As albums of recently deceased Prince top the charts, fans clearly avoided purchasing his CDs while the artist was alive (and relevant), preferring to wait for funeral bells and a cast iron guarantee that they will never record again. One newly found fan of Prince explained: ‘Prior to his death all I could hear was discordant noise, accompanied by a shrill whine. But now I realise he was a genius. With the added bonus that I can bang on about his music, without having to listen to anything he did in the last ten years.’
Fans will jump on any musical bandwagon – provided it looks like a hearse. With editors of the NME are now considering replacing their front page with an obituary column. A music historian commented: ‘Mozart died a pauper, yet his work has grown in stature. Likewise, Pete Doherty smells like someone died and with the passage time everyone will realise he was sh$t.’