(b. 1929, d. 3 Feb 1967)

No one made weirder space recordings or more heartfelt death discs than Joe Meek, so it’s no surprise that his own demise was dramatic and more than a little spaced out. On February 3, 1967-eight years to the day that Meek’s idol Buddy Holly perished in an airplane crash-a crazed Joe took his shotgun and opened fire on his landlady. After sending her lifeless body spiraling down a flight of stairs (without last month’s rent), he turned the weapon around and, blasting his own face off, he became the only rock ‘n’ roll suicide ever to take a hostage. Prior to his untidy demise, Meek was a hotly contested suspect in another grisly murder, this one involving a dismembered youth found in several suitcases left strewn about the British countryside. ~From Earth Reinherits Joe Meek by Serene Dominic