The 27 Club

The 27 Club

The 27 Club is a rather tragic series of coincidences that have existed for decades. The term 27 club was popularized in 1994 after the death of Kurt Cobain. Many fans of rock took note that he died at the age of 27 and connected this with other musicians who also died at age 27 such as Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin. The passing of Amy Winehouse in 2011 attracted even more attention to the age of 27 and the strange link it appears to have with musicians.

Statistically, speaking musicians are far more likely to pass away later in life than at the age of 27. Still, this mysterious club has sparked interest in the collective imagination of musicians and fans alike. There are some interesting points about the club beyond its members’ age. Some commonalities of many of the musicians who became part of club 27 is their immense talent, the deep psychological pain they felt, and their seemingly revolutionary contributions to their musical genre.

One potential explanation about the 27 club is known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon which means that when you learn something new (such as many musicians passing away at the same age) you are more likely to pay attention to it (and subsequently less likely to pay attention to other things). The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is a type of cognitive bias that can be thought of as a frequency illusion (because we are noticing it more it seems to occur more).

Regardless of if the 27 club is a myth or not it doesn’t change the fact that those musicians have passed away and they will be forever missed. All we can do is be thankful for the time they spent with us and remember them by listening to their music and celebrating their life.