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The 27 Club and white lighters


Ajnaya

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The 27 club (or forever 27 club) is an unusually large group of influential musicians that died at the age of twenty-seven.

7-3-69 Brian Jones of Rolling stones drowned in a pool after a night of drinking.

9-18-70 Jimi Hendrix asphyxiated on his own vomit after drinking a bottle of wine with a bottle of sleeping pills.

10-4-70 Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose.

7-3-71 Jim Morrison of the Doors died of a “heart attack” though no autopsy was done.

4-8-94 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana died of a gunshot wound to the head(self-afflicted).

5-8-73 Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead died of GI hemorrhage.

7-7-93 Mia Zapata of the Gits was raped and murdered.

6-16-94 Kristen Pfaff of Hole died of a heroin overdose.

There are more than thirty other names that I haven’t listed. There are some conspiracy theories that involve these musicians gaining their talent and success through deals with the devil, which apparently expire when they are 27.

According to legend Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain all had white lighters on them when they died. Many smokers (including myself and many friends) will not use white bic lighters because they are perceived to be bad luck because of this.

I was wondering if anyone knew more about how this is considered a conspiracy, or why. Or if there are any other theories on this that could be discussed. Sorry if it's been asked before.

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What qualifies as an influential musician,...

Well, five of the eight I've actually heard of.

Edited by flyingswan
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I have never heard of this before reading your post. This is interesting. I did not find much info regarding this Forever 27 club though. I did find the list of all the diffrent names and it showed how they died. I didn't find the information about the white lighters. Did you have a link for this information?

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Some links to white lighter references. Unfortunately I learned about it through word of mouth and there doesn't seem to be much online about it. I realize it is a superstition mainly held by pot smokers, so it probably is more of a comfort to people to think if they avoid white lighters they will be "protected" from police and whatnot. My link My link My link

I consider these influential musicians because they were innovative in creating their own very distinct styles of music that helped influence distinct sub-genres of rock, plus they are recognized in the following ways...

"Rolling Stone magazine ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004,and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Morrison was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and is widely regarded as one of the most iconic frontmen in rock music history. Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage blue plaque was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time in 2003. He was the first person inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame. He is widely considered to be the greatest electric guitarist in the history of music,and one of the most influential musicians of his era across a range of genres. Nirvana was labeled "the flagship band" of Generation X, and Cobain hailed as "the spokesman of a generation." Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, sold over twenty-five million albums in the US alone, and over fifty million worldwide."-wikipedia quotes

And any musician that still has t-shirts and merchandise with their pictures on it being sold commercially and successfully after being dead for 40 years has my personal vote as influential.

Brian Jones died at 27 years, 4 months, and 5 days. Jim Morrison was 27 years, 6 months, and 25 days. Janis Joplin was 27 years, 8 months, 14 days. Jimi Hendrix was 27 years, 9 months, and 21 days. Kurt Cobain was 27 years, 1 month, and 15 days.

I have a few books on Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, I'll take a look and see if anything's mentioned in them. If there is I will definitely post what I find.

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It's just that all of the ones you mention were very talented, and also living a very dangerous lifestyle of excess (due to their talent).

It's very odd they all die at 27, but they were living on a very dangerous edge.

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I agree I don't think there was any conspiracy involved, I just found it interesting that some people thought there was. I was mainly hoping that someone else might have a different theory, simply because I find it interesting. Thanks for responding :)

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  • 6 months later...

So... how many famous muscians and such die after or before the age of 27? Can't just shoot randomly and then draw the target.

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There are more than thirty other names that I haven’t listed. There are some conspiracy theories that involve these musicians gaining their talent and success through deals with the devil, which apparently expire when they are 27.

Here's a nice article on it: http://historicmysteries.com/the-27-club

It mentions the white lighters, and traces the club back to the 1908 death of Louis Chauvin. Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin and Jones all died within 2 years of each other, which must have started the urban legend. Blues guitarist Robert Johnson, 5th on Rolling Stones Greatest Artists of all time list, also died at 27, in 1938. There's a well known legend of him selling his soul to the devil, in part because of his famous songs titled "Crossroad Blues" and "Hellhound on my Trail".

It also mentions how Cobain often talked about joining the club as a kid.

There are 40 musicians in the 27 club according to wikipedia.

Just from this list of premature musician deaths, I counted 24 dead who weren't 27 at the time:

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/yradish/40175/dead-too-soon-musicians-who-died-before-age-30/

Edited by Stack
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So... how many famous muscians and such die after or before the age of 27? Can't just shoot randomly and then draw the target.

Obviously the ones who didn't make a pact with the Debil!

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this intrigues me. sorry about amy winehouse, but really u could see that one coming.

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The 27 club (or forever 27 club) is an unusually large group of influential musicians that died at the age of twenty-seven.

Could you provide some statistics to support that?

- What percentage of the population (US / UK) die at the age of 27?

- What percentage of the same population are classified as musicians?

- What percentage of those musicians are "influential", and how is that defined?

- What is the comparison between those?

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I'd be curious to know when disposable lighters became available, I recall seeing ads in the mid 70s. I'm fairly certain that Robert johnson didn't have a white lighter.

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I'd be curious to know when disposable lighters became available, I recall seeing ads in the mid 70s. I'm fairly certain that Robert johnson didn't have a white lighter.

Maybe he drank 'white lightning'... :w00t:

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The 27 club (or forever 27 club) is an unusually large group of influential musicians that died at the age of twenty-seven.

7-3-69 Brian Jones of Rolling stones drowned in a pool after a night of drinking.

9-18-70 Jimi Hendrix asphyxiated on his own vomit after drinking a bottle of wine with a bottle of sleeping pills.

10-4-70 Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose.

7-3-71 Jim Morrison of the Doors died of a “heart attack” though no autopsy was done.

4-8-94 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana died of a gunshot wound to the head(self-afflicted).

5-8-73 Ron “Pigpen” McKernan of the Grateful Dead died of GI hemorrhage.

7-7-93 Mia Zapata of the Gits was raped and murdered.

6-16-94 Kristen Pfaff of Hole died of a heroin overdose.

The first 5 are fine, but then it's a huge dropoff. 'Hole' was a horrid group...and who in heck are (were?) the 'Gits' anyway?

Fun to read about, but it stretches too much to be seen as anything more than that.

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Ok I am a conspiracy theorist but I like to maintain a healthy sense of scepticism. In this case like Obviousman said look at statistics... also when was the 27 Club established? You realize one musician may have followed another's death? Perhaps it only chained from one death. White lighters? You can buy them at any gas station, 7-11 or whatever local quick stops in your area. This could simply be a self made conspiracy... There is no taboo in white lighters...it's simply a lighter that is white....

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Still waiting for an answer...

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27 in biblical numbers is divine judgement.the eye sees all

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There are more than thirty other names that I haven’t listed. There are some conspiracy theories that involve these musicians gaining their talent and success through deals with the devil, which apparently expire when they are 27.

I didn't hear of the 'deal with the devil' story in relation to all these musicians who died at 27. But I do know where this story originated from; Robert Johnson, a blues musician from the twenties. He influenced a lot of other musicians (Keith Richards, Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and a whole lot of others) It's also where the famous 'Crossroads' reference found in many blues songs comes from; it's the place the deal gets closed. So I thought I'd look up at what age he died... You guessed it.

But still, how many famous musicians have there been throughout the last decades? Hundreds of them. And the lifestyle that often comes with it will put them at greater risk of dying at an early age. Try to make a list of musicians that died at 31 for example. I'll bet you that'll be a pretty long list too.

So I'm still gonna say it's a coincidence. A cool coincidence though. (Plus, I don't believe in the devil :) )

Edited by alexb
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  • 2 years later...

These singers are involved in Satanism aswell. I heard that people who sell their soul to the devils eventually will pay their price at age of 27.

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Not all though. Bob Dylan openly says he sold his soul to the devil. Goes into detail about it He is way past 27.

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I believe that there was a British study that looked a this and determined that the deaths of musicians who were 27 wasn't statistically unusual, although they did find that more musicians died between ages 20 and 30 compared to the general population, which shouldn't be surprising if you have some understanding of the lifestyles most of those artists led.

Not all though. Bob Dylan openly says he sold his soul to the devil. Goes into detail about it He is way past 27.

Dylan has said a lot of things, a lot of it contradictory especially concerning his religious beliefs.

These singers are involved in Satanism aswell.

I don't think so, I've never heard of any of them being involved in it actually, and I know for sure that Jimi and Pigpen were not.

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