Two iconic artists passed away today: Sky Saxon (frontman of early 1960s garage band The Seeds) and Michael Jackson.

Sky Saxon had been hospitalized on Monday, reported in Spinner as “suffering from an undisclosed illness”. He played his last gig on Saturday night at Antone’s in Austin, Texas. Along with groups like The Sonics and The Monks, The Seeds, formed in Los Angeles 1965, were a crucial part of the first wave of garage rock. Their ‘65 single “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine” (later covered by artists like Johnny Thunders, Garbage, and Yo La Tengo) and 1966 single “Pushin’ Too Hard”, later included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, were particular hits in southern California. Their 1966 releases The Seeds (pictured above) and A Web of Sound exemplify the early garage/freakbeat sound, with 1967 album Future leaning towards their psych-rock side, after which the Seeds disbanded and A Spoonful of Seedy Blues was released by the Sky Saxon Blues Band. Through the years, Saxon had released a number of solo albums and performed with assorted incarnations of the Seeds, and according to Jargon Records, he had recently recorded an album of new material due out this year.

Michael Jackson, as reported at E! Online, “suffered a heart attack…and never recovered” (details are still unfolding as I write this). Originally debuting in The Jackson 5 soul/R&B group, formed in 1966, with his siblings on 1969 album Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson went on to an impressive, successful solo career, later being referred to as “The King of Pop”, with albums like Off the Wall (1979; pictured above), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987), and became an integral part of 1980s MTV music video rotation and transforming the music video as a medium into an art form. Amidst legal woes and assorted press maladies, he had announced a comeback tour and new album in the works at a press conference in March, though dates had been postponed amidst rumors of poor health.

We at A Future in Noise encourage our readers to celebrate these artists’ incredible legacy of music, today and for all-time.