Baby Boomers and Big Bang** Disruption – The ongoing new normal for celebrity deaths

Fame**

There has been significant commentary about the apparently overwhelming number of ‘celebrity’ deaths in recent years.

This year, ignoring Covid19, has already seen the passing of (for me) many heroes, icons or people I generally much preferred to know were around (name check, in no particular order, among many others: Clayton Christensen, Terry Jones, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fowlds, Richard Herd, Jerry Stiller, Little Richard, Cady Groves, Minnie Ross, Shirley Douglas, Kirk Douglas, Kenny Rogers, Poeti Norac, Tim Brooke Taylor, Florian Schneider, Bill Withers etc etc).

Sign o' the times**

There are many who are suggesting however that we are merely at the start of the ‘new normal’ in relation to the death rates of well-known celebrities.

Two significant reasons for this are:

a             the baby boomer population bubble; and

b             ‘Big Bang Disruption’ theory.

The socioeconomic impact of the baby boomer generation as it has moved through the lifecycle is well documented.

Even the youngest baby boomers are now in their 50s, and the oldest are into their late 70s.

While the baby boomer generation has caused a ‘bubble’ at each other stage of their lifecycle, because of the way life expectancies are spread, it is likely that instead of a bubble, there will be instead a jump up in overall deaths that will be sustained over a long period.

This outcome is arguably further reinforced by the significant growth in elder suicide rates in recent times.

The Edge of heaven**

Malcolm Gladwell popularised the concept of ‘the tipping point’.

One key, although often overlooked, aspect of this theory in popular culture was the timeframe over which popularity of something evolved and maintained cultural interest levels.

Throughout the era of key popularity for baby boomer icons, the lifecycle of popularity was at least 10 years, and in many instances far longer.

Primarily driven by technology innovations, Big Bang Disruption theory shows that the lifecycle of popularity in the post iPhone era is as a general rule significantly shorter, although often more intense than in the earlier modern eras. 

In other words – think (in western culture) Gangnam Style by Psy the most watched YouTube music video ever with around 2.8 billion views, as compared to (say) the sustained successful career of Madonna which arguably started on Countdown in 1984. 

Gimme Shelter**

The historically sustained period of popularity and the sheer size of the baby boomer generation therefore will arguably combine to mean that for the foreseeable future, each year will be viewed as a bad one for celebrity deaths.

As with any theory however, there will be exceptions, and in this space, the exception is arguably the rule that is Keith Richards.

Few can name a harder living baby boomer celebrity, and yet without wishing to trigger a Murphy’s Law outcome, Richards continues to defy most commonly held assumptions about his life expectancy.

** For the trainspotters, the title today is riffed from the Stone Temple Pilots song 'Big Bang Baby', whose original lead singer, although not quite a baby boomer is nevertheless no longer with us.

View here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0gAxuvo5rc

PPS: all subheadings should be obvious for the trainspotters as well.