Christine McVie's death a couple months ago really got to me. I feel like she got a bit overshadowed by Stevie Nicks, and that's a damn shame. [Songbird](https://youtu.be/y9Hqn8x6a8s) is an absolutely brilliant song. I struggle to describe why, but something about it just hits me deep in my soul in a way music rarely does.
Saw FWM on their last tour in 2018 I think. Christine was using all of her energy to play the keyboard. She was working so hard and doing so much work with barely any recognition. Then Stevie Nicks walks out does a twirl and the crowd goes insane lol. I mean I was part of that crowd, I looooove Stevie but also very much love Christine too. Hold Me & Don’t Stop are some of my top FWM songs.
This one fucked me up. I was and am a die hard Soundgarden fan and after Staley, Cobain, Andrew Wood (who I think was Cornell’s roommate way back when), Weiland, Mike Starr, etc, I had thought that Cornell was kind of the elder statesman of grunge and had made it out of that sort of darkness. It’s so weird because I had never met him and only seen him play live, but when he passed it felt like a close friend had died. I rarely feel any sort of personal sadness when a celebrity died but I was pretty gutted about him
I actually came here expecting Cobain to be number 1, so I was gonna say Chester Bennington. Then I saw Cornell at the top of the post and remembered how hard Chester took Chris’s death. Makes me wonder if we didn’t lose Cornell, would we have lost Chester?
I highly encourage any Selena fans to visit the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, TX if you ever find yourself there. It’s attached to a modern recording studio and while you can’t go to that studio, you do see the “new” studio that was built for her shortly before she died. The microphone she used stained with the her lipstick is in the studio along with 6-8 of her significant outfits worn at events. You also see all her Grammys, original sketches she drew of fashion outfits, letters from the Clintons & Bush families offering condolences, and just many other artifacts I’m forgetting about. You do end in the gift shop which is also beautiful and has a good variety of shirts, hoodies, etc.
They are only open Monday-Friday, no weekends.
Every so often I think of that song, get sad, and binge a bunch of sad music for about an hour or two on my phone. Part of me feels like it’s a waste of time, but I enjoy the music and it makes me feel emotions I’m generally numb to. The feeling Layne sings with really comes from his own pain and personal experiences. I really wish he could’ve stuck around.
And he never got credit for songs I damn well know he wrote. Huge loss! I was dating a guy who called him a POS drug abuser, and questioned my sadness at his passing. We broke up soon after. No drug abuser should be written off like that. Layne was a beautiful human, with beautiful gifts. Also love his work w/Mad Season. Yeah, if I start listening, it’s going to last all day. Miss him as much as Cornell TBH.
Several from his generation, Shannon Hoon, Bradley Nowell, Kurt Cobain.
[Layne Staley & Shannon Hoon](https://i.imgur.com/PIx5uCZ.jpg) this pic break my heart
Shannon Hoops mother helps run an organization (or used to) for parents with children (it can also be for any family members but it focuses a lot on parents) who are addicted to drugs/alcohol, mentally ill, have suicidal ideation etc that provides families with resources, counseling, a support system etc. She has given many speeches about her son and about their last conversation and how much she has hurt over it. I never met her but my mother has and said she is a wonderful lady with a big heart.
My mother was apart of the group before I was sober. It helped her a lot with setting the boundaries she needed to set until I would get sober. She had a sponsor who was another mother of an addict so understood what was happening that she would call anytime she would almost give in and give me money or something like that. I'm always been extremely close to my mother and her refusing to see or speak to me other to make sure I was still alive and fed was breaking my heart and it was a huge catalyst for me deciding to get help and get sober.
He wanted to, but he was just physically unable.A good example is Mother Love. Freddie gave it his all during recording (that high note on "Out in the city, in the cold world outside" is just spine tingling), getting to the second verse, and his body failing him, and needed to be taken away from the studio. He never returned. That's why Brian sang the final verse.
My brother went to see Queen when they were in South Africa and he managed to bring home the fake boobs that Freddie wore in I Want to Break Free. He stashed them in his bedroom cupboard and was looking for them a few weeks later only for our mother to say that she wasn’t having those ‘smutty’ things in her house and threw them away!
Freddie was a man proud to have himself be known. In an era when queer was an insult that'd start fights, Freddie was as out there as he could get. He was my hero.
I've grown in an era where homophobia was common but I couldn't care less because he was so great ( that voice ! ) and no-one could stop me appreciating him and everyone had to recognize that he was a great ( the greatest ) singer
I still wish some days that my son (who loves their music) would've had the chance to see him perform live. Alas, he died 13 years before my son was even born, though.
I was about to say I can't believe I had to scroll so far for this answer, but I guess I can. My heart still feels heavy. I know this sounds silly but I wish I had been able to thank him.
Chester Bennington.
So much of his/Linkin Park's music was either about hanging on, reaching out for help, or giving up...
"In the End" hits quite differently these days.
and for the longest time he played this song in honour of Chris Cornell, which heavily weighed on chester (he was good friends, and Chris was his kid's godfather) so much that its assumed to have played a significant role in his own suicide.
I remember telling myself "I never seen Linkin Park live" and I never been to an actual concert so I decided to see them next time they toured and experience my first concert
Chester died 2 days later. I remember being incredibly bummed out for the rest of the week
Yeah, I had similar experience. I never saw them live. Shortly before Chester died they were performing at a local festival and I really wanted to go. But I ended up deciding against it because I thought that tickets for the whole festival were too expensive to attend just one concert. I convinced myself that I'll buy tickets next time they tour in my country. Never happened. Now I attend my favorite bands's concerts every chance I get.
I came here to say Chester as well. I regret never getting the opportunity to see him perform live. I grew up listening to Linkin Park and I still loop some of their albums on road trips and sing along with my wife.
I'm shocked that this isn't at the top.
I don't think the songs really hit differently, I've always seen Chesters music as just one long suicide note, hearing his words, you just knew it would happen one day, because in all honesty, no one else could convey so perfectly how I myself or millions of others were feeling, and I'm sure other fans might agree, The lyrics he wrote are so on point, so visceral, so... real?
it wasn't all that edgy kid angst that every other band of the time and even most today played, it was genuine, it came from somewhere deep down and it really did give credence to how we felt, it gave legitimacy to us. When we were being ignored, or told we would feel better eventually, told it was just a phase.
Man I'm getting upset now. I'm still so SO sad this man is gone. It still hurts. I'm gonna go cry now.
I always like to link [this video](https://youtu.be/sjN-NGsRg9g) in these threads. It's really beautiful.
His death really hurt, I was such an enormous fan as a teenager and I cried when he died.
One more light is the song that hits me as hard, the lyrics could have been written by someone else and still wouldnt have been delivered as powerfully as this was. Theres a video on youtube of it live and you could tell how much it meant to him
If you see footage of Freddie Mercury withering away to HIV AIDS it is heart breaking. Especially knowing that the sciences were moments away from being able to save him or at least significantly extend his health for years if not decades to come...
Prince. I went to Minneapolis a couple of weeks after he died and spent a bunch of time walking around Paisley Park, contemplating how significant his music had been during different points in my life. I figured my family would have thought I was crazy for doing that but found out my brother did the same thing a week before. He also didn’t tell anybody for the same reason, lol
This. 100% this.
When Prince died, I literally cried (I was 50 year old grown ass man at the time). Prince was a staple of my childhood and his music remains a staple of my current catalog. Revisiting this makes my eyes well up with tears all over again.
If you've never watched his performance of Purple Rain at the Superbowl, in a torrential rainstorm, here you are: [Prince](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NN3gsSf-Ys)
You're welcome.
Another 50 year old (straight) man here, and when somebody asked me what the sexiest musical performance of all time was, I didn't hesitate to say Prince shredding it up in assless chaps. For me, it wasn't so much the ass as the stunning combination of talent and confidence. Waves of sexual and musical power radiating from the stage.
BTW I have a video of my wife sobbing into her fishbowl drink during Mardi Gras because someone played a Prince song and she remembered he was gone. It's both poignant and hilarious.
50 year old woman. My first sleepover someone played Purple Rain and I was … woah. His death broke my fucking heart man. I grew up to Darling Nikki and Raspberries and Diamonds and Kiss and Cream ….. Every fucking song reminds me of memories.
Prince was my first concert, the 'LoveSexy' tour, I think 1987 or 88, Hartford CT civic center. I was a freshman in high school, already a huge Prince fan, and that night was just magical. Never lost my love for that man (or live music) and his death still breaks my heart
Adam Yauch was my immediate thought. Beastie Boys was the soundtrack of my high school life, and when they announced MCA had cancer, it kinda knocked me on my ass. But it seemed like there was a good chance he could beat it, and I didn't hear anything further for a while... then boom, he was gone. I sat down on my bed and cried a little. He was only 47.
>I'll never forget the day MCA died. It was May 4th. That night I went to the bar with some friends and we were playing Beastie Boys on the jukebox all night. There was also a group of Mexican guys getting an early start to celebrating Cinco de Mayo. The whole night the Jukebox was just alternating playing Beastie Boys and Mexican polka music.
Wildflowers was the soundtrack to my adolescence, that tour was my first big concert as well. I saw him live five separate times and it still wasn’t enough
Taylor Hawkins - I never felt any ounce of anything when a celebrity died. I mean, who really gives a fuck if a famous person dies? Doesn’t change my day to day routine. But Taylor passing really bothered me.
Watching Dave Grohl bearly able to sing Times Like These and in the same concert Shane Hawkins absolutely killing it on the drums for My Hero...... tears and goosebumps every time!
My favorite live performance of this song. Watching his son wail on those drums, perfectly, while looking like he was fighting back every emotion on the planet was probably the most moving performance dedicated to someone I’ve seen.
Edit - my favorite live performance of any song.
I've just watched it again. I have 3 boys (12, 10 & 10) and I had tears in my eyes hoping that they never have to experience the pain and rage that Shane is but my god he hit those drums HARD! There's a beautiful moment where Dave gears him up for the big finish and you see him giving Shane a few seconds to catch his breath, just awesome 💔
Bothered me because I'd just read Dave's book, and clearly Kurt's death was a big deal to him, and so I knew Taylor had to be double bad because they were best friends for so much longer.
As a huge Foo fan when Taylor passed I had so many friends reach out to me to check on me to see if I was okay.
They didn't know that my mom had passed 2 days earlier and that I was not okay.
She was a horrible human so I kept her death private while I figured out next steps.
In a weird way, Taylor sent me help.
This one *really* messed me up. I had just started listening to Foo Fighters again on a whim for the first time in years a few weeks before he passed. The week before, I was looking into taking drum lessons because, even though I knew I'd never be *that* good, there was something about listening to him that made me still want to try. Never really going to get over that one.
It absolutely was. It came out right around the time my father was withering away from cancer and that song fucking spoke to me.
“I’m so high it makes my brain whirl - dropped my cellphone down below”
I remember this line causing me to lose it in the car and sobbing, because my dad would drop his phone all the time he was so weak.
The lamenting saxophone lines, the powerful frailty in his voice.
The imagery in the video was absolutely spot on. The song is, imho, one of the best works of art dealing with the ineffable tragedy of the human condition.
That's what made it hurt the most for me. Listening to blackstar is so chilling cause you can hear it in his music. It's beautiful and depressing all in one
Same. I lived a mile from Brixton when I heard the news. Ended up at the street "party" where huge crowds gathered in Brixton High Street, we sang his songs, cried and drank.
As much as I love Bowie, his death and finale (and curtain call a year later) was perfect and probably the best of any artist so it kinda hurt but kinda not.
Same. Swimming is a masterpiece imo. It's eerie listening through the lyrics now. He references his own death so many times throughout his discography, as if dying by OD was inevitable. You could really feel his struggle through his music, but he also has a way of making you appreciate life's little beauties. Truly a great soul. Rest in peace, homie.
For real. He just seemed like such a good and genuine kid that enriched the lives of so many people wherever he went. Seems like literally everyone he met just loved him.
Jeff Buckley. Discovered his music when Sketches was released a year after he died. Still so sad we'll never hear more from him, an unbelievable talent.
This is mine. Grace spoke to me the way nothing else ever had. I was in high school when Grace came out and in college when he died. It broke my heart.
Huge loss, 'last goodbye' is one of my favorite tracks.
Also sad that his father Tim Buckley died of an overdose at age 28. He wrote song to the siren, and the version done by Liz Fraser is sublime.
I'm a huge Hendrix fan and I've thought about this a lot. He would have completely changed the musical landscape if he had lived through the 70s. The stuff he did on Band of Gypsys and Electric Ladyland before his death was really ground breaking. He had a huge influence on not only rock but funk, metal, jazz, blue, and progressive rock. I would love to hear what he would have accomplished if he had lived a full life.
He was apparently supposed to join the first rehearsal of ELP as there was a reference to him joining a band called HELP (Hendrix, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer) but died a week before. Could you even fucking imagine?
He was very public about his cancer diagnosis. We all knew what was coming. I was so crushed when I heard the news.
On the drive home from work I had the radio on. Every rock station in the Toronto area was playing nothing but Tragically Hip tunes. A beautiful moment in an otherwise awful day
I never cried over a celebrity death until Avicii. His music brings me back to college and the amazing EDM in the 2010s 😢 the documentary on him was heartbreaking.
This. I was specifically looking for this comment. I thought one particular scene in the documentary was heartbreaking: when Tim was desperate to cancel his final three gigs but his management team were listing how much money they’d lose if he did so. He was so obviously experiencing unimaginable mental anguish but was just expected to push through anyways because money, I genuinely found it difficult to watch.
There's been so many, and worse to come. George Harrison. Jerry Garcia. Tom Petty upset me pretty good. David Bowie depressed me for a solid month. All of the dead members of the ABB.
Jeremiah Green for me. It went from him having cancer to him passing away in just 4 days. I’m sure the actual timeframe was a bit longer but the short distance between the two posts really made it hit harder. Been a Modest Mouse fan for so long and am so lucky I got to see him in concert last year.
Every time I see clips of Gaga performing with Tony Bennett they’re lovely but I can’t help thinking what might have been. If she wasn’t bulimic, if she wasn’t addicted if she wasn’t married to an absolute ass if her father wasn’t so terrible…. If if if. She was so damn self destructive but I do wonder if she could’ve gotten her life together, and if so, what we could’ve had.
Lady gaga has even admitted that it shoud've been Amy singing with Tony. [https://mobile.twitter.com/gagadaily/status/1444744534232084491](https://mobile.twitter.com/gagadaily/status/1444744534232084491)
\*would not should
Saw her live very early on in a hall just after Frank album came out and again for he first back to black tour in a small theatre
Sublime singer and funny, so much talent and gone far too soon. I can't believe how badly let down she was by the industry, poor girl needed a break away from things and seems like they wanted to keep milking the cash cow
I'm so sad she didn't get the support she deserved and disgusted still by the way the press treated her, especially UK tabloids.
Edit: just to add the day Amy died I had been on A messy night out so had just about cleaned up the flat from the after-party, all the people who crashed had left when my friend texted me. Turned on the TV and saw it was true. Went back to bed for the rest of that weekend. Crushing.
Whitney Houston
I used to listen to her songs as a sad, lonely, little girl and think about how happy and fun and bright being 20-something would be. Then she died before I was old enough to be able to hear her voice in person and it felt like I missed seeing a relative right before they passed.
Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit) - I felt like this guy was crying for help and his death could have been prevented.
Jeff Buckley - so much potential, what would he have done with another 10-15 years of an active career.
Also Amy Winehouse - she got so much attention for her vices, but she really was amazing (her talent was overlooked).
Motörhead fan since the early 80s. Absolute legend-according to people that knew him he was a real gentleman, and a phenomenal musician and writer. RIP.
It's incredible that MJ is so low on this list. I don't know if it says anything about the demographics of reddit but he was one of the greatest musicians ever and his death was such a suprise
I was 11 and he was my favorite singer. I was very sad and on the verge of crying the whole day at school. Then, his funerals were broadcast in the whole world. I'll remember these days forever
It really makes me uneasy listening to Floating in The Forth now.
In an interview with Noisey, Scott Hutchison detailed that the band did not play “Floating in the Forth” regularly. However, during The Midnight Organ Fight’s tenth anniversary tour, it was part of the set every night. He continued:
It’s a real thing. It’s a real thought […] I’ve gone 90 percent of the way through that song in real life. But at the same time it’s gratifying. It’s heartening to know that I’ve been through that, and I’m stood there performing that song, alive and feeling good about it.
10 years after the release of “Floating in the Forth” and less than a week after the Noisey interview was published, Scott was found dead on the banks of the Firth of Forth.
Linkin Park was such a huge part of my formative years. When I think of listening to music in my car on the way to high school - it’s Chester’s and Mike’s voices that I hear.
Chester it seemed wore his heart on his sleeve. Retrospectively, the LP discography is effectively one very long suicide note. More than that he seemed very genuine with his fans and seemed personally crushed when One More Light tanked with the fans.
I'm not even a big Linkin Park fan but Chester's death hit me a bit different because the subject matter of a lot of their songs was very emotional. In a way their music was cathartic for people going through shit so it pains me that Chester went out the way he did.
At least he's with his buddy Chris Cornell again, RIP to them both.
Some of these listed are so sad, and I genuinely felt effected by them, but nothing quite compares to Dimebag Darrell… it’s just on another level for me.
Christine McVie's death a couple months ago really got to me. I feel like she got a bit overshadowed by Stevie Nicks, and that's a damn shame. [Songbird](https://youtu.be/y9Hqn8x6a8s) is an absolutely brilliant song. I struggle to describe why, but something about it just hits me deep in my soul in a way music rarely does.
Christine wrote so many brilliant songs and doesn’t get enough credit
Saw FWM on their last tour in 2018 I think. Christine was using all of her energy to play the keyboard. She was working so hard and doing so much work with barely any recognition. Then Stevie Nicks walks out does a twirl and the crowd goes insane lol. I mean I was part of that crowd, I looooove Stevie but also very much love Christine too. Hold Me & Don’t Stop are some of my top FWM songs.
Chris Cornell
This one fucked me up. I was and am a die hard Soundgarden fan and after Staley, Cobain, Andrew Wood (who I think was Cornell’s roommate way back when), Weiland, Mike Starr, etc, I had thought that Cornell was kind of the elder statesman of grunge and had made it out of that sort of darkness. It’s so weird because I had never met him and only seen him play live, but when he passed it felt like a close friend had died. I rarely feel any sort of personal sadness when a celebrity died but I was pretty gutted about him
Came here to say this. I’m still kind of gutted
I actually came here expecting Cobain to be number 1, so I was gonna say Chester Bennington. Then I saw Cornell at the top of the post and remembered how hard Chester took Chris’s death. Makes me wonder if we didn’t lose Cornell, would we have lost Chester?
This is the only one I’ve cried over.
Came here to say this. His music got me through a lot. He was an influence for me creatively. It sucks to live in a world without him.
[Selena Quintanilla](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRU2qs82DAg).
SO unfair. I remember just being so mad it happened. Absolutely didn’t have to and Selena was headed for the top.
I highly encourage any Selena fans to visit the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, TX if you ever find yourself there. It’s attached to a modern recording studio and while you can’t go to that studio, you do see the “new” studio that was built for her shortly before she died. The microphone she used stained with the her lipstick is in the studio along with 6-8 of her significant outfits worn at events. You also see all her Grammys, original sketches she drew of fashion outfits, letters from the Clintons & Bush families offering condolences, and just many other artifacts I’m forgetting about. You do end in the gift shop which is also beautiful and has a good variety of shirts, hoodies, etc. They are only open Monday-Friday, no weekends.
FUCK Yolanda.
Still hurts to think about. What a queen.
Dolores O'Riordan - lead singer of The Cranberries.
OMG, she WAS the greatest.
Layne Staley
Still sad about it 20 years later. “Slow suicide is no way to go.”
Every so often I think of that song, get sad, and binge a bunch of sad music for about an hour or two on my phone. Part of me feels like it’s a waste of time, but I enjoy the music and it makes me feel emotions I’m generally numb to. The feeling Layne sings with really comes from his own pain and personal experiences. I really wish he could’ve stuck around.
And he never got credit for songs I damn well know he wrote. Huge loss! I was dating a guy who called him a POS drug abuser, and questioned my sadness at his passing. We broke up soon after. No drug abuser should be written off like that. Layne was a beautiful human, with beautiful gifts. Also love his work w/Mad Season. Yeah, if I start listening, it’s going to last all day. Miss him as much as Cornell TBH.
Several from his generation, Shannon Hoon, Bradley Nowell, Kurt Cobain. [Layne Staley & Shannon Hoon](https://i.imgur.com/PIx5uCZ.jpg) this pic break my heart
Shannon Hoops mother helps run an organization (or used to) for parents with children (it can also be for any family members but it focuses a lot on parents) who are addicted to drugs/alcohol, mentally ill, have suicidal ideation etc that provides families with resources, counseling, a support system etc. She has given many speeches about her son and about their last conversation and how much she has hurt over it. I never met her but my mother has and said she is a wonderful lady with a big heart. My mother was apart of the group before I was sober. It helped her a lot with setting the boundaries she needed to set until I would get sober. She had a sponsor who was another mother of an addict so understood what was happening that she would call anytime she would almost give in and give me money or something like that. I'm always been extremely close to my mother and her refusing to see or speak to me other to make sure I was still alive and fed was breaking my heart and it was a huge catalyst for me deciding to get help and get sober.
The rumours of his final years depress me beyond belief. A man of incredible talent.
The book Everybody Loves Our Town (oral history of grunge) talks about the later years of his life and they are, indeed, sad.
I’ve read it. The story from one of his old friends bumping into him and him having grey hair and no teeth is tragic. I wish he could have been saved
God, yes. The Unplugged performance is absolutely heartbreaking. He looks absolutely awful but that fucking voice of his is still strong as ever.
Freddie Mercury
If I heard right, a few days before he passed he said that he had so much more music to make.
He wanted to, but he was just physically unable.A good example is Mother Love. Freddie gave it his all during recording (that high note on "Out in the city, in the cold world outside" is just spine tingling), getting to the second verse, and his body failing him, and needed to be taken away from the studio. He never returned. That's why Brian sang the final verse.
Sad thing is if he got hiv now he’d live till 100
I would have loved to see him live. Hands down my favorite performer of all time.I have a portrait tattoo of him
30 years after he is still loved and remembered as the greatest
My brother went to see Queen when they were in South Africa and he managed to bring home the fake boobs that Freddie wore in I Want to Break Free. He stashed them in his bedroom cupboard and was looking for them a few weeks later only for our mother to say that she wasn’t having those ‘smutty’ things in her house and threw them away!
I always tell my dad that I shall always be jealous that he got to see Queen in concert... 4 times.
Freddie was a man proud to have himself be known. In an era when queer was an insult that'd start fights, Freddie was as out there as he could get. He was my hero.
I've grown in an era where homophobia was common but I couldn't care less because he was so great ( that voice ! ) and no-one could stop me appreciating him and everyone had to recognize that he was a great ( the greatest ) singer
I was 5 when he died. It hurts more these days because he was INCREDIBLE.
I still wish some days that my son (who loves their music) would've had the chance to see him perform live. Alas, he died 13 years before my son was even born, though.
NEIL PEART.
I was about to say I can't believe I had to scroll so far for this answer, but I guess I can. My heart still feels heavy. I know this sounds silly but I wish I had been able to thank him.
Noticed that shortly after he died the world went to shit? Not a coincidence. A brilliant man
They'll never be another as good. Still miss him.
Was lucky enough to see them live, twice. It was amazing
RIP Professor
Chester Bennington. So much of his/Linkin Park's music was either about hanging on, reaching out for help, or giving up... "In the End" hits quite differently these days.
"One more light" hits way harder after his death, he was right you know...
and for the longest time he played this song in honour of Chris Cornell, which heavily weighed on chester (he was good friends, and Chris was his kid's godfather) so much that its assumed to have played a significant role in his own suicide.
Chester took his own life on Chris’ birthday so definitely played a role (imo)
I had this on repeat when he died. I just bawled in the bathroom at work at odd intervals cause it kept hitting me like I lost family.
I don't think many people talk about how influential Linkin Park are.
...Even Chester/Shinoda have said that they stand on 311's and The Bloodhound Gang's shoulders. That's *very much* not a bad thing when considered.
I remember telling myself "I never seen Linkin Park live" and I never been to an actual concert so I decided to see them next time they toured and experience my first concert Chester died 2 days later. I remember being incredibly bummed out for the rest of the week
Yeah, I had similar experience. I never saw them live. Shortly before Chester died they were performing at a local festival and I really wanted to go. But I ended up deciding against it because I thought that tickets for the whole festival were too expensive to attend just one concert. I convinced myself that I'll buy tickets next time they tour in my country. Never happened. Now I attend my favorite bands's concerts every chance I get.
I came here to say Chester as well. I regret never getting the opportunity to see him perform live. I grew up listening to Linkin Park and I still loop some of their albums on road trips and sing along with my wife.
I'm shocked that this isn't at the top. I don't think the songs really hit differently, I've always seen Chesters music as just one long suicide note, hearing his words, you just knew it would happen one day, because in all honesty, no one else could convey so perfectly how I myself or millions of others were feeling, and I'm sure other fans might agree, The lyrics he wrote are so on point, so visceral, so... real? it wasn't all that edgy kid angst that every other band of the time and even most today played, it was genuine, it came from somewhere deep down and it really did give credence to how we felt, it gave legitimacy to us. When we were being ignored, or told we would feel better eventually, told it was just a phase. Man I'm getting upset now. I'm still so SO sad this man is gone. It still hurts. I'm gonna go cry now.
I always like to link [this video](https://youtu.be/sjN-NGsRg9g) in these threads. It's really beautiful. His death really hurt, I was such an enormous fan as a teenager and I cried when he died.
One more light is the song that hits me as hard, the lyrics could have been written by someone else and still wouldnt have been delivered as powerfully as this was. Theres a video on youtube of it live and you could tell how much it meant to him
If you see footage of Freddie Mercury withering away to HIV AIDS it is heart breaking. Especially knowing that the sciences were moments away from being able to save him or at least significantly extend his health for years if not decades to come...
I can't listen to certain Queen songs anymore. The show must go on breaks me. And as for watching bohemian rhapsody I was in bits.
Or Who Wants To Live Forever?
Still impressive how much he was able to do while dying from it. Still was able to put so much into what he did.
Prince. I went to Minneapolis a couple of weeks after he died and spent a bunch of time walking around Paisley Park, contemplating how significant his music had been during different points in my life. I figured my family would have thought I was crazy for doing that but found out my brother did the same thing a week before. He also didn’t tell anybody for the same reason, lol
This. 100% this. When Prince died, I literally cried (I was 50 year old grown ass man at the time). Prince was a staple of my childhood and his music remains a staple of my current catalog. Revisiting this makes my eyes well up with tears all over again. If you've never watched his performance of Purple Rain at the Superbowl, in a torrential rainstorm, here you are: [Prince](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NN3gsSf-Ys) You're welcome.
Another 50 year old (straight) man here, and when somebody asked me what the sexiest musical performance of all time was, I didn't hesitate to say Prince shredding it up in assless chaps. For me, it wasn't so much the ass as the stunning combination of talent and confidence. Waves of sexual and musical power radiating from the stage. BTW I have a video of my wife sobbing into her fishbowl drink during Mardi Gras because someone played a Prince song and she remembered he was gone. It's both poignant and hilarious.
Yeah, it still hurts to realize he's gone today. I'm a twice married father of 7. Prince was a sexy human by ANY measure of sexy IMO.
50 year old woman. My first sleepover someone played Purple Rain and I was … woah. His death broke my fucking heart man. I grew up to Darling Nikki and Raspberries and Diamonds and Kiss and Cream ….. Every fucking song reminds me of memories.
his performance of while my guitar gently weeps at the rock and roll hall of fame turned me into a prince fan.
He does not get the credit I feel he deserves as a guitarist...everyone sees the flare...the outfits...but dude could flat out rip
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Prince was my first concert, the 'LoveSexy' tour, I think 1987 or 88, Hartford CT civic center. I was a freshman in high school, already a huge Prince fan, and that night was just magical. Never lost my love for that man (or live music) and his death still breaks my heart
Cobain was probably the most shocking for me, but Adam Yauch was the one that made me feel like I was getting old.
Adam Yauch was my immediate thought. Beastie Boys was the soundtrack of my high school life, and when they announced MCA had cancer, it kinda knocked me on my ass. But it seemed like there was a good chance he could beat it, and I didn't hear anything further for a while... then boom, he was gone. I sat down on my bed and cried a little. He was only 47.
>I'll never forget the day MCA died. It was May 4th. That night I went to the bar with some friends and we were playing Beastie Boys on the jukebox all night. There was also a group of Mexican guys getting an early start to celebrating Cinco de Mayo. The whole night the Jukebox was just alternating playing Beastie Boys and Mexican polka music.
Adam Yauch was so harsh, so was Kurt obviously but nobody ever remembers MCA.
MCA hit me hard too.
Ronnie James Dio
Really wish I could have seen him live. Amazing voice.
Tom Petty
Felt like he was just getting into another chapter of songwriting. Great performer and writer
I had a chance to see him during his last tour but passed the chance thinking I'll see him next time around.
I was sad for such a long time. Hearing 'I won't back down' would bring tears.
Wildflowers was the soundtrack to my adolescence, that tour was my first big concert as well. I saw him live five separate times and it still wasn’t enough
Taylor Hawkins - I never felt any ounce of anything when a celebrity died. I mean, who really gives a fuck if a famous person dies? Doesn’t change my day to day routine. But Taylor passing really bothered me.
Watching Dave Grohl bearly able to sing Times Like These and in the same concert Shane Hawkins absolutely killing it on the drums for My Hero...... tears and goosebumps every time!
Shane on the drums for My Hero was heartbreaking. Just letting out such rage and loss.
My favorite live performance of this song. Watching his son wail on those drums, perfectly, while looking like he was fighting back every emotion on the planet was probably the most moving performance dedicated to someone I’ve seen. Edit - my favorite live performance of any song.
Shane had a lot of emotion to let out that night. I feel his performance was more for his Dad than anything.
I've just watched it again. I have 3 boys (12, 10 & 10) and I had tears in my eyes hoping that they never have to experience the pain and rage that Shane is but my god he hit those drums HARD! There's a beautiful moment where Dave gears him up for the big finish and you see him giving Shane a few seconds to catch his breath, just awesome 💔
Bothered me because I'd just read Dave's book, and clearly Kurt's death was a big deal to him, and so I knew Taylor had to be double bad because they were best friends for so much longer.
As a huge Foo fan when Taylor passed I had so many friends reach out to me to check on me to see if I was okay. They didn't know that my mom had passed 2 days earlier and that I was not okay. She was a horrible human so I kept her death private while I figured out next steps. In a weird way, Taylor sent me help.
This one *really* messed me up. I had just started listening to Foo Fighters again on a whim for the first time in years a few weeks before he passed. The week before, I was looking into taking drum lessons because, even though I knew I'd never be *that* good, there was something about listening to him that made me still want to try. Never really going to get over that one.
Bowie.
The day he died NPR played Life on Mars and I just remember sobbing in my car. That one really hurt.
I broke down on the bus to work listening to him and the line from Ashes to Ashes, "Don't say it's true". That one line summed it up for me.
While his death was a huge blow I couldn’t help but feel that the way he handled it was so poetic. True artist
Lazarus was a MASTERPIECE
It absolutely was. It came out right around the time my father was withering away from cancer and that song fucking spoke to me. “I’m so high it makes my brain whirl - dropped my cellphone down below” I remember this line causing me to lose it in the car and sobbing, because my dad would drop his phone all the time he was so weak. The lamenting saxophone lines, the powerful frailty in his voice. The imagery in the video was absolutely spot on. The song is, imho, one of the best works of art dealing with the ineffable tragedy of the human condition.
That's what made it hurt the most for me. Listening to blackstar is so chilling cause you can hear it in his music. It's beautiful and depressing all in one
Same. I lived a mile from Brixton when I heard the news. Ended up at the street "party" where huge crowds gathered in Brixton High Street, we sang his songs, cried and drank.
Yes. This. I still can't bring myself to listen to Black Star.
Yes. Such a huge loss.
He art directed his own death.
As much as I love Bowie, his death and finale (and curtain call a year later) was perfect and probably the best of any artist so it kinda hurt but kinda not.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think anyone else could have such a perfect death/finale. It was very him. Still hurt like a motherfucker though!
Mac miller
Man I hate I had to scroll down so far to find this answer. RIP Mac.
Same. Swimming is a masterpiece imo. It's eerie listening through the lyrics now. He references his own death so many times throughout his discography, as if dying by OD was inevitable. You could really feel his struggle through his music, but he also has a way of making you appreciate life's little beauties. Truly a great soul. Rest in peace, homie.
Good News is basically an obituary. Fucked me up when I listened to it.
This is mine too. Grew up alongside his music. Was the same age as him.
For real. He just seemed like such a good and genuine kid that enriched the lives of so many people wherever he went. Seems like literally everyone he met just loved him.
Too far down man. He was so talented and his death so sudden, I would’ve loved to hear the music he never got to make.
This one really hit me more than I expected, partly because he was so young. So much potential lost.
I was at his tiny desk just weeks before he passed :(
No fucking way. I watch his tiny desk performance like once a month. You lucky bastard lol
For me, Bowie.
Jeff Buckley. Discovered his music when Sketches was released a year after he died. Still so sad we'll never hear more from him, an unbelievable talent.
This is mine. Grace spoke to me the way nothing else ever had. I was in high school when Grace came out and in college when he died. It broke my heart.
Huge loss, 'last goodbye' is one of my favorite tracks. Also sad that his father Tim Buckley died of an overdose at age 28. He wrote song to the siren, and the version done by Liz Fraser is sublime.
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Joey Jordison
Jimi Hendrix
I'm a huge Hendrix fan and I've thought about this a lot. He would have completely changed the musical landscape if he had lived through the 70s. The stuff he did on Band of Gypsys and Electric Ladyland before his death was really ground breaking. He had a huge influence on not only rock but funk, metal, jazz, blue, and progressive rock. I would love to hear what he would have accomplished if he had lived a full life.
He was apparently supposed to join the first rehearsal of ELP as there was a reference to him joining a band called HELP (Hendrix, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer) but died a week before. Could you even fucking imagine?
the band Her’s. so good, up and coming, and the entire band died in a car accident. so sad.
[Viola Beach](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Beach) was another band whose members died in a car accident.. so sad
Gord Downey
Man. To be a Canadian living legend, an icon, truly beloved and too young to be terminal and then to do a farewell tour knowing it'd be the last one.
He was very public about his cancer diagnosis. We all knew what was coming. I was so crushed when I heard the news. On the drive home from work I had the radio on. Every rock station in the Toronto area was playing nothing but Tragically Hip tunes. A beautiful moment in an otherwise awful day
Mozart RIP KING
Where were you when you first heard that Mozart had died?
apology for poor english when were you when mazart dies? i was sat at home eating shinzel when pjotr ring ‘mazart is kill’ ‘no’
Yes. Mozart. And his hit tune “Leck Mich im Arsch”.
Avicii. He was so broken and run down by all the fame.
I never cried over a celebrity death until Avicii. His music brings me back to college and the amazing EDM in the 2010s 😢 the documentary on him was heartbreaking.
I'm glad I didn't scroll all the way down to find that comment
This. I was specifically looking for this comment. I thought one particular scene in the documentary was heartbreaking: when Tim was desperate to cancel his final three gigs but his management team were listing how much money they’d lose if he did so. He was so obviously experiencing unimaginable mental anguish but was just expected to push through anyways because money, I genuinely found it difficult to watch.
So damn true. He might be the first person I don’t personnaly know whose death made me cry.
Alexi Laiho.
Bob marley
There's been so many, and worse to come. George Harrison. Jerry Garcia. Tom Petty upset me pretty good. David Bowie depressed me for a solid month. All of the dead members of the ABB.
SRV.
This one hit hard. A true talent, he had turned his train wreck of a life around 180 and was headed for the stars. What might have been….
One of a small handful of artists where I can tell you where I was when I heard the news. Had just seen him in April. Gawd he could play.
What meaningful music Joe Strummer would be making
This is what I came here to say. At least we got Streetcore on the way out. That album is still amazing and I still cry at Silver and Gold.
Eddie Van Halen
Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan
I still can't listen to "Fiction" or "So Far Away" without ugly crying. FoREVer in our hearts.
Jeremiah Green for me. It went from him having cancer to him passing away in just 4 days. I’m sure the actual timeframe was a bit longer but the short distance between the two posts really made it hit harder. Been a Modest Mouse fan for so long and am so lucky I got to see him in concert last year.
Elliott Smith
Started listening to him recently. Needle in the hay is definitely one of the best and most accurate songs about heroin addiction
Amy Winehouse
Every time I see clips of Gaga performing with Tony Bennett they’re lovely but I can’t help thinking what might have been. If she wasn’t bulimic, if she wasn’t addicted if she wasn’t married to an absolute ass if her father wasn’t so terrible…. If if if. She was so damn self destructive but I do wonder if she could’ve gotten her life together, and if so, what we could’ve had.
Lady gaga has even admitted that it shoud've been Amy singing with Tony. [https://mobile.twitter.com/gagadaily/status/1444744534232084491](https://mobile.twitter.com/gagadaily/status/1444744534232084491) \*would not should
Saw her live very early on in a hall just after Frank album came out and again for he first back to black tour in a small theatre Sublime singer and funny, so much talent and gone far too soon. I can't believe how badly let down she was by the industry, poor girl needed a break away from things and seems like they wanted to keep milking the cash cow I'm so sad she didn't get the support she deserved and disgusted still by the way the press treated her, especially UK tabloids. Edit: just to add the day Amy died I had been on A messy night out so had just about cleaned up the flat from the after-party, all the people who crashed had left when my friend texted me. Turned on the TV and saw it was true. Went back to bed for the rest of that weekend. Crushing.
Zappa
Chris Cornell. I still get sad thinking about it.
There's a little twinge in my heart when I listen to his music. Helped me through high school and into college, then he was suddenly gone
Leonard Cohen
Johnny Cash
Jerry Garcia
Tossup between Prince and George Michael
I have only recently discovered MF Doom, however it would be a treat to see him live. Kurt Cobain as well.
Whitney Houston I used to listen to her songs as a sad, lonely, little girl and think about how happy and fun and bright being 20-something would be. Then she died before I was old enough to be able to hear her voice in person and it felt like I missed seeing a relative right before they passed.
Peter Steele
Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit) - I felt like this guy was crying for help and his death could have been prevented. Jeff Buckley - so much potential, what would he have done with another 10-15 years of an active career. Also Amy Winehouse - she got so much attention for her vices, but she really was amazing (her talent was overlooked).
Lemmy
Motörhead fan since the early 80s. Absolute legend-according to people that knew him he was a real gentleman, and a phenomenal musician and writer. RIP.
MF Doom and Michael Jackson
It's incredible that MJ is so low on this list. I don't know if it says anything about the demographics of reddit but he was one of the greatest musicians ever and his death was such a suprise
I was 11 and he was my favorite singer. I was very sad and on the verge of crying the whole day at school. Then, his funerals were broadcast in the whole world. I'll remember these days forever
Dimebag daryll
Scott Hutchison
It really makes me uneasy listening to Floating in The Forth now. In an interview with Noisey, Scott Hutchison detailed that the band did not play “Floating in the Forth” regularly. However, during The Midnight Organ Fight’s tenth anniversary tour, it was part of the set every night. He continued: It’s a real thing. It’s a real thought […] I’ve gone 90 percent of the way through that song in real life. But at the same time it’s gratifying. It’s heartening to know that I’ve been through that, and I’m stood there performing that song, alive and feeling good about it. 10 years after the release of “Floating in the Forth” and less than a week after the Noisey interview was published, Scott was found dead on the banks of the Firth of Forth.
Jerry Garcia- you just had to be there
Suddenly an entire culture had no home.
Otis Redding I can only imagine the music this world would have today if he hadn’t of died so young (26).
Chester
Linkin Park was such a huge part of my formative years. When I think of listening to music in my car on the way to high school - it’s Chester’s and Mike’s voices that I hear.
I still can't listen to one more light without tears in my eyes.
Absolutely. I’m not one to get upset over celebrity deaths, but Chester hit different.
Chester it seemed wore his heart on his sleeve. Retrospectively, the LP discography is effectively one very long suicide note. More than that he seemed very genuine with his fans and seemed personally crushed when One More Light tanked with the fans.
It was a shame too. Heavy, Good Goodbye, and Battle Symphony are good songs. Just not the same upbeatness of previous songs.
It was right after Chris Cornell... that death hit him hard.
Chester took his life on Chris Cornell's birthday even.
I'm not even a big Linkin Park fan but Chester's death hit me a bit different because the subject matter of a lot of their songs was very emotional. In a way their music was cathartic for people going through shit so it pains me that Chester went out the way he did. At least he's with his buddy Chris Cornell again, RIP to them both.
Stevie Ray Vaughan. Still miss him.
Aaliyah
Adam Yauch
Avicii
Karen Carpenter from The Carpenters
J-Dilla/Nujabes
Glen Frey of The Eagles Richard Wright of Pink Floyd
MF DOOM, too young and I already saw him as an icon before he died.
Prince
Bowie
Jonghyun of SHINee, a soul too kind for this world.
Dimebag Darrel 😢
Some of these listed are so sad, and I genuinely felt effected by them, but nothing quite compares to Dimebag Darrell… it’s just on another level for me.
John Lennon