John Winston Lennon, he seemed a minor deity,immune to nutters. George proved the vision false. The price of fame and talent is transient and eventual rubbish.
Kirsty MacColl. Nearly 14 years on, I can't even write about it without weeping. Here's something I wrote on another forum: A beautiful voice, a lovely person, a genius songwriter - easily the equal of Elvis Costello or Lennon/McCartney - and in her tragic and senseless death, a hero. For those of you who are unaware, Kirsty had a long career, starting with singles on Stiff Records going on to produce a wonderful string of records in a wide range of styles. But the average person only knows her for two things - the song "The Don't Know", otherwise known as "Tracy Ullman's theme song" and her duet with Shane McGowan on "Fairytale of New York". Her last album Tropical Brainstorm was the result of a new relationship and falling in love with the music and people of Cuba. Which led her to developing an interest in diving. She was diving with her children in the Gulf of Mexico in a clearly marked diving zone when a speed-boat piloted by the son of the owner of Mexico's biggest grocery chain came barreling towards Kirsty and her family. She pushed her children out of the way, saving their lives, but being hit on the head and killed. The worst part of the whole thing is the rich little s**t managed to get a boat hand to claim that he had been driving. And Mexican law allows people to pay a percentage of their yearly income and buy their way out of jail. Justice, in this case, meant 1034 pesos, or roughly $90. The combination of her brilliant talent, tragic death, gross injustice and dying saving the life of a child...I can't type this out, or even think about it a decade later without tears welling up in my eyes. I'm sitting here sobbing.
John Lennon Jerry Garcia Roy Orbison even tho I wasn't a huge fan, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston both bothered me a bit
John Lennon. Earth shattering beyond belief for me as a ten-year-old. I felt like I lost a close family member. My innocence was forever lost when I woke up to that news on 12/9/80.
I would have to say Elliott Smith. I still remember sitting down at my computer and clicking on Yahoo and seeing the headline about his death. It was like a punch in the stomach. At that point I was probably a fan for about 3-4 years. I even went and had a memorial tattoo done in his memory. And I remember when John Lennon died. I was 11 at the time and remember my mom telling me as I was lying in bed. It didn't hit me hard then but I remember in the months after that I would have a wave of disbelief come over me that he was really gone forever.
Definitively... John Lennon. he was the first artist whose music I really like and who died during my adolescence. But Freddy Mercury's death was shocking to my generation
Only two have really hit me hard... John Lennon - I had just turned 7 and my father used to sing "Beautiful Boy" to me, which pleased me to no end. Just sitting there, my face about 8 inches from our old TV set, watching the candlelight vigil in Central Park. I cried so much that image on the screen was fuzzy. I still have that memory in my head of the flames flickering through my blurry eyes. Adam Yauch - MCA - I didn't think his death would have hit me so hard, but it did. Remember, it was out of the blue, too. Not many people knew he was that sick, what with the new album coming out and all. Everything he stood for, later in his life, was an inspiration. These guys provided the soundtrack of my youth. Shalom. My wife says that she's going to lose it when Willie Nelson passes away.
Angry : John Lennon. I was fifteen years old and off school with 'flu. Woke up and put on the radio just in time to hear 'Cold Turkey'; ''You don't hear that on the radio very often'' I thought. It was immediately followed by 'I'm Only Sleeping'; then the DJ said ''Two songs there by John Lennon who was murdered in New York this morning''. I gasped; I was rooted to the spot, I felt like I'd been punched and the rest of that day seemed to swirl in and out of my head. Sad : George Harrison; again, woke up one morning just in time to put the radio on when the news was just breaking. Went downstairs and sat in front of the TV all day absolutely blubbing. He was the only ex-Fab I really wanted to meet. I loved his sense of humour (which is ALL OVER his albums, but some people just can't hear it). Still get teary when I see/hear him. The story Ringo tells at the end of the George film about him being on his death bed and offering to go with him as Ringo's daughter has brain tumour surgery just makes me love George even more. Phil Lynott ; his death seemed to come from absolutely nowhere; first he was ill, a week later he was gone. I know a lot of people say so-and-so is a rock 'n' roll poet, but Lynott absolutely WAS. Freddie Mercury : as with George, we were sort of expecting it, but it was still a shock when it happened. But they were two people who went on their own terms and were prepared for the end. Not many people can say that.
John Lennon. That was one of those you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing moments when I heard the news. I was walking down the hall of my dorm at college when a friend at the other end called out to me and said "Did you hear the news? John Lennon was killed." It felt like I'd been punched in the gut.
Michael Jackson. When I started getting into music, the 2001 remaster of Thriller was the first Jackson CD I bought, and it was stolen at a party. I quickly replaced it and bought his other albums as well. I was really looking forward to his comeback concerts, but they were not to be. I'll never forget where I was when I heard the news break that he had died. I guess due to his "Peter Pan Complex" he seemed like someone who could never die, though looking back now it seems more and more obvious that he wasn't well. I remember Amazon selling out of all his CDs for a couple weeks, luckily I already had them. George Harrison died when I was starting to get into The Beatles music, if his death would have been a few years later it would have hit me a lot harder, though it still saddened me at the time.
John Lennon because of the shock and senseless of his death. Next world be Davy Jones mostly because I knew him and worked with him and for me and many other fans his passing felt like a death in the family.
