Welcome to Gaia! :: The Official Elliott Smith Guild (12 users) | Gaia Guilds

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Some information about the guild:
It has come to my attention that very few people are educated about the amazing brilliance that is Elliott Smith. This is a saddening fact. I plan on fixing this, if I can. I need all of you, the few who recognize Elliott's genious, to help.

After this guild is together, we have to gather ourselves up. During this proccess the guild will be set on "private mode." After we have at least five or six active members, we will make the guild public. We will open the guild to those who are interested in knowing about Elliott Smith; who he is, what he did, what happened to him, all of that. As people recognize him, they are sure to become fans themselves. I am willing to provide legal music (for free) to those who haven't heard him. As these people become fans, they may request to join the guild. Once they join they will help the rest of us in educating others. In this way we should be able to educate a large sum of Gaia's population.


Some info on Elliott
Well, here's the AllMusic Bio:

Folk-punk singer/songwriter Elliott Smith rose from indie obscurity to mainstream success in 1997 on the strength of "Miss Misery," his Academy Award-nominated song from the film Good Will Hunting. A native of Portland, OR, Smith began writing and recording his first songs at age 14, later becoming a fixture of the city's thriving music scene; as a member of the band Heatmiser, he debuted in 1993 with the LP Dead Air, issuing his first solo effort Roman Candle on the tiny Cavity Search label a year later. For his 1995 self-titled album, Smith signed with the noted Kill Rock Stars label; Either/Or followed in 1997, around the same time that filmmaker and longtime fan Gus Van Sant requested permission to use the singer's music in his upcoming Good Will Hunting. Smith also composed a handful of new songs for the soundtrack, among them "Miss Misery," and when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its Oscar nominations the following February, the track was a surprise entry in the Best Original Song category. Although he did not win, Smith performed the song live at the televised Oscar broadcast, appearing on-stage alongside superstars Trisha Yearwood and eventual award-winner Celine Dion in one of the most notably surreal musical moments in recent memory. Smith's DreamWorks label debut, XO, followed later in 1998. Two years later he delivered Figure 8, which indulged in lush arrangements and orchestrations more so than any of his previous solo efforts. For the next two years, Smith labored over what was to be his next album, From a Basement on a Hill. He would not live to see its completion, however -- to the shock of friends and fans alike, Smith took his own life on October 21, 2003. The record was released two days shy of the first anniversary of his.


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To answer the question I always get asked (Why did he kill himself), here's part of his Wikipedia Entry.
According to Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, around the same time that he began recording his final album, Smith began to display signs of paranoia, often believing that a white van followed him wherever he went. He would have friends drop him off for recording sessions almost a mile away from the studio, and to reach the location he would trudge through hundreds of yards of brush and cliffs. He started telling people that DreamWorks was out to get him. "Not long ago my house was broken into, and songs were stolen off my computer which have wound up in the hands of certain people who work at a certain label. I've also been followed around for months at a time. I wouldn't even want to necessarily say it's the people from that label who are following me around, but it was probably them who broke into my house." [12] Nugent's book says that during this time, Smith hardly ever ate, subsisting primarily on ice cream. He would go for several days without sleeping, and then sleep for an entire day.

He attempted to go to rehab several times, but he said he "couldn't honestly do the first step [admit that he had a drug/alcohol problem]... I couldn't say what you were supposed to say and mean it." [12] After several particularly dark years for Smith, things began to improve. Director Mike Mills had been working with Smith at the time on the soundtrack for his movie Thumbsucker. Mills said, "I gave the script to him, then he dropped off the face of the earth... He went through his whole crazy time, but by the time I was done with the film, he was making From a Basement on a Hill and I was shocked that he was actually making music."[29]

In the fall of 2002, Smith went to the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a course of treatment for his drug addiction. In one of his final interviews, he spoke about the center: "What they do is an IV treatment where they put a needle in your arm, and you're on a drip bag, but the only thing that's in the drip bag is amino acids and saline solution. I was coming off of a lot of psych meds and other things. I was even on an antipsychotic, although I'm not psychotic." [12] Although suspicions later arose about the validity of the center, its physicians and their practices, Smith's time there proved to do wonders for him, helping him permanently beat his addictions to heroin and crack. After his 34th birthday on August 6, 2003, he gave up alcohol, caffeine, red meat, refined sugar and his longtime (sometimes abused) regimen of psychological medication. [4]

Rumors of Smith's improving condition spread on the Internet and throughout the independent music community (as apparent on Ben Folds' tribute song to Smith, "Late" wink . He began looking forward to the future and new projects; he began experimenting with noise music and purchased an iMac with intent to learn how to record with computers, saying that it was the only method he was still unfamiliar with. [12] Smith was in the process of recording songs for the Thumbsucker soundtrack including Big Star's "Thirteen", Cat Stevens's "Trouble" and his own composition "Let's Get Lost". He was also believed by Mike Mills to be working on covers of Leonard Cohen's "Sisters of Mercy" and John Lennon's "Isolation". Mills noted that Smith was very enthusiastic and "so into it". [29] The soundtrack was later completed by The Polyphonic Spree.


Some added info of my own:
Elliott had a real touching connection with his fans. Sometimes he'd lose his place and even forget his lyrics halfway through. His fans would just cheer him on and sing them back to him.


Eventually he'd remember and continue on. There was one concert where he lost his place in a song and couldn't remember where to go, I believe this was one of his last concerts before he killed himself. He clutched his shirt, around where is heart was and struggled to stop himself from looking like a fool, or at least more than he already did. No one thought he was a fool though, they just sang his lyrics back to him until he remembered.



Elliott, we forever hold you in our hearts.