Punk Rock Poet Jim Carroll Dies at 60
Punk rocker and poet Jim Carroll, author of the autobiographical
The Basketball Diaries, has died. He was 60.
He died Friday while working at his desk in his Manhattan home, according to his website. The cause of death is believed to be a heart attack.
His Jim Carroll Band combined his poetic sensibility with rock ‘n’ roll and was influential in the burgeoning punk rock scene in 1970s New York.
Carroll made a big impact with his album Catholic Boy and the single People Who Died, which was heavily played in response to ex-Beatle John Lennon’s death in 1980.
He rubbed shoulders with artists such as the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Larry Rivers and Robert Mapplethorpe in New York.
“There ain’t much time left, you’re born out of this insane abyss and you’re going to fall back into it, so while you’re alive, you might as well show your bare ass,” Carroll told Rolling Stone at the time.
Known for his deeply personal lyrics, Carroll recorded the albums Pools of Mercury, I Write Your Name and A World Without Gravity.
He was an influence on a later generation of artists, both musicians and writers, and worked with Pearl Jam, Rancid, Lou Reed, Danny Barnes and John Cale.
