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Case Study: The 27 Club and the Obsession with Celebrity Death

The 27 Club wall art in Tel Aviv

I’m sure, if you have spent any time observing popular culture or listening to good music, dear reader, that you will be familiar with the ’27 Club’. Despite being associated with many forms of fame, such as professional sports players and actors, most widely, the 27 Club is associated with talented musicians, who have ‘lived too fast’ and notoriously struggled with addiction before their untimely deaths. Described by Rolling Stone as ‘one of the most elusive and remarkably tragic coincidences in rock and roll history’, the ‘coincidence’ has led to much discussion and conspiracy theory, notably regarding white lighters and mystery around celebrity death.

Some of the most notable members of the club include Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin. All the deaths within the club seemed to have contained some level of foul play or mystery, notably Kurt Cobain’s suicide (which, within itself, contains a conspiracy theory regarding whether it was actually a suicide or not). The mystery of the deaths within the club have ultimately created an air of intrigue around them, with conspiracies from devil worship and musicians ‘selling their soul’ to the influence of the Illuminati. The first notable instance of ‘joining the 27 Club’ dates as far back as 1938 – almost a century ago – with Delta Blues singer Robert Johnson passing away from poisoning, as well as pneumonia. The crossover of Illuminati conspiracy begins at the very start, with Johnson’s musical portrayals of the devil being looked into, post-Kurt Cobain’s death. This carries through to today, with the comments section of any YouTube video regarding the Club filled with theorists considering the ‘sad true reality of selling your soul’ and the ‘occult rituals of the elite. Sacrifices.’, even linking it to Freemasonry and the significance of 27 being the ‘killing number’ in gematria, a way of interpreting Hebrew scripture. As time went on, the 27 Club tragically filled with many more famous faces, each with odd circumstances around their deaths and often involvement with drugs or alcohol. The American popular culture obsession with celebrity death and the reason behind it is a raging force within the notoriety of the club – something I will be discussing further later in this blog.

A notable urban legend, or superstition, that many still live by, is the theory that white lighters are unlucky within the culture of smoking and drugs. This conspiracy stems from the often-perpetuated idea that notable members of the 27 Club died with a white lighter on their person or in the surroundings. Despite being proven incorrect many times, this myth is still perpetuated. Why? Does pop culture have such an impact that even a small conspiracy theory can live past myth-busting and Snopes fact checks? 

You might ask, dear reader – does all this count as a conspiracy theory? Or is it simply a coincidence with much interest surrounding it? Throughout my blog, I will be discussing this, and untangling the differences between conspiracy, superstition and legend within the bounds of the 27 Club and its legacy. The 27 Club might not be a conspiracy theory within itself, but the media around it perpetuates many interesting theories.

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