrett (31) of Pink Floyd and Hunky Dory, Marc Bolan (29) of T. Rex, and Ronnie Van Zant (29), Steve (28) and Cassie Gaines (29) of Lynyrd Skynyrd all died within two months of each other, all in transport-related accidents. (Elvis Presley was not considered, having died at the age of 42, seven years older than the proposed maximum of 35.) This topic would be further dragged into the end of the 1970s and the start of the 1980s, when the likes of Keith Moon (32), John Bonham (32), Bon Scott (33) and Ozzy Osbourne (33) would all die within a few years of each other, this time from drug or alcohol abuse, and in some cases, choking on their own vomit.[2]

Whether or not anyone in the 27 Club either died at that age or as young as eighteen or as old as 35, one thing that most can agree on is that despite dying so young, their legacies will last forever.

Footnotes

1. In OTL, the idea of a "27 Club" caught on in public perception following Kurt Cobain's death in 1994.
2. This is a partial spoiler as to what's to come for Phase Three.

Author's Comments

A bit of an extension to chapter 51, talking about this universe's equivalent to the 27 Club. This time, some rock critics are suggesting that it also gives membership to those who died between the ages of eighteen and 35, given that 27 is the average between them. But what do you guys think? Should the club be bigger than it is, or should it only include those who died at 27?