Poly Styrene (Marian Joan Elliott-Said) has died at the young age of 53 on the eve of the release of her new album Generation Indigo. She had been battling cancer and, unlike other battles she took on, she lost it.

After an afternoon and evening of reading rumors that Poly had died, and hoping they weren’t true, the sad news that she did indeed pass away was just confirmed on several news sites and I’m having a difficult time writing this right now.

There will be more from me and DM contributors on the death of the beloved Poly later today. There’s not a single one of us that haven’t been enthralled by her magic.

I saw X Ray Spex perform at CBGB in March of 1978. It was among the most exciting rock and roll shows I’ve ever experienced. Poly was 21 years old at the time but with braces on her teeth and bows in her hair she looked 13, as did the other Spex. The remarkable thing about her and the group was just how fucking good they were. They played with a ferocious intensity that was raw, undisciplined, and yet totally confident and glorious. And as good as the band was, it was Poly that demanded your attention, got it, and rewarded it. She was a powerhouse. I was overwhelmed.

Poly upended every stereotype of the female rock and roll front person. She looked like an innocent school girl but when she opened her mouth she had a soul searing wail that made John Lydon sound like a squealing mama’s boy with his dick stuck in a zipper. Poly had one of the greatest punk rock voices in all of rock and roll. From banshee to wounded vulnerability, Styrene emoted with a range far beyond her worldly years. Within this woman was a fierce siren drawing liars and fools to crash upon the rocks of her uncompromising feminine power. Feminist? I don’t think so. That’s a label that Poly would find too limiting. Poly could, like Walt Whitman, claim “I am large, I contain multitudes.”  

“Oh Bondage, Up Yours!” is one of the great “fuck off” anthems in the history of rock and roll, an unequivocal declaration that no one was going to restrain the power and glory that was Poly Styrene.
 

 
From the documentary The Punk Years:

 
X Ray Spex live at CBGB, March 17, 1978 (audio). Crank it the fuck up:

 
Sleep with angels forever in your very own custom made Jonathan Ross casket from British company Creative Coffins. The company is “committed to providing a green alternative to traditional wooden coffins” by using cartonboard materials.

Our individually designed cartonboard coffins provide for a more eco-friendly funeral and, most importantly, the range of carefully created styles will help you find a design that truly reflects the personality of your loved one.

 
It’s been a bad week for disco—first the death of Loleatta Holloway, and now comes the news that Kurt Hauenstein of the German band Supermax has passed on. Supermax were one of the most popular disco bands of their era on continental Europe, managing to seamlessly blend funk, prog rock, sci-fi and sleaze. They had also won over a lot of new fans in the last few years, when the growing interest in revisiting Cosmic and European disco shone the spotlight back in their corner. Their biggest hit was “Love Machine,” which by anyone’s standards is a bone fide classic. Here they are performing it on Dutch TV:

Supermax - “Love Machine”
 

 
With his own particular Lemmy-meets-Kraftwerk style (thanks Richard!) Kurt Hauenstein, originally from Austria, was one seriously cool guy. Supermax were still touring up until last year—unfortunately I never got to see them even though I knew a few promoters who wanted to book them (cost permitting). Well, Kurt is jamming away in that big disco in the sky they call Heaven now. Here’s what taste of what a Supermax show would have been like:

Supermax - “It Ain’t Easy” (Live 1979)
 

 
These guys were great. If you want to know more about this band, you should check out their website. You can buy the Best Of Supermax here.

After the jump, more excellent clips of Kurt Hauenstein and Supermax…

 
Via our pals at Network Awesome comes this collection of 10 trailers for Elizabeth Taylor vehicles from 1948-1968 including the ultra-freaky Boom.
 

 
Another collection of clips after the jump…

 
Something sweet from the Dangerous Minds archives. Originally posted on August 4, 2010.

Elizabeth Taylor and David Bowie at their first meeting in Beverly Hills, 1975. Photographs by Terry O’Neill. Scanned from the book Legends by Terry O’Neill.

Via Glamour-a-go-go

 
Extremely prolific performer/recording artist firmly in the Zappa/Beefheart mold and Professional Wrestling personality Zoogz Rift passed away yesterday.
From his son Aaron Rift:

It’s my unfortunate duty to report that my father Zoogz Rift died peacefully on March 22nd at 12:20 PM. His death was due to serious complications from diabetes which he had been battling for well over a decade. A memorial page is going to be worked on to showcase his talents from musician to artist to wrestling performer.

Back in the early-mid 80’s our paths crossed quite frequently and I enjoyed many shows by Zoogz and his band The Amazing Shitheads (video below). I even interviewed him for Unsound magazine. Despite his extremely obnoxious persona I always found him to be a really nice fellow. Sad…
 

 
With thanks to Danny Gromfin

 
Though Michael Gough, who died today, will be best remembered for his performance as “Alfred” in the Batman series, I’ll always remember the great actor more for his roles in a series of low budget British B-movie horror films - in particular the classic, Horrors of the Black Museum, Konga, The Black Zoo, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors and Horror Hospital; his work with Ken Russell (Women in Love, Savage Messiah) and Derek Jarman (Caravaggio, The Garden, Wittgenstein); and his roles in TV series like The Champions, The Avengers and Smiley’s People. Gough was always more than watchable as an actor,, who made even the most trashy films (Trog) enjoyable.

Here’s a small selection of highlights from Gough’s career, which gives only a hint of the quality of his talent and the diversity of his roles.
 

Michael Gough is resposible for a “huge, monster gorilla that is constantly growing to outlandish proportions let loose in the streets” of swinging London in ‘Konga’ (1961)
 
Previously on DM:

 
More clips from Michael Gough’s career after the jump….
 

 
Hip-hop star Nate Dogg, real name Nathaniel Hale, has died, aged 41. No details have as yet been released as to how the singer died, but it was reported that he has suffered strokes in 2007 and 2008.

The Long Beach Telegram was first to report Nate’s death, said:

Attorney Mark Geragos said Nate Dogg, whose real name was Nathaniel D. Hale, died Tuesday of complications from multiple strokes.

Nate Dogg wasn’t a rapper, but he was an integral figure in the genre: His deep voice wasn’t particularly melodic, but its tone - at times menacing, at times playful, yet always charming - provided just the just the right touch on hits including Warren G’s “Regulate,” 50 Cent’s “21 Questions,” Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” and countless others.

While Nate Dogg provided hooks for rappers from coast to coast, the Long Beach native is best known for his contributions to the West Coast soundtrack provided by the likes of Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, the Dogg Pound and more. Nate Dogg was even part of a supergroup” featuring Snoop Dogg and Warren G, called 213.

According to popeater:

Just last week, Warren G tweeted that Nate Dogg was receiving treatment. “For those that dont know awhile back nate had 2 strokes he is in therapy thanks again for your support,” he tweeted. Watch some of Nate Dogg’s videos after the jump.

Snoop Dogg seemed to confirm the sad news over Twitter, writing, “We lost a true legend n hip hop n rnb. One of my best friends n a brother to me since 1986 when I was a sophomore at poly high where we met.”

“RIP NATE DOGG,” he added.

While TMZ reports:

Nate’s death was unexpected ... since he was making significant progress in his recovery from the most recent stroke he suffered in 2008.

According to McGrew ... Nate was “95% recovered from the first stroke in 2007” ... when the second stroke occurred in 2008 ... leaving Nate partially paralyzed and causing partial memory loss.

But McGrew says Nate had “cognitively fully recovered”—meaning he got his memory back and was fully alert and aware all the way up to his final days.

McGrew just released a statement on behalf of himself and Nate’s family ... saying, “We appreciate the enormous outpouring of response from all over the world. We greatly appreciate that and thank everyone for their prayers and support.”

 
Owsley “Bear” Stanley the 1960s counter-culture figure, who “flooded the flower power scene with LSD and was an early benefactor of the Grateful Dead” has died in a car crash in his adopted home country of Australia on Sunday, his family have said. He was 76. The National Post reports that Owsley was:

..the renegade grandson of a former governor of Kentucky, Stanley helped lay the foundation for the psychedelic era by producing more than a million doses of LSD at his labs in San Francisco’s Bay Area.

“He made acid so pure and wonderful that people like Jimi Hendrix wrote hit songs about it and others named their band in its honor,” former rock ‘n’ roll tour manager Sam Cutler wrote in his 2008 memoirs “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Hendrix’s song “Purple Haze” was reputedly inspired by a batch of Stanley’s product, though the guitarist denied any drug link. The ear-splitting blues-psychedelic combo Blue Cheer took its named from another batch.

Stanley briefly managed the Grateful Dead, and oversaw every aspect of their live sound at a time when little thought was given to amplification in public venues. His tape recordings of Dead concerts were turned into live albums.

The Dead wrote about him in their song “Alice D. Millionaire” after a 1967 arrest prompted a newspaper to describe Stanley as an “LSD millionaire.” Steely Dan’s 1976 single “Kid Charlemagne” was loosely inspired by Stanley’s exploits.

According to a 2007 profile in the San Francisco Chronicle, Stanley started cooking LSD after discovering the recipe in a chemistry journal at the University of California, Berkeley.

The police raided his first lab in 1966, but Stanley successfully sued for the return of his equipment. After a marijuana bust in 1970, he went to prison for two years.

“I wound up doing time for something I should have been rewarded for,” he told the Chronicle’s Joel Selvin. “What I did was a community service, the way I look at it. I was punished for political reasons. Absolutely meaningless. Was I a criminal? No. I was a good member of society. Only my society and the one making the laws are different.”

He emigrated to the tropical Australian state of Queensland in the early 1980s, apparently fearful of a new ice age, and sold enamel sculptures on the Internet. He lost one of his vocal cords to cancer.

Stanley was born Augustus Owsley Stanley III in Kentucky, a state governed by his namesake grandfather from 1915 to 1919. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 months, studied ballet in Los Angeles, and then enrolled at UC Berkeley. In addition to being an LSD advocate, he adhered to an all-meat diet.

A statement released by Cutler on behalf of Stanley’s family said the car crash occurred near his home in far north Queensland. He is survived by his wife Sheila, four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Here is a rare interview with Bear Owsley by Bruce Eisner .
 

 
Eddie Kirkland died on February 27 in Tampa, Florida. He was killed in a car accident while driving to a gig. He was 87.

A monster of a guitar player and a thrilling performer with a deep history within the blues community, Kirkland toured for 8 years with John Lee Hooker, was a bandleader for Otis Redding and played with Little Richard and Ben E. King, among many others. But despite his formidable credentials, Kirkland never broke out of the hardcore blues circuit to a wider audience.

Mr. Kirkland became known for his impassioned singing; wailing guitar lines (he was among the first to bring blues guitar into the electric age); vibrant stage presence (he favored bravura headgear like turbans and huge bandannas); and boundless energy, expressed not only musically but also acrobatically.”

The New York Times obituary here.

Eddie Kirkland with Foghat at the Palladium in New York City, 1977. Fuck yeah!
The Foghat footage is followed by a fan made video from last year of Eddie in rehearsal.