What famous musicians death most shocked you

[Trueno]

John Lennon... I was really shocked. I drew a portrait of him and put it in the wall at work. Someone nicked it.

Also the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash... Ronnie van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines. I was a huge fan and ended up listening to their LPs for days afterward.

[dazza14]

Bowie and George Michael.

Possibly because both seemed so out of the blue.

[6feet7]

I was never a massive fan of Motorhead but Lemmy dying absolutely hit me. It was one of those things that after a nuclear war, the only things surviving would be cockroaches, Keith Richards and Lemmy. He wasn't supposed to go. 

[ped]

Weirdly I haven’t ever been affected by the death of a musician I’ve liked. Or is that weird? I don’t know... I liked a lot of Michael Jackson’s music but his death didn’t worry me as I didn’t know him. Same with Walter Becker. Maybe it’s because although I love their music I don’t necessarily love them - I’ve never met most of them and even if I did my interest in them starts and ends with their music. I don’t know if that makes me cold or something but I always think it’s strange when there’s a national mourning when someone like Witney Houston dies and all of a sudden everyone loves her music. 

Obviously it’s sad when anyone dies so don’t get me wrong, but unless they’re family of a friend then it just seems too abstract to me. 

[borntohang]

9 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I'm totally in agreement with this. I think life throws enough misery and loss at us all on a personal level without dipping into the trough of public grief. I'm not really emotionally effected at all by the loss of a public figure (musician or otherwise). Don't get me wrong. It's sad to lose such talented people, but more in a respectful acknowledgement of a passing talent kind of a way than any true emotion. Numerous thousands of people die every day, we can't grieve for them all, and I've always find it a little distasteful to value one life over another because they can play a guitar or kick a football or whatever. 

It's not really to do with the actual person; It's grieving for what that artist represents to you and the hammering home of your own mortality. It's the realisation that a small part of your youth just left forever and can never return, and that one day you too will pass down that same road.

Or maybe people just like to feel part of something bigger than themselves, I dunno.

The first big one for me would have been Amy Winehouse. I wouldn't even really consider myself a fan although I'd seen her at various festivals and support shows but even at the time there was definitely a sense of "where were you when...". We were getting ready to headline a stage at Tramlines festival so had all suited up and were doing the fifteen minutes of quiet routine before we went on when a stagehand stuck their head round the door to tell us the news. A bit of a sombre start as we announced it to the festival at large, but we managed to refrain from slipping any mawkish tribute covers into the set...

My dad was at Glastonbury when the news of Jacko's death hit and said it was wild to watch it spread round the campsite by word of mouth. First it was just the lucky souls with enough reception and phone battery left spare to check the news, then it started coming from the stages as various artists delivered variations on the theme of What He Meant To Me, and by the end of the weekend it was wall to wall rushed covers whilst reading the lyrics off a sheet of paper and every food stall in the site was blasting Thriller. 

[lou24d53]

Agree with those who have mentioned George Michael also.

I can't say I was in any way a fan of his to any great extent, but it was just sad the way his private life was constantly played out in the tabloids towards the latter stages of his career - much of it from his own doing I agree - then with him passing away on his own on Christmas Day and the way the story broke later in the evening, when I myself had had a great day with family, feasting and drinking, it just seemed a particularly sombre end to the day.

On a slightly different subject, but related all the same, James Brown also passed away on Christmas Day (or Eve?) as far as I recall too.

[lou24d53]

28 minutes ago, borntohang said:

My dad was at Glastonbury when the news of Jacko's death hit and said it was wild to watch it spread round the campsite by word of mouth. First it was just the lucky souls with enough reception and phone battery left spare to check the news, then it started coming from the stages as various artists delivered variations on the theme of What He Meant To Me, and by the end of the weekend it was wall to wall rushed covers whilst reading the lyrics off a sheet of paper and every food stall in the site was blasting Thriller. 

The flip side of that story for me was, the evening the news broke, I remember being at the (then) Carling Academy in Glasgow to see Lenny Kravitz...when we got in, it was all over Sky News, they hadn't reported that he had died at the time, but was being rushed into Cedar Sinai hospital in LA...obviously the news broke fairly quickly thereafter...

Roll on a few hours and I'm on the Virgin Train from Motherwell down to London Euston with tickets to see AC/DC at Wembley Stadium for the Black Ice tour...a crowd of guys get on a Preston slightly worse for wear, even thought it was only like 11am or something, the train was rammed packed, with obviously a large contingent heading down for the gig...and one of them shouted "ah f*ck , train's f*ckin' packed...never mind lads, this Michael Jackson gig tonight will be well worth it...!"......it was a 'had to be there moment' but you can imagine the reaction...

Edited May 2, 2019 by lou24d53

[MrCrane]

Shocked by...

John Lennon and Kirsty McColl

 

Saddened by untimely death...

Most of those already mentioned plus

Robert Calvert

Alan Hull

[Marc S]

18 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

John Lennon, can't help thinking the Beatles would have got back together if he hadn't been murdered.

Joe Strummer, I'm sure the Clash would have reformed

Same two I could first think of. I recall John Lennon's murder really shocking me. Though a lot of his solo stuff wasn't anywhere near as good as his Beatles work,
it still seemed a dreadful shock at the time. I was young, and perhaps I thought the Beatles could one day reform - or maybe it was because of the manner of his murder?
Perhaps I saw it as the end of an era? 

Re Joe Strummer, perhaps Paul is right - could the Clash have reformed? Maybe....
I was no huge fan of George Michael, but his death shocked me as he was a similar age
EDIT: Just reading MrCrane's post above -  I liked Kirsty McColl, and her death was such a sad, tragic accident 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Marc S

[Davo-London]

Jaco Pastorius was the biggie for me, because a) he was a super-hero, b) the nature of his death and c) I didn't find out till months after his death.  

The other was Josef Zawinul.  I had seen him the year before he died in concert and he/his band were awesome. 

Davo 

[casapete]

Deaths caused by flying incidents have always saddened me over the years. The nature of being a musician usually involves travelling and it seems such an irony to take away lives of those whose success depends on it. I'm too young to remember the Buddy Holly / Big Bopper tragedy but friends tell me it was a massive shock. However there are plenty more I do recall - as previously mentioned Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding, Jim Croce, John Denver and of course Stevie Ray Vaughan.

[borntohang]

10 minutes ago, casapete said:

Deaths caused by flying incidents have always saddened me over the years. The nature of being a musician usually involves travelling and it seems such an irony to take away lives of those whose success depends on it. I'm too young to remember the Buddy Holly / Big Bopper tragedy but friends tell me it was a massive shock. However there are plenty more I do recall - as previously mentioned Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding, Jim Croce, John Denver and of course Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The travelling accidents do give me the willies. As a band we did about 14,000 road miles last year and plan to top that this year plus flights, so it's always on my mind.

We knew (although only in a nodding acquaintance sense) both Hers and Viola Beach before their accidents and there's just not really a good way to process it apart from accept it's a risk you're willing to take. I have to admit that the Hers incident was, at least I felt, especially senseless as they were essentially innocent and got wiped out by another driver with very little chance to do anything to prevent it; drunk driver, headlights off, wrong side of the road.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, ped said:

Weirdly I haven’t ever been affected by the death of a musician I’ve liked. Or is that weird? I don’t know... I liked a lot of Michael Jackson’s music but his death didn’t worry me as I didn’t know him. Same with Walter Becker. Maybe it’s because although I love their music I don’t necessarily love them - I’ve never met most of them and even if I did my interest in them starts and ends with their music. I don’t know if that makes me cold or something but I always think it’s strange when there’s a national mourning when someone like Witney Houston dies and all of a sudden everyone loves her music. 

Obviously it’s sad when anyone dies so don’t get me wrong, but unless they’re family of a friend then it just seems too abstract to me. 

Aye yir weird Ped. 

Different things affect us in different ways. Some people (including myself) get very upset when they lose a pet while others don't see what the fuss is all about.

I guess i'm just a sentimental old git these days.

People like Bowie it wasn't just his musical influence it was the whole image that i found fascinating. I was even in the Bowie fan club at one time as a young teenager. 

I think we all deal with things in different ways. Some show it more than others and others don't see certain events as important to them. Just means we are all slightly different. No right or wrong with that. Its just how it is.

Dave

[casapete]

When you consider us musicians travel mainly in the evening, I guess the chances of being in accidents with drunk drivers must be greatly increased. Factor in the tiredness / poorer road visibility etc then it’s amazing we’re still here! 

Victims of road incidents I remember who were well known include Duane Allman, Marc Bolan, Cozy Powell and Clarence White.

I was at working in a record store when Marc Bolan died in 1977 and can remember the massive outpouring of grief from customers for weeks after. Also T.Rex bassist Steve Currie died in a road accident just a few years later,  so sad.

[mikel]

John Lennon. I never knew the man and never even met him but when the news came over on that morning in 1980 I was shocked and moved. The radio played his music a lot that day. When I got home from work it was on in more detail on the TV news, and I started to cry. I had no idea why, but have since rationalised it as the death of my youth and innocence. The Beatles were the soundtrack to my youth and popular culture was heavily affected by them from 63 to 70. I think it brought home to me in 1980 that I was no longer young, and the hippie dreams of the late 60s were also dead. RIP John.

[HazBeen]

For me it is without a doubt Frank Zappa, closely followed by Chris Cornell. Both shook me quite a bit.

[Chiliwailer]

Dimebag Daryl really shook me - shot on stage, awful.

[Bigwan]

32 minutes ago, Chiliwailer said:

Dimebag Daryl really shook me - shot on stage, awful.

Was just about to post this...

[NancyJohnson]

It's difficult to quantify shock, that feeling you get so infrequently it's difficult to describe.  Not a royalist, I was genuinely shocked when Princess Diana died, or watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

I was genuinely saddened/borderline upset when Joe Strummer passed away; the circumstances of hearing the news weren't best either (Robert Elms/BBC London, playing a load of Clash stuff while I was driving back from the bank.  I was thinking, 'Well, this is odd.').  I frequently think of Mick Karn (Cancer/expected) and Stuart Adamson too, he was such a lovely bloke.

The flipside here is how staggered I am that certain musicians are still actually here, considering the quantities of drugs they took back in the day.

[burno70]

Cliff Burton.

I had discovered Metallica and was genuinely obsessed with them (as teens do). He was the reason I wanted to play the bass. He'd actually been dead a couple of years but I didn't buy Kerrang and there was no internet so I had no idea he was gone. I was genuinely gutted when I heard. Its strange looking back, I was genuinely affected but didn't even know the guy.

[Henrythe8]

Lemmy. 

Never been a Die Hard fan of Mötörhead, but I admired the guy for being just Lemmy. I knew his lifestyle wouldn't allow many more years, so I bought tickets for the concert near me that was supposed to come in February. 

Learning of his passing was quite a shock. It caught me Off-Guard, as I didn't expect to be that much affected. 

[Unknown_User]

Scott Putesky

AKA Daisy Berkowitz.  Marilyn Manson's first guitarist.  Been a fan of Marilyn Manson since I was around 17.  Which is around the time he left the band, but I always thought he was the best guitarist he's had.  Even if not technically - John 5 is a bit of a one off - I thought his playing was full of character and, I guess, soul for want of a less pregnant word.

I was writing a post about guitarists or bands or something on a non-music forum and I mentioned his name in it.  So went to Wikipedia to see what he was up to and found out he'd died 18 months previously from cancer, aged 49.

I'm not particularly prone to outbreaks of fellow feeling and I'd never met him or even seen him play live, but I was pretty bummed out for the rest of the day.  I think it was partly him being one of my favourite guitarists from one of my favourite bands and partly that I didn't find out until so long after the fact.  Also maybe partly that it was illness at a young age (for dying at least) rather than a blaze of rock'n'roll glory.

[Deep Thought]

Grant Hart of Husker du. The first member of one of my favourite bands of my youth to die. Brought me up short for a while. 

[probonopublico]

5 hours ago, ped said:

Weirdly I haven’t ever been affected by the death of a musician I’ve liked. Or is that weird? I don’t know... I liked a lot of Michael Jackson’s music but his death didn’t worry me as I didn’t know him. Same with Walter Becker. Maybe it’s because although I love their music I don’t necessarily love them - I’ve never met most of them and even if I did my interest in them starts and ends with their music. I don’t know if that makes me cold or something but I always think it’s strange when there’s a national mourning when someone like Witney Houston dies and all of a sudden everyone loves her music. 

Obviously it’s sad when anyone dies so don’t get me wrong, but unless they’re family of a friend then it just seems too abstract to me

I must agree with you there.  Very few know them anyway.  It's a loss but even if I like their music I'm not moved to grief.  If they're old then they have probably lived the worth of 10 of our lives so good luck to them.  Just think if the first words you hear when your born are "It's a boy Mrs Kilmister" 

[Monkey Steve]

In terms of being "shocked" - another vote for Cliff Burton.  I was a huge fan from the days of Kill 'Em All, saw them on the tail end of the Ride The Lightning tour and had seen them play at Hammersmith just a few days before the coach crash, promoting the best album the band ever made.  So full of life, literally at the forefront of inventing a new musical genre, and Metallica have lacked his influence ever since (not that it's stopped them making piles of money)

Cobain was also pretty shocking, although the media was reporting that his private life was falling apart and the lyrics on the last Nirvana album were a pretty big give away about how unhappy he was.  So perhaps not a surprise, but another one who went at the peak of his powers.

In terms of being more sad that I usually am at the death of a celebrity (and rather than shocked) probably Elliot Smith, Chris Cornell, and all of the classic Motorhead line up, especially Fast Eddie (the other two had been very ill, and their deaths not being a huge surprise)