Mick Karn RIP

[telecat]

From Mick Karn.com

It's with profound sadness that we have to inform you that Mick finally lost his battle with cancer and passed away peacefully at 4.30pm today, 4th January 2011 at home in Chelsea, London. He was surrounded by his family and friends and will be deeply missed by all.

Posted: 4th January 2011


A very sad day to a great musician

[clonmult]

Very sad indeed .....

Blog post from Durans JT makes some interesting reading :

JT said:

They were so fresh, while every other band in town were tripping over each other in a rush to play the same three chords, Japan were brave in many ways. When I think back to that night the image that first comes to mind first is beautiful Mick, red hair and Ibanez bass, shaved eyebrows and ballet shoes, shuffling around the floor like a docile robot, playing also with great beauty and verve, punching delicate holes in the fabric of the songs; in Mick Karn’s basslines no notes were ever wasted.

....

I did not follow Mick’s work past Dali’s Car, but got to speak to him last year as we both made contributions to the David Bowie tribute, ‘We Were So Turned On’. We made tentative plans to meet in London, and Duran discussed Mick contributing to ‘All You Need is Now’. It never happened.

He was definitely admired amongst his peers, and its definitely a shame that he couldn't be involved in Durans latest album ... would have been good to hear his influence on that, and subsequently to see him back topping the charts around the world (albeit download only).

Edited by clonmult on Wednesday 5th January 10:03

[snowy slopes]

Mick was for me one of the best bass players around. He was using fretless before it became popular, and was a very fluid player RIP mick

[macp]

Swmbo told me this afternoon oddly nothing on TV or radio.Very sad loss I was also an admirer of his fretless bass playing.There was only really him and Pino Palladino doing it spectacularly back then.

[darreni]

snowy slopes said:

Mick was for me one of the best bass players around. He was using fretless before it became popular, and was a very fluid player RIP mick

+1. I'm a huge Pino fan, but Mick set the standard.

Spent most of the weekend decorating & listening to Assemblage over & over again, sounding as fresh as it did nearly 30 years ago.

RIP.

[rover 623gsi]

Such sad news. Just been listening to Gentleman Take Polaroids in my car today.

[alfa phil]

Saw them twice in the 80,s i shall go and play one of my all time fav records Life In Tokio , sad, news,

[Speedracer329]

Very sad news, Mick was truely gifted & contributed enormously to Japan's sucess.
I saw Japan a few times in the '80's, their music was a constant in my life back then, & even now play their music often.

[vixen1700]

Very sad, only 52.

I'll stick my old vinyl copies of Adolescent Sex & Obscure Alternatives on at the weekend and raise a glass.

[vetteheadracer]

Hugely sad and nothing on the Radio today, Japan were one of my favourite acts back in the early 80's.

[Mark-C]

Didn't know about this until I found this thread. I was playing bass in a hippie\mateal band until someone made me listen to Japan. I was hugely influenced but not talented enough to get near what Mick could do ....

Loved the Dali's Car album and belive he and Pete Murphy were looking to do another.

[telecat]

Loved The Music from "Life in Tokyo" and just carried on with Japan. Many don't know of the work with Bill Nelson on "Chimera" and "Vistamix" and his work with Gary Numan on "Dance" is fantastic.

[Bingone]

Spent hours listening to Japan whilst writing machine code programmes on my ZX Spectrum! Never forget the video of Nightporter (IIRC) when Mick Karn looked to float across the stage whilst strumming the bass-line on his fretless. Cool geezer. Funny thing was, the day he died I was looking to download Porcupine Tree album without knowing that Richard Barbieri was the man behind the band. Serendipity?

RIP. Japan definitely led me on the road to my musical taste. They were kids in school when they decided to become a band. It was only after they stopped arguing with their label that they started to argue with each other. Shame.

[Bebee]

I took the frets out of my bass after I heard this guy play.
Very sad.

[NLB]

Japan were much derided (and, to be honest, a bit ridiculous sometimes...), but they made some very good music, and Mick Karn was a really superb bass player. I saw them a few times, and still have all the albums. Good bass playing is one of those things that seem to me to be very important, and surprisingly rare - I can't abide bands where the bassist just plonks away on the root note of each chord. Karn was fluid, inventive, melodic and not showy (a failing of some otherwise very good bassists...).

A great shame.