RIP Keith Emerson

I heard about it Friday afternoon.  As the details came out my sadness only deepens. ELP gets the lion's share of the credit for getting me interested in classical music.  I think that all the bashing the Keith and ELP often get are unwarranted.

Boy, this one hits hard...I feel about ELP like a lot of you guys do about Genesis, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theatre, Le Orme or whatever your favorite prog band is.  This news is just devastating.  It's sad that Keith felt driven to such a tragic end by the fact that he felt he could no longer play keyboards up to the standard that he and his fans expected, per his girlfriend.  In my opinion, ELP's first 6 albums (the debut, Pictures, Tarkus, Trilogy, Brain Salad, and Welcome Back) are freakin' landmarks of the prog genre.  They helped to define for people what prog was, uniting classical with rock, developing the Moog sound, and showing that prog could be as entertaining and popular as blues-based hard rock (at least in the 70's).  They constantly pushed the boundaries of what music could do.  Emerson was one of, if not the best (and Keyboard magazine polls would argue he was the best), keyboard players in all of rock.  Listen to Hoedown off of the Welcome Back live album and you'll be amazed at his speed and dexterity.  When I replay some of their greatest works---Take A Pebble, Knife Edge, Tarkus, Pictures, Endless Enigma, Trilogy, Karn Evil 9, and Toccata---I am struck anew by just how damn good  he was.  Not to mention how ahead of his time he was, with the Nice and Ars Longa Vita Breva and Five Bridges.  ELP caught a lot of crap from critics about being pretentious, etc...Man, we could use some pretentiousness like that on the music scene nowadays!

The grandeaur of Prog summarizes in "Brain Salad Surgery",  one of Prog´s Cornerstones.

I thought I'd already posted in here. When I heard Keith was dead I initially thought it might be age related, but to lose his life to suicide really shocked me. I can't think what to add, but I have been listening over and over the ELP I've got. Damn, he could play!

i never understood whats wrong with tarkus side b. all catchy stuff. 

This is terrible.

It's so hard to believe that he didn't realise how much people loved his music.
It wouldn't matter if he'd never played another note, he'll always be a legend.

Very sad.


Edited by Bob Greece - March 16 2016 at 07:12

Just saw this update.

A coroner's official says the death of keyboardist Keith Emerson, co-founder of the seminal progressive rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer, has been ruled a suicide.

Los Angeles coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said Tuesday the determination was made after an autopsy showed Emerson shot himself in the head. He says there were also signs the 71-year-old man had a heart condition.

Emerson's body was found early Friday by his longtime partner.

Authorities suspected Emerson shot himself but the determination did not become official until after the autopsy.

similar story with a very respected keyboard player Woolly Wolstenholme of Barclay James Harvest who took his life about 5 years ago after battling depression for decades.  It's a disease and sometimes the sufferer succumbs to it.  Very sad.

Big Kid Josie wrote: Boy, this one hits hard...I feel about ELP like a lot of you guys do about Genesis, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theatre, Le Orme or whatever your favorite prog band is.  This news is just devastating.  It's sad that Keith felt driven to such a tragic end by the fact that he felt he could no longer play keyboards up to the standard that he and his fans expected, per his girlfriend.  In my opinion, ELP's first 6 albums (the debut, Pictures, Tarkus, Trilogy, Brain Salad, and Welcome Back) are freakin' landmarks of the prog genre.  They helped to define for people what prog was, uniting classical with rock, developing the Moog sound, and showing that prog could be as entertaining and popular as blues-based hard rock (at least in the 70's).  They constantly pushed the boundaries of what music could do.  Emerson was one of, if not the best (and Keyboard magazine polls would argue he was the best), keyboard players in all of rock.  Listen to Hoedown off of the Welcome Back live album and you'll be amazed at his speed and dexterity.  When I replay some of their greatest works---Take A Pebble, Knife Edge, Tarkus, Pictures, Endless Enigma, Trilogy, Karn Evil 9, and Toccata---I am struck anew by just how damn good  he was.  Not to mention how ahead of his time he was, with the Nice and Ars Longa Vita Breva and Five Bridges.  ELP caught a lot of crap from critics about being pretentious, etc...Man, we could use some pretentiousness like that on the music scene nowadays!   Love him or hate him, you cannot deny the man's talent as a composer, keyboardist and composer...RIP, Keith.  Grab that heavenly organ and rip off a few solos with Jimi, Chris, and the boys...

kenethlevine wrote: similar story with a very respected keyboard player Woolly Wolstenholme of Barclay James Harvest who took his life about 5 years ago after battling depression for decades.  It's a disease and sometimes the sufferer succumbs to it.  Very sad.