Abstract of commentary, Artists’ Suicides as a Public Good published in Archives of Suicide Research,
This Commentary suggests that it is possible, from an economic perspective, that any individual artist/celebrity suicide may be of net benefit to society. Sales of the artist’s products and associated merchandise may increase after the suicide, and people, including those who were not even born at the time of the suicide, may derive value from its iconic reification, not to mention the higher value they derive from some private goods. A case study of Kurt Cobain is given to illustrate this phenomenon.
After all if Cobain doesn’t pull the trigger, the world never gets this Eminem gem,
My favorite color is red, like the blood shed
from Kurt Cobain’s head, when he shot himself dead
(Of course at least Cobain had the guts to pull the trigger rather than get to the point where he’d release bull**** like “When I’m Gone” — more like When I’m Still Here.)