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Underground > Radio & Music >

Elliott Smith dead at 34

The Return Of Rothkoid

06:20 / 22.10.03

From here.

Bad typos in story, but here goes:

American singer songwriter has died at the age of 34 of an apparent suicide.

The singer whose style is described as folk punk was once an Academy Award nominee for his song 'Miss Misery' from Good Will Hunting. The movie starred Robin Williams, Ben Afleck and Matt Damon.

Smith has recorded five album and was in the process of completing this sixth which was to be titled 'From A Basement On A Hill'.

Elliott Smith was born August 6, 1969 in Ohamha, Nebraska.

It's been confirmed by Sweet Adeline, too.

07:34 / 22.10.03

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Very bad thing to happen to one of my favourite recording artists; was very much looking forward to another album.

Awful, really.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

09:21 / 22.10.03

Oh god. That's awful.

I wouldn't say I was a massive fan, but that still doesn't make this any less sad.

Ehhh, he has penned some really beautiful songs, and he made the most beautiful moment in tenenbaums. Oh, now that seems odd... (If you know the moment I'm talking about).

Rambling, but this is really sad.

Now someone find lolita nation and hug her.

09:42 / 22.10.03

Oh god. That's awful.

I wouldn't say I was a massive fan, but that still doesn't make this any less sad.

ditto.

Matthew Fluxington

11:36 / 22.10.03

This is truly terrible.

And he did it by stabbing himself in the stomach. What a gruesome and painful way to kill yourself.

15:45 / 22.10.03

I'm confused. Kurt Cobain complained of stomach pains too.

Having trouble thinking.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

15:57 / 22.10.03

Is there anything else to possibly add? Eulogy threads (god, that there even is such a category) always make me simultaneously want to post feverishly and ignore completely. There are too few synonyms for awful.

Just the other day a really shoddy recording of Elliott covering a Jon Brion song came up on random play on my computer. I saw him twice, once electric and once acoustic. In the early stages of my relationship with my girlfriend, we listened to "Happiness" with two earbuds between us.

It was already a devestating song yesterday.

16:01 / 22.10.03

It's odd. He's one of those people whose records I own, but never give the credit he deserves. Don't know why that should be. Maybe I got infected by the backlash against the singer/songwriter that seemed to happen a few years back and continues to this day. I never agreed with it, but it must have had more of an effect on me than I realised.

Feel ashamed that I never openly argued with people who attacked the stuff he was doing.

Let's see... I own the self-titled first album, Roman Candle, Either/Or and XO. Somehow I managed to forget all about Figure 8 even existing and it's only now, with this news, that I've been reminded that it's something I meant to buy when it came out, so I've still never heard it. Regardless, the first four albums show a real progression in ability and confidence. I've been listening to them after reading this thread and I'm reminded of just how much I must have listened to Either/Or and XO over the last few years - the songs are somehow all stored away in my head, it's just that I forgot that I ever knew them. They're albums that sit gathering dust on my shelves for ages, then get played over and over and over again when I eventually notice them.

XO, in particular, is a very, *very* good record indeed, with some really gorgeous songs on it.

Next time I see him I'll do him a favour and let him know.

17:25 / 22.10.03

Oh hell. I just went over to Amazon to see if they still had Figure 8 on sale and started reading their review of the album. "The death of the singer/songwriter... has been inevitable for some time," it starts. Jesus, I think, they don't waste any time. Then I read on:

The death of the singer/songwriter (someone for whom an acoustic gig was an everyday event, not some MTV-style special occasion) has been inevitable for some time, so releases like Figure 8 should be cherished. With no obvious singles, no clear fashion statement and nothing but a handful of melodies, a paper-thin voice and a piano or guitar for protection, it's clear that Elliott Smith is living on borrowed time. This is a shame, because--like Bernard Butler--Dallas, Texas born Elliott, after four solo albums, is only just finding his feet. Mixing peace loving folk ("Everything Reminds Me Of Her"), drugged up ramblings ("Everything Means Nothing To Me") and honky-tonk tales of serial killers ("Son Of Sam"), this makes for some pretty special listening. Figure 8, like his much acclaimed album XO before it, is a mess of beauty, ingenuity and slight insanity. If the days of the singer/songwriter are drawing to a close, this album is one hell of a way to remember them.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

17:38 / 22.10.03

Um, I don't think they meant, literally, the death of Elliott Smith, just the death of The Singer/Songwriter as Archetype, as in, recordings like this will soon no longer be made.

Not so much grave-robbing as just creepily premonitional (?).

17:46 / 22.10.03

No, I realise that. I just figured it made a fitting, albeit unintentional obituary.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

18:10 / 22.10.03

I figured as much, and yet, I was compelled to post.

18:53 / 22.10.03

Get the Japanese import! It has the song "figure 8" on it, from Schoolhouse Rock. And one other cover that I can't remember right now. But that song is haunting.....

17:51 / 23.10.03

Mentioned at the bottom of the Slate obituary:

Under the Radar contains the last in-depth interview Smith gave, in June of this year. In it, he talks frankly about his addictions, as well as more interesting matters, and thanks Celine Dion for her unexpected kindness before the Academy Awards ceremony. "She was really sweet, which has made it impossible for me to dislike Celine Dion anymore," Smith says. "Even though I can't stand the music that she makes—with all due respect I don't like it much at all—but she herself was very, very nice. She asked me if I was nervous and I said, 'Yeah.' And she was like, 'That's good because you get your adrenaline going, and it'll make your song better. It's a beautiful song.' Then she gave me a big hug. It was too much. It was too human to be dismissed simply because I find her music trite."

20:59 / 23.10.03

He went out in quite the style though, eh? It's like he was saying, "FUCK YOU EMO KIDS!" Instead of slitting his wrists he went out samurai-style. Sad news though. Funny how whatever emotions that made him such a good artist are probably the same ones that led to his suicide.

17:02 / 24.10.03

< defensiveness >Um, not that I'm the kind of person who would usually attend such a thing, but does anyone know anything about the vigil which is supposedly taking place on Sunday (26th) in NYC?

22:04 / 24.10.03

Never mind! The nice people over in Gathering are helping me out.

07:38 / 25.10.03

Elliott Smith is my favorite recording artist of all time, & he has been since I heard XO in my senior year of high school. My brother copied it for me onto a tape that I played in the car. I loved that tape. I wore it out. I saw him in concert four times and each was a really special experience for me. I don't really know what else to say except that I'm really, really sad.

I was listening to that Phil Ochs record the other day (before I heard about Elliot Smith), Pleasures of the Harbor. The song "Cross My Heart" is on there, and I was thinking how retrospectively sad it was that he sings "cross my heart, and I hope to live," when he eventually committed suicide. I was wondering whether it would have made any difference if Phil Ochs could have known that his music would "reach" me and be really important to me decades after he recorded it. Now I wonder the same thing about Elliott Smith, too. His music means so much to me. I guess that sounds cheesy but I can't help it. I wish he hadn't killed himself.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

09:00 / 25.10.03

I hate that Elliott was always one of those artists that I thought "Yeah, I like him, I must get round to giving him some proper attention/actually buying something by him soon", until now.

I only ever had about 10 songs on my computer, and I always meant to get an album. I think I nearly did once, but I didn't know what to get. Any reccomendations? Is it horrible that his death will probably boost his sales?

I just downloaded a few more songs, and they're all really beautiful. I esepcially like "Between the bars" and "bottle up and explode!".

12:52 / 25.10.03

His music means so much to me. I guess that sounds cheesy but I can't help it. I wish he hadn't killed himself. -lolita

I know what you mean. I've really found myself, for the first time, being genuinely upset over a 'celebrity death'. I was listening to Biggest Lie on my way home on Wednesday afternoon, and thinking that I'd always just related that song to whatever I was going through at the time, and it occurred to me for the first time that it was actually about suicide. Then I came home and saw that he was dead. I feel stupid saying it, but I was devastated, and I'm still very sad.

My friends (and even my husband) think it's crazy/ridiculous for me to be upset. One friend said "I have no sympathy for any suicide, but especially not for a rock-n-roll suicide." I don't pretend that, just because I loved his music that I knew the man, or anything, but I do think that there's a certain power in listening to someone's songs, particularly when they're as open and honest as Elliott Smith's were.

And I also think that, in any kind of ideal world, we would be able to stop being world-weary spectators and feel this kind of compassion for all people, all the time. But that's another thread, somewhere.

19:18 / 25.10.03

I did this. Follow the links.

21:46 / 27.10.03

Yikes. I only just found out about this. I never thought growing up that there would be any song written about a girl with my name, but Elliot did it and I loved him for it.

20:49 / 28.10.03

Mmm. It is sad. I loved the songs because they were beautiful, and that he was alive to continue to make them just made it better.