From your comments, it seems you know him personally in some manner. Friend/Business or in what capacity, if I can ask?
Jimi H. my father came home from work and he told me he Harrie your friend is dead, o my ............
Lennon, just couldn't believe it when I heard the news. I still think of it every time that date rolls around. The guy I was with when we heard the news, called me on the 20th anniversary of John's death, asking if I remembered where we were when we heard, I did.
Most recently (2017), it was the passing of Allan Holdsworth. I felt bad for Allan and his family, but when I listened to some of his albums that I hadn't heard in years, I was sad for people who had never heard or even heard of him. To me, he is the greatest electric guitarist who ever lived. He played a big part in my discovery of music in college and beyond. He was the John Coltrane or guitar. He was a musician's musician.
It will depend how he goes. If he's taken ill and lingers for months or years, it will be one thing, but if he dies suddenly, quite another. One things for sure, unless there's some bizarre and improbable course of events, he won't be murdered.
Yeah - it'll be very depressing either way, but obviously a sudden "out of nowhere" death is more of a gut punch than one we "saw coming". George's death was somewhere between those poles. We knew he'd been sick, so it wasn't a total shock, but I thought he'd been stable health-wise, so it was surprise. Same with Bowie: there'd been health rumors but nothing concrete. His death wasn't out of nowhere ala Prince's, but it wasn't a complete shock...
YES KIRSTY WAS SUCH SAD NEWS!!!I ALWAYS LOVED HER STYLE....SWAGGER AND VOICE!I WANTED TO ADD D. BOON THOUGH PROBABLY NOT IN PICTURE!HIS MINUTEMEN WERE MAKING AMAZING PROGRESS AND MUSICALLY GROWING LEAPS AND BOUNDS!SO SAD TO PASS THAT WAY!!!GREAT BAND!!
1) Rory Gallagher 2) Gary Moore 3) Tom Petty Last year's deaths of Butch Trucks and especially Gregg Allman hit me hard as well but with Gregg it didn't come out of the blue due to his serious health issues in recent years. But nothing came close to hearing about Rory Gallagher's death back in 1995. My son was born a few months later and we named him Rory (if it would have been a girl we would probably named her Rory as well).
Jerry Garcia. I saw my one and only Dead show at RFK in '95 and suspected that would be my only shot. I wished then and there I was 20 years older.
I watched the Freddie Mercury Tribute when I was seven and became a fan right there and then. I met my first girlfriend via a Queenforum (my current girlfriend was her neighbour....), met my best friend via another Queenforum. Basically a lot of the choices I've made would've turned out differently if Freddie hadn't died. But ofcourse it didn't affect me in an emotional way, as I was just 6 when he died and obviously did not know anything about Queen/him yet. Besides that, probably George Michael. Bowie was also huge, but my dad had died a couple of weeks earlier - so maybe that numbed it a bit or something. George Michael has always been on my rader and I was always interested in him as a person - he seemed similar in some ways, dealing with depression, perfectionism etc. So when he unexpectedly died it hit me quite hard - even though I wouldn't call myself more than a "slightly above casual"-fan. In the future, probably Brian May/Roger Taylor. It's hard to see two of my remaining heroes growing older, less creative etc. I've got a feeling Brian Wilson and McCartney will still be around for a loooooong time.
Lennon - I was 10 years old and a Beatles fan. Afterwards I wore a t-shirt with his picture on it until it was worn away. Recently? Bowie - he had a big (nay massive!) influence on my musical tastes. I still get sad thinking that he is no longer around. Sure I pretty much stopped listening to him - with a few exceptions - after Scary Monsters, but his very existence was an eye opener for someone raised in a conservative suburban wasteland.
Doesn't bear thinking about but there'll be a time when they (the late sixties stars) will all have passed. Maybe then I'll know for sure how to answer this question.
Probably Jerry for me. My birthday was the 8th. The one-year anniversary of my father's death was the 10th. So yeah, birthday is still a bit tough after over 20 years.
Cobain really hit me hard since I was a kid who thought he was the coolest guy in the world. For him to take his life brought on feelings of underlying depression I was too young to compartmentalize that reemerged later in life It glorified depressive states along with all my other grunge groups and it took Lucy in the sky with diamonds while hearing sgt pepper and mmt to truly usher in a new more positive mindset I have embraced ever since.
1997 still ranks as my favorite year for New Albums, topped by 'OK Computer' as my favorite Album of All time, then other great albums by Spiritualized, The Verve, Mansun, Blur, Placebo, Stereophonics, Gene, Mogwai, James, Chemical Brothers, and comeback album by Echo & the Bunnymen. Also, think that was the year I bought my first Fleetwood Mac album(The Dance). Then there was errrr.-Oasis. Ahh, nevermind as biggest let down of that year after the hype(the first and last songs on 'Be Here Now' were great though).
For me that would be Chris Cornell. Totally out of the blue. Makes me sad to this very day. The death of Layne Staley as well. We all saw that coming, but it was so sad to see a doomed man not being able to get off that track and knowing it. George Harrison's death hurt too. There's some comfort in the thought of his spiritualism. Phil Everly. The Everlys being my first love, before the Beatles even. Not cool if you're born in 1974. (so I was only 6 when Lennon was shot)
Many have deeply affected me over the years. When I read that Billy Paul had passed away, I started to cry at my computer. Shortly afterwards, I commenced to hammering out my tribute column to him for Musictap.