Short-Lived, Big Impact

Anime andManga

Kuso Miso Technique was just a one-shot manga. Its impact in form of the "yaranaika" meme and helping to bring theBara Genre to the attention of the anime fandom is still felt, more than 20 years after its publication.

Neon Genesis Evangelion could be considered this. Just 26 episodes (and a movie). Forever changed the anime industry,desconstructing,making andcodifying many tropes that are used this day (much like theWatchmen example below), also spawning aCash Cow Franchise with manyLighter and Softer spin-offs mangas, games, and tons ofMisaimed Marketing.

Film

James Dean starred in only three Hollywood films and died in a tragic car crash shortly after finishing the third one, but his performances inEast of Eden andRebel Without a Cause (especially the latter) pretty much defined the "misunderstood bad-boy teen" image of the era.

Bruce Lee didn't star in very many films, and died at the age of 33, but he is widely credited with introducing martial arts films to the United States, and popularizing Asian culture. His fighting philosophy still lives on to this day, and he has inspired dozens upon dozens ofBruce Lee Clones.

Eddie and the Cruisers is an in-universe example: the eponymous band is hailed as the forerunners of modern rock even though the band disbanded after the sudden death/disappearance of their lead singer/songwriter.

Filipino comedianRene Requiestas was one of the country's top-grossing comedy acts owing to his gaunt, nearly-toothless appearance. Rene was often cast as sidekicks or ascomic relief in various comedy-dramas alongside prominent actors of the 80s and 90s, though he has also played major roles especially in the unauthorisedBatman musical pasticheAlyas Batman en Robin where he appeared as Joker. Apparently his career was just too good to last, succumbing from tuberculosis at the age of 36, though he is still well-remembered as a comedy legend alongside the likes ofDolphy. Such was his legacy that an independent filmmaker hired a Requiestas impersonator named Gilbert Orcine (who previously joined a lookalike contest inIt's Showtime!) in a parody trailer of the 2019 filmJoker entitledAlyas Joker, in reference to Requiestas' role as Joker inAlyas Batman.^[1]

Literature

Older Than Print:The Canterbury Tales was never even finished. It is still considered one of the most influential books of the English language despite the fact it was written in Middle English.

John Keats was only 25 when he died, with only three books of his work published, but is considered one of the Great Romantic Poets.

Stieg Larsson, author oftheMillennium Trilogy (of whichThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was the first book), died under mysterious circumstances before finishing what was supposed to be a five-book series. The series became a phenomenon, and many a modern author is already showing influence from his books, especially amongst the Nordic countries.

The Brontë sisters,Charlotte,Emily andAnne were extremely successful and influential authors, but they only wrote a total of seven books between the three of them.

John Kennedy Toole committed suicide at 31 without publishing anything. Years after his death,A Confederacy of Dunces got published, received a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and became a canonical work of Southern Literature. You'll still find plenty of references to it around New Orleans.

Arthur Rimbaud is considered one of the most influential poets of the 19th century, despite giving up writing at19 years of age.

Live-Action TV

TheAdam WestBatman series pretty much defined the Caped Crusader in the public eye for decades (and seemingly permanently in Japan), but the TV show itself only ran for two years.

Star Trek: The Original Series originally lasted for just two seasons, beingUncancelled for a third season before dying completely. It's also a cultural icon, having an immense influence on science fiction, as well as western culture as a whole. Good luck finding someone who doesn't recognize Captain Kirk and Mister Spock, even if they were born long after the series was first aired.

Japanese Spider-Man ran for one season (41 episodes), and subsequent sentai series seemed to requireHumongous Mecha.

Twin Peaks: With only two seasons and 30 episodes, it popularized theQuirky Town genre in American television, having descendants suchPicket Fences andNorthern Exposure that ran much longer thanTwin Peaks itself. Also, the amount of surrealism, eccentric humor, and horror in it were highly exceptional for a mainstream American drama series of its era, but such elements became much more common in television in its wake in the 1990s and 2000s.

The Greatest American Hero: As lampshaded by Peter Griffin in the title quote.GAH - after only a three-season run (of which both the first and third seasons were half seasons) - is still quite memorable, and more or less^{[please verify]} the go-to show for superhero parodies. The show lives on today^[when?] in a comic book, as well as many shoutouts in everything fromSeinfeld toThe Big Bang Theory toRobot Chicken toHomestar Runner.

Music

The infamous27 Club, a group of singers who all died at 27, greatly limiting their output, but they all left profound impacts on music:

Robert Johnson—basically madeBlues what it was; was also a profound influence on many of the earliest rock singers
Brian Jones—foundedThe Rolling Stones, who were the main influences of bands like ACDC,Aerosmith,Led Zeppelin, etc, who pioneered theHeavy Metal genre.
Jimi Hendrix—one of the most influential guitarists of all time; the "burn the strings" guitar solo was invented by him, and just about every hard rocker since has imitated it.
Janis Joplin—a key player in women coming onto the rock scene; everyone fromParamore toP!nk owes something to her.
Jim Morrison—in addition to being the lead singer ofThe Doors, he is widely regarded has having perfected the modern "rock star" image.
Kurt Cobain—the lead singer ofNirvana, he helped define the image of rock the late 80's and early 90's, and set the stage for the rock scene in the next decade.
Amy Winehouse—a key influence in revitalizing the stagnated British music scene, and for popularizing soul music, she directly inspired and paved the way for major artists likeAdele,Lady Gaga,Florence Welch, Paloma Faith, Jessie J, Duffy, Rebecca Ferguson and Gabriella Cilmi.

TheSex Pistols had a grand total ofone studio album, yet they are considered the pioneers ofPunk Rock.

Led Zeppelin had a career that spanned little more than a decade, cut short by drummer John Bonham's death. Their impact on the rock genre is undeniable, and their sound was one of the precursors toHeavy Metal.

Eazy-E had his life cut short by AIDS, but his career was one of the most influential in theGangsta Rap genre.

English indie rockersThe Stone Roses managed only two albums and yet were a big influence on many rock bands of the Nineties.

2Pac andThe Notorious B.I.G. both died at 25, leaving a profound influence on rap in their wake.

Joy Division only released two albums owing to theAuthor Existence Failure of their lead singer (who died at 23), but are the first thing everyone thinks of when they hear the termPost Punk, in addition to helping lay the groundwork for what would becomeGoth Rock. IfThe Doors did not influence them, usually Joy Division did. Subverted, however, when the remaining members regrouped asNew Order.

The Beatles. 12 years together, 7 years recording professionally, little more than a dozen albums... still getting airplay a half-century after they disbanded, still cited as influences on later performers' work.

Cream was only together for a couple of years, but in that time, they influenced Hendrix, the development of heavy metal (Led Zeppelin,Deep Purple) and jam bands likeThe Allman Brothers Band andThe Grateful Dead.

Buddy freaking Holly. He died at 22; without him the Beatles wouldn't even benamed the same. (It was aShout-Out to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.) He was also a massive influence onBob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and pretty much the entire early rock scene.

Slint recorded just two albums, with only one (Spiderland) being of major importance. However that record defined most of the sound followed by later indie rock and post-rock artists.

The Police; six years and five albums, and they had a huge influence onNew Wave andSka.

Syd Barrett was guitarist forPink Floyd for less than two albums, and had a big influence onPsychedelic Rock and even Proto-Punk Rock.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at 35, as noted in the page quote.

Tom Lehrer. His recording career in the '50s and '60s produced only three full albums before he grew tired of the industry and retired to a life in academia.

Aaliyah only released 3 albums over 7 years before her untimely death at the age of 22. However, she is considered one of the redefining artists ofR&B inThe Nineties and is probably one of theTrope Codifiers for current R&B singers.

Brazilian comedy rock band"Mamonas Assassinas" is definitely an example. A time interval of only 6 months between their sudden rise to fame, to the tragic airplane crash that killed all members in 1996. They only had one released album, but still remain one of the most popular and influential bands in Brazil to this day.

Web Original

In the early years of video game FAQ-writing, one username stood out above the rest as a good model of how to properly detail gameplay, both in the long form needed for RPGs such asFinal Fantasy VII and the short form used for such genres as fighting games: Kao Megura. Sadly, he passed away in 2004, but his influence is seen in FAQs to this day.

Western Animation

UPA [United Productions of America] barely lasted more than a decade as a theatrical cartoon studio, during which time theirstylized approach to the medium profoundly changed the way cartoons looked for the next few decades (for better or worse). Even today, their influence, direct or indirect, is felt in shows as diverse asDexter's Laboratory,The Powerpuff Girls,Beavis and Butthead,Samurai Jack,Home Movies,The Simpsons andMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

The Ren and Stimpy Show at four seasons (the last two of which are barely talked about nowadays) did not last so long as the two other shows in the originalNicktoons line up,Rugrats andDoug, which continued in some form or another for the better part of a decade. And yet,R&S is among the most influential cartoon shows of the last twenty years, spawning dozens of imitators and being theTrope Maker for theGross-Out Show genre.

Mighty Mouse the New Adventures managed just 19 episodes before it was shut down in a controversy fueled byMoral Guardians. However, the series was highly influential on later animated series, and those series' snarky, zany, pop-culture obsessed tone. Additionally, it was one of the first examples of "creator-run animation" on American television - animation that had theCreator Thumbprint of a specific artist (in this caseRalph Bakshi) or team of animators.

Movatterモバイル変換