I don’t know what it says about me, but I feel the exact opposite. Yes, I was surprised and very upset about Anthony Bourdain, but his death shocked and surprised me less than Kobe Bryant or Princess Diana or Anton Yelchin.
:shrugs:
He tops my list.
Thurman Munson, Yankee Captain
Stevie Ray Vaughan, damn, just damn!
Jim Henson, he had so much more to give. Still young.
Not old enough for John or Robert Kennedy or Clemente for that matter.
Kobe means nothing to me, Diana & Jackson mean nothing to me.
Neil Peart was 67 already, so not shocking to me. No more than Bowie or Tom Petty.
Anton Yelchin & John Belushi were more of a shock.
I was never a Pantera fan, but Dimebag Darrell’s death was just was horrific.
John Belushi’s death didn’t surprise me at all. I was 18 at the time, and upon hearing he was dead, I replied, “Was it a drug overdose?” 
As for Neil Peart and David Bowie, those were such big surprises because the public didn’t know they were sick, which was also the case with Ric Ocasek.
I had largely forgotten her by now, but her death was a big shock when it happened.
John Kennedy Jr., Thurman Munson … any time I hear of a celebrity who flies in a small aircraft routinely, especially as the pilot, I figure ē is likely to end up in a fatal accident sooner or later. Harrison Ford is cheating death several times over at this point.
Samantha Smith also died along with her father, in a plane crash.
There’s really only one that totally bummed me out, and that was John Lennon. This is probably the fifth or sixth time I’ve mentioned it here. I was in my first year of college and am still a huge fan of the Beatles, as a group and individually.
Honourable mention:
George Carlin
Tom Petty
Ayrton Senna
John Candy
George Harrison
Tim Choate is also dead.
Chris Farley. He had almost completed recording voice work for Shrek when he passed away and had to be replaced by Mike Myers.
John Lennon. I was also shocked by Jim Morrison’s death, although I soon realized I shouldn’t have been.
Also actor Vic Morrow and two child actors on the set of a Twilight Zone episode. What’s worse is the kids weren’t even legally allowed to be there, and (from the Wikipedia article):
Seems like being a child actor was dangerous in those days.
Most of the ones that came to mind have been metiond already, Here are a few that haven’t:
Sonny Bono. Though he wasn’t terribly young, he wasn’t elderly either. And a skiing accident is such a freakish way to die that it just seemed surreal and unbelievable at the time.
Harry Chapin. He was on his way to a concert and crashed his car. Imagine being there and anticipating the show about to begin, only to hear that announcement.
Dale Earnhardt. Yes, of course auto racing can be dangerous. Still, fatalities are rare in NASCAR, and Earnhardt was a legend who seemed indestructible. I watched the crash on TV as it happened, and I was still in shock when I heard the news. It didn’t look that devastating.
Karen Carpenter, because it could have been prevented.
Hank Williams, probably, too.
Not a death but I was shocked when I read Springsteen struggles with depression. I figured he has it all but I guess depression can impact anyone. A lot of celebs have depression and don’t talk about it.
I love George Carlin and his death was sad to me(boy, do we need him now!). However, his death was not super shocking. I remember his “Life is Worth Losing” recording and he sounded really bad there. He did sound healthier and stronger in his final recording(It’s Bad For Ya’), but he had had more than a couple heart attacks in his life, going back to the 1970’s.
I still would have loved to see him live to watch the Trump-era come about. He so saw all this truthiness/facts-don’t-matter junk coming a mile away.
Anyone who is murdered always shocks me. And you can add Sharon Tate to the list.
I cried when Jim Henson died. He was so young and it was such a shock.
Jonathan Larson, who struggled for years and got his musical Rent produced in a summer workshop which led to off-Broadway. He had been suffering chest pains, and went to two different hospitals. One told him he had the flu and to take it easy, the second one took an X-ray, told him he had food poisoning and made me vomit.
The day of the first full run through dress rehearsal, Larson was interviewed by the Times, went home and died alone. His autopsy showed an aortic aneurysm, which clearly showed up on hsi X-ray and could have been treated. He never got to see the fame and fortune he so richly deserved.
George Michael committed suicide?
Yes, Robin Williams was a huge shock, but upon learning about Lew Graves disease, I can understand why he did what he did. He dreaded losing control of his brain. When I consider what his brain must have been like, particularly his creative part, I’m amazed he managed to control that amazing creativity for so long.
Like I said: I understand it. I certainly don’t condone it.
Carrie Fisher
John Lennon
But the big one for me is John Denver. It was a few weeks after I saw him in what turned out to be his last concert.