David Roback (Mazzy Star) dies at 61
02-25-20 | 08:00 PM
#1
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DVD Talk Special Edition
David Roback (Mazzy Star) dies at 61
From Rolling Stone (link):
This sucks. I know they weren't a big name in the overall scheme of things, but I loved them a lot. Plus, 61 is too young to die these days.
I had a female friend who went overseas to teach English after graduating college. Before she left we talked about getting married one day. We weren't officially "engaged", but it wasn't just idle talk, either. She was serious and I was serious. She died in a car accident while overseas, thousands of miles away from home, just as her life was truly getting started. I never got to see her again, except at the funeral. I was OK the first few days after she died... but I was at a friend's house when the "Fade Into You" video came on, and I just fucking lost it. It took me decades before I could listen to that song again... but in a way, it felt like it was the only thing that understood me at the time.
Rest in peace, David.
David Roback, co-founder of the widely celebrated alt-rock group Mazzy Star, died Monday, a representative for the band confirmed. A cause of death was not revealed. Roback was 61.
Roback founded Mazzy Star with Hope Sandoval in the late Eighties and served as the band’s guitarist, keyboardist and producer. Between 1990 and 1996, Mazzy Star released three critically acclaimed albums that blended dream pop, psychedelia and touches of blues and folk with some of the blown-out textures of Nineties alt-rock: She Hangs Brightly in 1990, So Tonight That I Might See in 1993 and Among My Swan in 1996.
Roback founded Mazzy Star with Hope Sandoval in the late Eighties and served as the band’s guitarist, keyboardist and producer. Between 1990 and 1996, Mazzy Star released three critically acclaimed albums that blended dream pop, psychedelia and touches of blues and folk with some of the blown-out textures of Nineties alt-rock: She Hangs Brightly in 1990, So Tonight That I Might See in 1993 and Among My Swan in 1996.
I had a female friend who went overseas to teach English after graduating college. Before she left we talked about getting married one day. We weren't officially "engaged", but it wasn't just idle talk, either. She was serious and I was serious. She died in a car accident while overseas, thousands of miles away from home, just as her life was truly getting started. I never got to see her again, except at the funeral. I was OK the first few days after she died... but I was at a friend's house when the "Fade Into You" video came on, and I just fucking lost it. It took me decades before I could listen to that song again... but in a way, it felt like it was the only thing that understood me at the time.
Rest in peace, David.
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story (02-25-20)
02-25-20 | 08:38 PM
#2
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Re: David Roback (Mazzy Star) dies at 61
That's a hell of a story, Rex. I hope you found new life after all of that.
They announced David's death and played "Fade Into You" on the radio today. I don't have such a personal connection to that song, yet it simply pulls at the heart. Very powerful.
They announced David's death and played "Fade Into You" on the radio today. I don't have such a personal connection to that song, yet it simply pulls at the heart. Very powerful.
02-29-20 | 06:25 PM
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Re: David Roback (Mazzy Star) dies at 61
Sad beautiful story.
The fact that Fade into You was a radio hit in 1993 is all you need to know about how much better music and radio used to be.
The fact that Fade into You was a radio hit in 1993 is all you need to know about how much better music and radio used to be.
03-03-20 | 08:07 AM
#4
Re: David Roback (Mazzy Star) dies at 61
Before Roback was in Mazzy Star he was the leader and guitar player for one of the great LA 'Paisley Underground' bands of the early-'80s, Rain Parade. Their album Emergency Third Rail Power Trip is a classic. But even better - and IMO one of the greatest pop albums ever recorded, was a covers collection recorded by a bunch of Paisley Underground vets called Rainy Day. It featured Roback, Karl Precoda from Dream Syndicate, Susannah Hoffs from The Bangles, Michael Quercio from The Three O'Clock, and many, many more. Please check it out, it's fantastic.
