It wasn’t very shocking though. The U.S. had spent more than a decade trying to kill him.
John F Kennedy Jr. I was in the office and when someone came in and told me “Kennedy’s plane is missing” I could not absorb it. When I asked him “What are you talking about?” and he said “Kennedy’s plane is missing. JFK Jr. His plane went down” I said “You’re kidding, right? Please tell me you’re kidding. That cannot be true.” I turned on the TV, saw the newscaster sitting in front of a map of Massachusetts, and I just burst into tears.
Bill Paxton - As far as I knew, he was fine. In reality, he had a damaged heart valve from his youth. It was successfully repaired in February 2017 but then he died of stroke 11 days later.
James Horner, CFIT
Another surprising one that comes to mind is Brittany Murphy (from Clueless). Young actress with a bright-looking future found dead at her home in 2009. 6 months later her husband also found dead at the same home. Both of “natural causes”, but may have been related to black mold.
Dave Brockie a.k.a Oderus Urungus. My avatar. Not really surprising, but it it did affect me quite a bit.
Having survived over 25 shows, being fed into the World Maggot, and attending 2 GwarBQs ------- I’m surprised it wasn’t a couple years earlier. Right about the time of Diarrhea of a Madman you could tell things in terms of health and lifestyle were going downhill.
Len Bias
The recent passing of John Andretti bring this to mind.
As a racing fan, mainly Nascar, I would have to say Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki.
I know it is a dangerous sport but did not expect them to die in aircraft accidents.
Yeesh, I do remember this now that you mention it, but I had somehow forgotten that Gwar’s singer died.
Did they keep going?
:looks it up:
Wow, they did! I’m kind of surprised they kept on going without him.
Part of their mission is to continue forever; long after the last founding member is dust. The faces behind the masks have changed and sometimes they retired a character such as Nippleus Erectus <sic?> and now Oderus for one reason or another but it really is a concept/art/idea as much as it is a band. And as such I wouldn’t be surprised if they do make it 50 years or more.
I’m never shocked anymore by the death of a musician who’s older than I am (mid-50s). In fact, whenever I turn on the radio and hear a song by someone who doesn’t get much airplay anymore, my first thought is Oh shit, they must have died!
Her sad death sort of made the major press turn an important corner. For the first time, the killer’s name and face did not appear as headline material. I feel fortunate that I can not remember his name. Contrast this with John Lennon’s killer. I bet we all remember him.
All 3 names sadly.
I was shocked when Payne Stewart the golfer died in a plane crash that shouldn’t have happened. I remember the news mentioning the couple of hours it took before the doomed plane finally crashed in a field. I watched a re-enactment show explaining that the reason why the pilot and co-pilot couldn’t save the plane was because the flight manual had them try all sorts of things that didn’t help and they didn’t put their oxygen masks on. Nowadays, the first instruction is put on your oxygen mask and then try suggested fixes.
For me personally, it was probably the objectively not at all shocking or surprising death of the English radio DJ John Peel, of a heart attack at the age of 65. He was just such an dominant force in the music scene, it was a little disorientating, almost as though a genre of music had suddenly dropped dead.
I was in New Zealand at the time, and 3 people emailed me to let me know about the death; the only contact I had with 2 of them that whole year (the other sent me a ‘happy birthday’ message). The fact I was (or so it felt) half a planet away from anyone else who cared weirdly heightened the impact for me.
I vividly remember watching a local TV show interviewing Robert Smith of The Cure, clearly recorded that day, shortly after he’d heard of the death, and all he wanted to talk about was John Peel, clearly really upset, while the interviewer was all excited, keen to talk about other stuff, and obviously confused as to why he kept going on about some DJ.
It shocked me personally way more than the death of Princess Di; her death was just news.
John Lennon’s death was so shocking as it was a murder, not an OD, accident, or sudden illness. The idea that someone like that could be murdered was stunning then. I also still remember Phil Hartman’s murder vividly as it just came from nowhere. Who would want him dead?
The advent of 24-hour breaking news has also changed these reactions. I know when Elvis died, some stations did not immediately carry that as news - which is stunning today as even the most petty event becomes “breaking news” today. Lennon’s death broke on Monday Night Football and interrupted Carson in some time zones - which made its impact all the more surreal.
Likewise, O.J. Simpson’s arrest and trial for murder was all the more shocking in an age before Robert Blake or Phil Spector…celebrities were not supposed to murder people!
Nm
I never thought much of him, but JFK Jr was the speaker at my then-GF’s college graduation not long before his death. So it was a shock considering I had just been sitting in the front row while he gave a speech. I was a little turned off by the spectacle (like graduates’ moms caring more about how hot John John supposedly was and whatever) and overshadowing the more accomplished speakers/honorees.
FB coach Bo Rein died the exact same way in 1979. He had just taken the head coaching job at LSU