Mark Linkous, yeah, and Vic Chesnutt. Little Fat Baby is such a beautiful song, but almost unbearably sad.
This was the person I came in to mention. I’m still a little sad about him when I hear something like Operator, Lover’s Cross, or Alabama Rain. (Not that Bad, Bad Leroy Brown isn’t a fine song too, but it doesn’t put me in the same wistfull mood.)
Stevie Ray Vaughn because I was really into his music at the time and had seen him for the third time, at Alpine Valley, the night before he died.
Phil Ochs, John Lennon and Sandy Denny
I wish people didn’t feel an all-consuming need to threadshit in threads like this. That’s much MUCH worse than cult worshiping performers, if there happened to be any in this thread, which there is not. It mystifies me.
Shannon Hoon, I was working second shift and heard the news on the radio. It made me so sad, not only for him but for his little girl.
Also, Layne Staley, his death wasn’t exactly a surprise but I’m a huge fan.
Amy Winehouse got that gut-level shock in me. She had a wonderful voice, though I never really followed her that much. In this case it was just shock then sadness because I’ve had relatives that struggled with addiction and then I started think about “Rehab” and then I got all sad. Such a waste. So much talent, so many demons. We all lose.
Personally though, Michael Jackson was the biggest shock. I was a little kid in the 80s and MJ was pretty much the gold standard of cool. For him to die before I was 30 - it was like “Jesus Christ, a legend just died” and then “Like this?”
And facing a death sentence, both men poured every ounce of their remaining energy into making music. The VH1 special on Zevon was beautiful and heartbreaking.
And Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor, it is not cultism. Artists create art with the intention of moving people. If someone who has created art that has moved you deeply dies before their time, especially in a tragic way, you grieve for the person, but also for the art that they will not create.
I agree with Jim Croce. The few albums he made were filled with awesome songs. I personally believe that had he lived longer, he would have been as popular and respected as Bruce Springsteen. He had that working-man’s persona.
Also, George Harrison. He had a long and storied career, but it’s too bad he still isn’t with us today like Paul and Ringo are.
John Lennon’s passing knocked the wind out of me, as did the deaths of Freddie Mercury, Eric Carr and Steve Clark. Michael Jackson’s death was a real “No, you’re pulling my leg” moment. I’d sent my husband to the store for something and was puttering around on the computer, not paying attention to anything when he came home and said “You are never going to believe who died!” It was surreal.
Elvis…I was 14 when he died and it was a pretty big deal.I did get to see him once in Charlotte,N.C. so that was pretty cool.
Gosh, I thought I had forgotten that weird, surreal feeling that overcame me when I was 17 years old, and I heard that **Marc Bolan **of T.Rex had died. Thanks OP for bringing it up again 
(JK) I used to sit in the cemetery crying over him! I loved that guy. D’you remember Ride a White Swan , Telegram Sam, Children of the Revolution ? I just youtubed him and saw him again for the first time in about 30 years. Geez, I was in tears! (I think my Lost Youth had a bit to do with that as well).
*As a side note, I think he’s why I love Johnny Depp.
John Lennon and Elvis Presley didn’t register with me, as I considered them as “oldies.”
When **Michael Jackson **died, I was knocked over sideways. He was a couple of years older than me, and I just thought he would always be there. I loved him when I was 10 years old ( I Want You Back), and my daughter, who was born in 1990, loved him in You Are Not Alone, when she was 10 years old. Is that the circle of life, or what?
Hey, and I was pretty upset about Falco - Alles Klar, herr Kommisar! ( I do not know what that means)
I mentioned this one before in another thread, but definitely Freddie Mercury, for me. HIV/AIDS was still a relatively new-ish issue and the general public had no clue he was sick until, I believe, the day before he died.
I have been waiting for someone to fill Zappa’s void. I will be waiting a long time.
None.
Any artist whose work affected me enough that their death would, who died young, died before I’d heard of them.
When John Lennon died, I was a few weeks away from my fourth birthday.
Kami died before it became easy to find Japanese music where I live, thus before I discovered Malice Mizer.
So, for them, and others, they were always dead, for me - there’s a kind of tragedy to the fact that they died so soon, but it’s a distant thing… Very different from what people who’d known and loved their music when they were alive would have felt.
Kurt Cobain, Shannon Hoon - I like their music, but, not intensely enough that their passing was more than a vague ‘oh, too bad, they were talented’ (and in Hoon’s case, seemed nice enough).
So on and so forth.
The first musician whose death effected me didn’t die young - George Harrison was nearing 60 when he passed - not nearly old enough (just a bit older than my parents are, now), but certainly within the range that death is sad, but not horribly shocking. But still… He was GEORGE, y’know? My favourite Beatle, writer of some of my favourite music. That one really hurt me.
I’m not threadshitting.
Not everyone reacts to musicians like you do, & people like Hampshire & myself provide perspective.
I didn’t abuse any dead musicians–I just pointed out the truth: for many of us, music is like plumbing. If the sink works, we don’t keep track of the health of the plumber.
I think they saw it as a good opportunity to slap-down one of their kids who was growing up and starting to plan things which they did not have complete control of. In the world they grew up in, that was normal parenting (parenting by Cheap Shot?). Which by itself is f-cked up, but thats life.
Maybe its another thread but I don’t think it makes me a bad fan to just like to hear someone’s music & not be nosy about their personal life/choices/politics/etc. But then again, from an artists POV, maybe it does.
Cobain for me.
Nirvana inspired a whole generation of kids to go out and buy guitars including myself . As a music fan I wasn’t very impressed with what was considered current at the time. Properly labeled as cock-rock. It was contrived, gross and sexist.
I remember the first time I heard SLTS. It was in a bar. I remember thinking WTF is this ??? and everyone piled onto the dance floor for some slam dancing. What is funny back then Nirvana was considered punk rock but now is considered rock.
I remember the day I heard he killed himself, pretty sad day. He should of stuck around. He should of just quit music for awhile got himself cleaned up and come back later if he wanted to. I think he eventually would of turned out to be really good blues player. I read he was under a lot of pressure to play Lalapalooza he turned it down and pissed off a lot of people.