(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