That title (Death by Misadventure) has to be one of my favorite three word phrases of all time. It would make an excellent band name.
I came across it when following the rabbit hole of Google that started on looking for a Black “color” for Timmy’s bike on the Prismatic Powder website (which is a rabbit hole in itself). Timmy wanted “Ink Black” which is a high gloss/mirror black finish to the frame. We considered some sparkles but he ended up wanting something just ABSENT of color, pure black and the Ink Black looked to be the best fit. I talked to my powder peeps and they convinced us that their 90% high gloss black was indeed the same ‘color’ and that Prismatic just names their colors rather than codes them like Cardinal Powders (who is stocked by my guy). What’s this have to do with anything?
Timmy and I grew up on the same old 80’s heavy metal music (but our tastes for music don’t end there) like Rush, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, etc etc. AC/DC’s song Back in Black is the ‘color’ i thought of while looking at the choices of black…because it really is my favorite frame color. When I got my first custom frame (Indy Fab Planet Cross) it was black. I mean…i think you know what i mean…rock music and the color black are pretty inseparable! So I looked up AC/DC’s band list since I was having a brainfart moment when I couldn’t remember the guitarists name – ANGUS. Perfect, that’d make a good frame name other than the connotation with the beef industry. So I suggested that as his frame’s name. But then I noticed that Brian Johnson wasn’t always their lead singer and he just came on for everything after the Back in Black album! Bon Scott was their original singer (i.e., Highway to Hell) and had died from over-drinking (alcohol) one night out. The official cause of death on the death certificate was “death by misadventure.”
Now my response has nothing to do with the person or death itself, but just the phrase itself. So when I say I laughed out loud after seeing that phrase written in text, I didn’t mean any disrespect. It was more at the coroner’s expense because I feel he had a little sense of humor. I also couldn’t help see how fitting it is for so many other deaths around the world that happen after a major fail of some sort – whether it’s the Darwin Awards or someone caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing. This phrase is so descriptive of those ways we all say we want to die: “I want to die doing something I love.” Sounds really pleasant but in reality most of those ways to die are pretty painful and terrifying. I think I’d choose a more quiet and peaceful “death by falling asleep one night and not waking up when I’m old and gray.” Unfortunately that’s not as cool and doesn’t have the same ring to it.
If you Google “Death by Misadventure” you’ll see it’s more of a British phrase for death, there’s a website chronicling all sorts of things people die from during misadventures, several rock stars have died this way, and that Bruce Lee even has a film named after this.
But then I remembered Timmy sharing THIS link which is really what he was after – Spinal Tap’s (none more) Black album. Classic. So that journey down the rabbit hole just got me a cool three-word phrase that I would’ve named my band after had I ever had one after high school.
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