That's true, but I think that even if we never knew any of these musicians personally, we still feel a certain connection to them through their music. Any sense of loss someone may feel is, I think, relative to how invested that someone is/was to that particular musician and, of course, their music. I'm sure each and every one of these musicians all did more in their lives than what ten Joe Schmoes (like me) did collectively. The music these guys left behind for us to enjoy is their greatest gift, so I think that helps people get over the loss they feel, and also stay connected to that musician -- even if they didn't know the musician personally.
Keith Emerson The man I consider the best keyboards player in the universe. Finding out that he had killed himself because he was suffering from depression,just made it that much worse.
Being a man of 27 years old. Not that many. I remember loving Elvis since I was born and when i found out at a young age that he was dead and learning about death, i was bummed. I remember actually shedding a tear when Bowie died. Other than that i just say "damn". I was friends with the beautiful Jessi Zazu who passed away last Sept. I was more upset due to her being my friend, but she was an artist in the truest sense.
Tom Petty for sure....his passing affected me more than any other entertainer. Felt like losing a friend...he was a part of my life for all of my growing up years and consistently put out great songs through the entire time. His passing was shocking and unexpected. I loved him and his music. Then a few weeks later, David Cassidy passed away and he was the first record I ever had when I was a little kid. I loved him on Partridge Family and always liked him after the show was over. His voice was like velvet and he was incredibly handsome. So my answer to the question is Tom Petty and David Cassidy.
John Lennon - but that pain has long subsided. Joey Ramone - the sadness of his passing will never go away.
Kurt Cobain. I wasn't a fan, but my friend Eric loved Nirvana. The two of us met up for a game of basketball the day Kurt's body was found. Our games were always pretty physical, but that game was absolutely brutal. Eric was so upset that he wound up breaking my left hand while trying to block a shot. My hand was in a cast for 8 weeks, and my middle finger is crooked to this day.
John Lennon because I was just 10 when he died and my favorite bands were The Monkees and The Beatles. I found out the next morning when I woke up. I was upset enough that my parents let me stay home from school and just listen to my Beatles' albums.
Gord had such an inspiring and brave last two years. Like Bowie he really made it count artistically and beyond with his advocacy for First Nations. I'll remember that last Tragically Hip concert broadcast forever.
As much as I love music, the death of a musician rarely crushes me. It's a bummer at the time, but it almost never ruins my day or my mood. Having said that, when any of the guys from Rush pass, I will probably have to take a sick day from work. And had I been a fan of Queen at the time, Freddie dying likely would have crushed me (I got into Queen shortly after his death, just a coincidence).
Garcia - I was still in college, and deeply into the Dead at the time, as were all my friends. More recently Leonard Cohen, who didn't resonate with the college-aged me but lit up my brain many years later.
Like many here, my answer is John Lennon. His remains the first and only celebrity death that really devastated me. Unlike one of the posters above, for me the pain really hasn't subsided. It's dulled a bit with the passage of time, but sometimes when I hear certain songs or read something about his death, it comes roaring back and the tears flow. The Beatles always somehow felt like family in a way that no other celebrities ever did.
Why is it a “phoney emotion” to feel loss from losing someone that meant so much to you? That’s ridiculous. I never met John Lennon, he died when I was 5, but even then I was struck when hearing recent songs like Woman and especially Beautiful Boy. Many people grow up with these artists. We age as they age. Their death reminds us of our mortality. We are thankful for the joy and creativity that they have given us. There is nothing “phoney” about it.
Yeah, my little daughter's birthday is May 4th, which was the day that Adam "MCA" Yauch died. I can't help but to think of him on my little girl's birthday...that and Star Wars (May the 4th be with you). That said: John Lennon Prince Bowie MCA Johnny Cash ...a lot of great ones gone, and most just recently. When Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, and Neil Young pass, that will just a bit more of my idols I'm not looking forward to.
I was only nine when John Lennon died, and I hadn't discovered the music of the Beatles. When George Harrison died, that was heart-breaking. But the one that really devastated me was Harry Nilsson.
I get what you're saying and that might hold true if a person somehow convinces themselves they have a personal relationship with another person they don't know. But otherwise, I think what we grieve over is the sudden disconnect, knowing that all that remains are the recording of that voice, but the voice itself is gone. In time, most of us continue to grow more in a deeper appreciation of the recordings left behind and mourn much less intensely the loss of the person themselves. When Jimi Hendrix died, I didn't feel like I lost my best friend, but I did lose my favorite musician and the chance to see and hear him again. That was devastating. Today I'm still sorry he is gone but I'm grateful for the music that still exists, that I can still enjoy so very much.
Shannon hoon - so talented still had so much to offer. I'd loved them since I first heard no rain in the early 90s Elliott smith - such a brutal way to check out, a tortured man no doubt. Not many people lay down effortless melodies like this man layne stayley - just a desperate situation all round, yeah he made the call to live the way he did, but to not be found for all that time shows how closed off he had become. Unique voice. Chris Cornell - this one levelled me, did not see it coming, seemed happy, content, at peace, vibrant.. Does not make sense in the kind of way the two former ones kinda do.
Lennon was the worst considering The Beatles resonated with me ever since Ed Sullivan. That John was finally making a comeback 10 years after the band broke up made his death all the more tragic especially how he was killed, announced by a Monday Night Football Sportscaster of all people. However, it wasn't until the next morning when the actual nightmare began realizing it was not a dream most of western civilization in shock registered on commuter's faces on the way to work. Devastated as so many of us were, I couldn't think straight staring out my office window as snow fell in bittersweet silence while Imagine played on the radio. In my haze, I sliced open my finger on the office paper cutter and was rushed to a local emergency room to stitch up the gaping wound, my white shirt sleeves soaked in blood. And then it hit me. John was also rushed to a hospital the night before but didn't survive. Maybe it was the anesthesia and/or the tragic loss of a childhood hero but I had the distinct impression that my emergency room visit was my way of running towards the pearly gates to say goodbye before returning to the living in unfathomable grief. And I didn't even know the man silly as it seems.
In order of bumming me out most: Lou Reed Rick Wright (of Pink Floyd) Chris Squire (Yes) Bowie Lemmy George Harrison