In Memoriam / Music

• On their album Anchors Aweigh The Bouncing Souls had "Todd's Song", in which they sang: "I grab into my sixpack and raise a can to another fallen friend...With a heart so big that you can't hide you took the path of a a slow suicide. And all those feelings that you had, they killed you from the inside...I can't say that I don't understand. I know you tried. I'll see you when we all come home."
• The Red Hot Chili Peppers have two songs, "Knock Me Down" (from Mother's Milk) and "My Lovely Man" (from Blood Sugar Sex Magic), that are tributes to their former guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died of a heroin overdose.
• AC/DC's Back in Black is dedicated to original vocalist Bon Scott, who died of alcohol poisoning prior to its recording. The album's title and iconic black cover are an allusion to the practice of wearing black in mourning.
• The lyrics for "Into the West," from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King were inspired by aspiring filmmaker and director Cameron Duncan, who had become friends with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and filmed an organ donation commercial for them. When the song received the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, Walsh dedicated the award to him; Duncan died of cancer at the age of 17, and some of his work can be seen on the extended editions of the LOTR DVDs.
• tool's album Aenima is dedicated to the memory of their friend, comedian Bill Hicks, who is featured in a mural in the album's liner notes.
• Eels's 1998 album "Electro-Shock Blues" was created during a very turbulent time of E's life. His sister Elizabeth (commonly referred to as Liz) overdosed in 1996 alongside his mother being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing radiation therapy to which she succumbed to not long after the albums release. The album's thank you section closed with a simple "For Liz" in honor of his late sister.
• The remaining members of Snot recorded a tribute album, Strait Up, in memory of their deceased vocalist, Lynn Strait. The album featured an extensive and substantial list of well-known rock, punk and metal musicians.
• The name and title track of "We Are The Others", the third album by Dutch symphonic metal band, Delain, was dedicated to the memory of Sophie Lancaster, a British young woman fatally injured in a hate attack on herself and her boyfriend Robert Maltby, in Lancashire in 2007; it is believed the pair were targeted because of their gothic appearance.
  I'm walking with Sophie tonight
  She lives in the air that I breathe
  I can't get it out of my mind
  How you were left to bleed!
  Was it how you dressed?
  Or how you act?
  I can't believe
  How they could act so violently
  Without regret
  Well we will not forget
• Rise Against wrote "Make It Stop (September's Children)" to honor the memories of all those who have died of bullying, be it homophobic or otherwise, even naming the gay teenagers who committed suicide in September 2010 during the bridge. The video makes this clear to those who didn't get it from just listening to the song.
• Dave Matthews Band dedicated their breakthrough album Under the Table and Dreaming to Dave's sister, Anne. She had been murdered by her husband a few months before the album's release.
  • Their album Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King is dedicated to their late saxophonist LeRoi Moore.
• Elton John's "Empty Garden", which was written in memory of his good friend John Lennon.
  • George Harrison and Paul McCartney wrote songs in memory of Lennon as well—"All Those Years Ago" and "Here Today", respectively.
  • Queen's "Life is Real" and Paul Simon's "The Late Great Johnny Ace" were dedicated to Lennon as well.
• "Mighty K.C." by For Squirrels was a tribute to Kurt Cobain, but before their album was released, two band members (the lead singer and the bassist) and their manager were killed in a car accident. The music video for the song was a tribute to them instead.
• "Let Me In" by R.E.M. is dedicated to/inspired by Cobain. The album it's found on, 1994's Monster, is also dedicated to late actor River Phoenix, a friend of the band members. The band's 1996 song "E-Bow the Letter" would also be dedicated to Phoenix, and takes its lyrics from a letter that Michael Stipe had written to him but never sent.
• New Order's 1981 debut album Movement was more or less their way of mourning the loss of Ian Curtis, their former lead singer during the band's days as Joy Division, who hung himself the previous year. Additionally, the instrumental track "Elegia" from their 1985 album Low-Life was also written in Curtis's memory; fittingly, the album was released just five days short of the fifth anniversary of his suicide.
• Versailles' album Jubilee (and, more specifically, the song "Serenade" and its music video) was dedicated to their bassist Jasmine You, who passed away during the album's production. "Faith & Decision" off of their later album Holy Grail is another (much longer) tribute to him.
• The Rolling Stones' 1969 compilation Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) is dedicated to former member Brian Jones, who'd drowned earlier that year. The sleeve notes include an epitaph that Jones had composed himself:
  When this you see, remember me
  And bear me in your mind
  Let all the world say what they may
  Speak of me as you find
• Manic Street Preachers have dedicated several records in memory of their co-manager Phillip Hall, most notably 1994's "The Holy Bible" to which Phillip died of cancer before pre-production started on the album. Sadly the band would later lose their rhythm guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards who disappeared in February 1995 after a notably long battle with depression, anorexia, self-harm and alcoholism. Richey was declared presumed dead in 2008. The National Treasures compilation album released in 2011 is dedicated to both Richey and Phillip as well as The Holy Bible's 20th anniversary special edition and its companion concert film "Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave" released in 2019 which is also dedicated to the memory of Collin Ross who providing the lighting effects on several Manic's tours, including The Holy Bible 20th anniversary tour.
• Claude Debussy dedicated the second movement of "En blanc et noir," with its sombre opening evoking distant bugles and drums and a tumultuous middle section menacingly quoting "Ein feste burg," to Lieutenant Jacques Charlot, a friend killed in battle in World War I.
• KISS' Creatures Of The Night album was dedicated to Neil Bogart, the founder of their label Casablanca Records, who died during the recording sessions. Ten years later, Revenge was dedicated to their drummer Eric Carr, who died from cancer the previous year, with a song performed by the band called "Carr Jam '81" included on the album as a tribute.
• The music video for "One More Light" by Linkin Park was released shortly after the suicide of Chester Bennington. It features footage of Chester performing and interacting with fans, as well as a title card at the end with resources for suicidal people.
  • The song itself was written in memoriam for Amy Zaret, a friend of the band's who had died from cancer.
• Igor Stravinsky's "In memoriam Dylan Thomas," a setting of Thomas's poem "Do not go gentle into that good night," was composed after the poet's death put an end to a planned collaboration with Stravinsky on a theatrical work.
• On Freak Out (1966) by Frank Zappa the section "in memoriam Edgard Varèse''" during "The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet" is a homage to Zappa's main musical inspiration Edgard Varèse, who died a year earlier.
• "The Real Sugar" from Pocket Revolution by dEUS is an homage to Mark Sandman (Morphine), who became a personal friend of Tom Barman in the 1990s, but died unexpectedly from a heart attack during a concert.
• Metallica wrote the song "To Live is To Die" as a tribute to Cliff Burton, the band's original bassist who was killed in a bus accident.
• Nine Inch Nails's live album "And All That Could Have Been" is dedicated in the memory of Rodney Robertson, a studio intern that Trent Reznor befriended who was murdered in 2001.
  • "I'm Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally", from The Fragile (1999), was dedicated to Trent's grandmother Clara.
• Ariana Grande's fourth album "Sweetner" was her first album to be released following the tragic events of 22nd May 2017 in which following her performance at Manchester Arena in England on the Dangerous Woman tour, a suicide bomber took the lives of 22 concertgoers and injured over 1000. The track "Get Well Soon" which touches on Ariana's personal dealing with the fallout of the event ends with 40 seconds of silence bringing the track length to 5:22 which is the Americanised date format of the day of the attack.
• Avenged Sevenfold's entire Nightmare album is dedicated to their late drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, who passed away after finishing the recording of the album in late 2009. Almost all of the lyrics were rewritten to reflect the band's pain over their loss. Even the CD case and booklet are filled with dedications to him.
  • Every album since Nightmare has been dedicated to the Rev's memory.
  • The remaining band members have even tribute tattoos to him.
• Heart's song "These Dreams" is dedicated to the memory of Sharon Hess, a good friend of Nancy Wilson.
• Visions of Atlantis's album "Ethera" was dedicated to former vocalist Nicole Bogner, who died after fighting a severe disease over a long period of time in January 6, 2012.
• The Rush album Different Stages is dedicated "In loving memory of Jackie and Selena." Selena was drummer Neil Peart's daughter, who was killed in a car accident in 1997; Jackie was his wife, who died of cancer less than a year later.
• The Dream Academy's hit single "Life in a Northern Town" was intended as an elegy for Nick Drake.
• Radiohead's album A Moon Shaped Pool is dedicated to the memory of Scott Johnson, a roadie for the band who was killed in a stage collapse in 2012.
  • Radiohead's 2017 reissue of their 1997 classic OK Computer, OK Computer: OKNOTOK 1997-2017, was dedicated in memory of Thom's wife Dr. Rachel Owen, who died after a long battle from cancer a year earlier. Although the original liner notes of the original released ended with the lines "We hope you are OK. Thank you for listening.", these lines are especially haunting and very touching when the dedication to Rachel is placed beforehand.
• Jacquie Lee’s “Somebody’s Angel” is dedicated “In memory of all those who are Somebody’s Angel now”. The video has a painted TV showing news clips of tributes to celebrities who died in 2016. It ends with a clip in bigger frame of Jacquie singing with fellow The Voice contestant Christina Grimmie, who was killed one day before the Pulse massacre, both in Orlando.
• In December 2016, Lamb of God released an EP called "The Duke". The title track, along with the EP, is a tribute to longtime fan Wayne Ford, who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010 and passed away in 2015. You can watch the story behind it here.
• The video to "Hickory Creek" by Whitechapel (Band) is dedicated to Phil Bozeman's mother, Theresa Leslie Bozeman, the basis of the album The Valley, who suffered from schizophrenia and crack addiction that eventually took her life. "Bring Me Home" from its predecessor Mark of the Blade is similarly inspired by Phil's father passing of cardiac arrest when he was just 10 years old.
• "We Were Young", Andy Wu’s mashup of 2016 pop hits, ends with a dedication to Prince, David Bowie, and Christina Grimmie.
  • The "Struggle" portion of "Perfect Struggle 2017" was dedicated to Chester Bennington, and in part uses one of his last singles, "Heavy."
  • A subtler one, but the description for "The Greatest Hope 2018" ends with:
    If you've ever had a dream linger in your head, this one’s for you.
  • "Kill the Unknown 2019" is for Juice WRLD and Avicii, though the later passed the year before.
• Several videos from The Wiggles have contained dedications as well:
  • The earliest was featured in the video "Toot Toot!", for John Field, the actor who played John the Cook in the video "Yummy Yummy", who had passed away in 1998.
  • The 2002 video "Wiggly Safari" was dedicated to New York City firefighter Brian Cannizzaro, a friend of the band who died during the 9/11 attacks, as well as everybody else who died that day.
  • 2004's "Top of the Tots" has dedications to Jane Hill (Greg Page's mother in-law) and singer Slim Dusty (who had died in 2002 and 2003, respectively).
  • The 2005 filmed version of "LIVE Hot Potatoes" sees dedications to a three-year-old girl named India who had passed away from a brain disease in 2003 (she is credited as "a special friend of Dorothy the Dinosaur") and pianist Steve Blau.
  • The 2015 video "Rock & Roll Preschool" is dedicated to Emma Watkins' nanna Edith Royal (who died the preceding year from a heart attack).
• Beast in Black's 2021 album Dark Connection is dedicated to mangaka Kentaro Miura, who had died on 6 May of a ruptured aorta. Principal songwriter Anton Kabanen is a longtime fan of Miura's most famous work, Berserk.
• Bonnie Raitt's 1991 album Luck of the Draw was dedicated to Stevie Ray Vaughan, who died in 1990, and of whom had encouraged her to stop abusing alcohol.
• Phish's 2002 album Round Room was dedicated to both fellow jam band musician Michael Houser of Widespread Panic, who died of pancreatic cancer earlier in the year, and Phish fan Scott Schertzer, who was killed in the 9/11 attacks.
• The music video for Juvenile's hit song "Slow Motion"^* Although the song originally belonged to guest artist Soulja Slim (more on him later), he gave it to Juvenile under the belief he was the bigger artist and that it was a potential hit. While it became a chart topper, Slim never lived to see its release or success and Juvenile considers it to be Slim's No. 1 hit, not his. was filmed as a tribute to Soulja Slim, who was shot dead in November of 2003.
• Depeche Mode's 2023 album Memento Mori was dedicated to founding member Andy Fletcher, who died of an aortic dissection the previous year.
• Slowdive's 2023 album everything is alive was dedicated to the memories of vocalist Rachel Goswell's mother, Valerie Ann Goswell, and drummer Simon Scott's father, Anthony John Scott. Both died in 2020.
• Christopher Cross dedicated his 1980 song "Ride Like The Wind" to his friend Lowell George, frontman of Little Feat, following George's sudden death from cardiac arrest.
• GWAR:
  • The Funny or Die short, The Animated Tales of GWAR, was dedicated to guitarist Corey Smoot (Flattus Maximus) after he was found dead on their tour bus from a suspected drug overdose in 2011. The song "Fly Now" from the album "Battle Maximus" was made in tribute to him as well, with the lyrics honoring Smoot's onstage persona.
  • The album "Blood of Gods" and its final song, "Phantom Limb", are dedicated to GWAR's founder and lead singer, Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus), who died of a heroin overdose in 2014.

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