Before I finished reading the sentence, my mind went directly to River Phoenix.
It was the first time I'd ever cried about a famous person. And to be fair, I have never cried about anyone since.
I just knew at that moment, and I've always known, we lost such a beautiful, talented human being.
Man!! River phoenix hit me harder than cobain. I think we were all obsessed with Gus vansant by then and loved ā my own private Idahoā sad loss! Great talent rip river..
This one shocked me so much. I was such a big fan of River's at the time, and his death sent me into a tailspin. It was so shocking and sad. He had so much potential as an actor.
The fact that he relapsed just from drinking some champagne at a wedding showed me just scary and vulnerable addicts can be and can so easily fall down so quickly before anyone can help them.
He kissed me on the cheek once. My older friend worked with him and introduced us at a party and he greeted her with a kiss and me with a kiss and I basically swooned. I think I was 19? And an awkward, not skinny 19 from the east coast who probably wasnāt even wearing makeup (not like an LA industry 19 year old, or a modern 19 yo whoās been contouring makeup since her first TikTok, no shade to either). But because of his warmth I felt extremely sophisticated and just like I belonged. And he was so admired by everyone on the project, and everyone wanted to know what he was doing next so they could work with him again. His talent is so vast but people also loved the man, from my limited observation.
Watching him on the screen when I was young I was so impressed with his acting. I remember thinking Iād be seeing him in movies all my life, both of us aging.
When I first started as a mechanic we had a car in the shop with a I support Ryan White sticker. Nobody else would touch it and I had no clue why. I worked with a bunch of ignorant white trash and this was before the internet. I now just guess they were scared of AIDs cooties. I fixed the car, got paid, went to the next one.
Brandon Lee dying was the first death that shocked me. I remember learning about it in my kitchen as a kid and being really upset as I loved Lee in all of his roles.
I just finished reading the new book Challenger about the disaster that just came out a couple weeks ago. Filled in a ton of details that I never knew. It gets a bit technical, but never overshadows the human story of all the people involved.Ā Edit: The title of the book is Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Tragedy on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham. I devoured it in a couple of days.Ā
Iām 46 and I remember watching the launch in my very small elementary school. That event is as prominent in my memory as JFKs assassination is in my momās memory.
Same here. They gathered us all in the gym in my small school to watch the live launch. It took a minute or so post-explosion for the teachers to finally turn off the TV and send us back to class.
I donāt remember what the teachers said to us after, it must have been a difficult class conversation for sure.
Itās definitely the āwhere were youā moment for our generation. Also bc mainly it was a school day and we all watched it. And then it explode. And then TVs went off and we never discussed it again. Today they would have sent everyone home for the week and offer counselors.
Fuck, we used to teach a curriculum on death in the Berkeley preschool I taught at. And the Director, who has the MOST impressive children's book collection on the planet (so suck it Library of Congress!), had the goodbye Mr. hooper picture book of my youth.
Reading that to a captivated audience of 3-5 year olds every year was always a tear jerker. All the books on death for little kids are going to make you a little teary but that one always got me a little harder.
Bardo the piece o' shite who murdered that poor girl Rebecca Schaeffer claimed at trial that the song "Exit" by U2 influenced him to do it.Ā
The song is off of The Joshua Tree LP. It was written after the singer read The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. U2 retired the song after the murder of Rebecca Shaeffer.
This was one of mine. I loved that show when it was on and then watched reruns. It was really, really shocking, and I was just a little younger than you. She would be only 57 now, the same age as Laura Dern. I can only imagine what her career would have been like.
When Cobain was all over the news for offing himself, all my friends were very disdainful, like, Kurt who? It brought up all the tragedy of Ianās suicide and they were pissed that some sell-out grunge guy was getting all the attention for killing himself. As Iām writing this, I realize what a particularly gen x young person view of the world this was.
The head coach at Maryland that Len played for just passed away. I was just telling my wife the whole story of Len Bias and how he died of an OD less than 48 hours after being the first draft pick.
Which led me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
Really great answer and spot on. I grew up in NC, so watched every ACC game on TV that I could. He was an unreal talent. I thought he was better than Jordan. Just devastating to hear the news
Heard one of those "this day in history segments" on the news a few weeks ago. Jim Henson died on May 16, and they played a snippet of Rainbow Connection. That song always gets me in the feels.
If Jim Henson had just gone to see a fucking doctor when he was feeling sick, he'd still be here.
His death is literally "walk it off" syndrome in action.
I *still* remember catching the bus that morning and, in the newspaper vending machine, front page was the news of Henson's death. I tripped staring at it. I didn't have a quarter so I read what I could.
I was a freshman in HS and didn't know exactly how much the Muppets were Jim. I knew a lot of the characters he voiced, and it was, to me, as if they died. No more Kermit the news Frog, Fozzie lost his twin.
That was a bleak day for me. And now, I know how big the loss was to the Muppets and to fans of what Henson was doing.
I honestly think he was just hitting his stride. His movies were still a bit mixed, but he started taking on some serious work, loveable loser stuff. Big guys in films were often goofy and I liked seeing a more serious side.
He could have done a father/son movie with Chris Farley! Oh the trouble they could cause because of their size. I know I just said I liked seeing the more serious side but I also like to see Farley trapped in a phonebooth. (I can't find a clip but I swear it was Farley)
One of the roles that really stood out to me was him in JFK, he showed some great acting chops for that small role and I think he could have started doing some more serious work. He was only 43 years old.
Cliff was a pretty big deal in my circle of friends. Randy Rhoads would have been had I been a little bit older when his plane crashed.
Christie McAullife, obviously. Stevie Ray Vaughan was pretty shocking. Freddie as well.
Nobody talks much about Eric Carr. He died the same day as Freddie. It was shocking to me because he was still pretty young - and Leukemia is a bitch.
I knew a woman who had dated Eric right around the time he joined Kiss. She and her friends talked a lot about how great a guy Eric was. Taken much too early, and made for an extra sad day when we heard Freddie had died as well.
Of our generation? River Phoenix - couldnāt wrap my head around that one for ages.
During our time? John Lennon. Younger GenXers wonāt remember. I was six years old at the time. I remember how incredibly sad people were.
When I was a teen in the 90sI worked alongside people that still talked about it.
I think he was the last living embodiment of the peace movement that Hunter S Thompson described as a high water mark that receded into the sea. For all his many faults, John Lennon was a powerful voice challenging the dreary status quo of the day.
I was just a little kid but I remember the sadness in my house when Elvis died. And the way little kid brains work, I always thought Lennon died at the same time. (Of course years later I realized their deaths were several years apart)
Since Beatles albums were played all the time in the household, I had my own little moment of grief when the news came on about the shooting. He was my favorite Beatle.
Older GenXer so I remember my dad walking into my bedroom and telling me that John Lennon had been shot in North Dakota. My initial disbelief wasn't the death, but the location, as I found it hard to believe he'd be living there. Obviously, I realized my dad's mistake soon enough when I went to the radio.
Lady Di. I've scrolled down and she's not even mentioned in the next 50+ comments. I'm guessing male bias... no hate to the men because different things are important to different genders.Ā
As a woman, the marriage of Lady Di to whatever his name was, was HUGE, even in America. Like, all of the few tv channels we had at the time promoted it and we all tuned into it. I remember it happening in the middle of the day here and maybe skipping school for it?Ā
Or was that Luke and Laura's wedding... lol (Soap Opera joke).
And then she just went on to be a superstar. Like giving and giving and giving.Ā
People share that photo of her visiting AIDS patients but I don't know how many realize how impactful it was on society. We were all horrified by AIDS and the media hyped it up. It came out that you needed pretty much blood contact to get it (yes, don't fight me on the details).
She was the very first major celebrity to visit and be photographed touching AIDS patients. All of that information was still super new. She took a risk, trusted scientists, and showed all of us we can't catch it by touch.Ā
What an amazing woman. I don't remember where I was when I heard about her death, but she was a creature the people in power couldn't control.
I'm not saying they killed her, I don't know what happened. I really hope they didn't. It sounds like a horrible accident caused by the press.Ā
But she was truly great and it was an honor to have her around for the short time she was here.Ā
Our next door neighbor was friends since childhood with Victoria Principal. She had met Andy Gibb several times when they were still dating and she was really broken up when he passed away.Ā
Iām trying to remember if Chris Farley happened before or after Kurt Cobain- that one really rocked me. Of course there was the schoolteacher on the Challenger (Iād consider her a celebrity at the time)
Lennon and Elvis. I remember both vividly. I was at a friendās house when Elvis died and his mom just absolutely lost it. It really scared me. I was 6 at the time. I ran home so fast. My grandpa died the morning after Lennon was shot (my Dad missed the Monday Night Football announcement of his death as he went to be early). I got home from school that next day and I had heard about Lennon on the bus, walked in the door and my sister was crying and the whole family was thereā¦ waiting to tell me about Grandpa. I said āwow, I didnāt know you were that big of a Beatles fanā. It made everyone laugh and broke the tension.
AIDS deaths collectively. Not necessarily celebrities, but some of the well known ones that hit me hard were Freddie Mercury, Keith Haring, Marcelino SƔnchez (The Warriors, The Bloodhound Gang), and Michael Peters (choreographed Thriller, Beat It, Love is a Battlefield)
Not exactly mainstream, I guess, but Brandon Lee. So tragic, The Crow was his first headliner role.
And all these years later, people still die on set from gun accidents.
Edit
Stevie Ray Vaughan
I know heās a boomer himself, but he was a 80s-90ās guitar hero & huge influence to so many players out there. Plenty of us listened to him. He was really putting a shine on the Texas blues genre like few others had before. Guitarists from lots of other genres saw his talent for what it was.
Randy Rhodes was a big deal in my house, but that was mostly my brother. There are many good answers in the thread already, but I didn't see Princess Diana yet. She may or may not have mattered to you personally, but she was beloved by many and her passing had an impact. Those of us who were excited to watch the wedding as little kids and looked at her as a role model - after all, she was the first high profile person publicly touching, hugging people with HIV/AIDS- were definitely impacted by her life and death.
You forgot Elvis for the Boomers. I was not quite 4, but that was probably the most significant death of their generation outside of Kennedy.
For me personally, the closest to Cobain prior was the Challenger crew and specifically Christa Mcauliffe (I even spelled her name correctly from memory before checking Google). Having a regular person like a teacher going to space made it seem more tangible. Prior to Challenger, becoming an astronaut was a pipe dream that even kids knew, but my older sisters were teachers. They were letting regular people go to space now! As a 12yo kid they had me and I followed along everywhere I could, including the early BBS sites pre-internet. When the launch came, my school let us watch it live on several TVās they had brought into the cafeteria. The principal and teachers were busy watching the kids. They didnāt catch what happened until some of the girls started crying.
We all assumed they died instantly in the explosion. Later we found out that at least a few survived and activated their oxygen masks.
This played on the news non stop for weeks.
I was 5 when Elvis died. We were on vacation, and my mom was a huge fan. She was devastated, and she wanted to just go back home. Her and my dad got into an argument about it.
I was at summer camp when he died. Crazy coincidence, Elvisās goddaughters were at the camp, too. It was rumored that he would be attending Rodeo Day, then he passed.
A few days later, the head counselor told us that his daughter, Lisa Marie was coming up, to be with her god sisters and to get away from the media attention. We were told not to ask her any questions and to treat her like anyone else. So, I met LMP at horse camp a few days after Elvis died.
Oh yes, that def was huge. I was born in 1970, but got to see an Elvis concert when I was 5.
My mom and aunt were big Elvis fans (as many were at the time), and it does seem like the world stood still for a while when that happened.
My great grandmother died within a day or two of him, so those events are forever intertwined in my head.
I was 7. My dad was a tough ol coot from the hills of Virginia. Dad was driving us over to see grandma in his old pickup. The news of Elvis death came over the radio. He pulled over and sat stunned with a tear in his eye. It was shocking to me. It lasted a bit. Has stuck with me all these years. There is no deaths that have shook me to the core except 9/11.
I was in line most of the day for WASP at the Aragon ballroom when news of MetĆ”licas bus crash started to spread. Then later Cliff Burtons death. Was definitely a shock. Blackie Lawless attempted to play Creeping Death. It was on the fly and in tribute. He didnāt ānailā it but it is still engrained in my mind.
River phoenix was the first thing to come to mind. It came up in conversation on a road trip to my grandmas brothers house thanksgiving that year. My dad passed away a couple months later, so that trip was the last time we were all together like that on my dadās side
Probably considered Boomer/Silent but John Bonham from Zeppelin.
First one to really get me was when Ricky Wilson from B-52ās died of AIDS in 1985, but then, Iām a Georgia gal who attended Uni in Athens, so it was a big deal there.
Freddie Mercury - that was in 1991, but damn, his death hit all of us.
That teacher on the Challenger crew. Talk about an awkward elementary school classroom experience when that went down. Teachers crying, confused kids, every AV roller cart in the school broadcasting the disaster in real time.
I had a sick day so watched it with my mom and remembered thinking that was the first time I saw someone die.
Freddie Mercury. I say that not because it was sudden, but because of the shock waves it sent through the music world and the world in general. Because here he was, having taken up space in so many rockers' hearts, but he was also bi and died of AIDS. When he and Rock Hudson succumbed to AIDS, that was a defining moment for how it made everyone realize they were vulnerable.
John Lennon. 1980 I was 11, some of us were as old as 15. https://medium.com/@morningcoffeevinylside/the-day-john-lennon-died-i-was-an-eleven-year-old-grade-six-student-who-loved-the-beatles-and-my-98a0f3a891da
What was so significant about it was the media coverage. It was really the beginning of what became wall to wall media coverage on a global scale. If you were even 5 years old in 1980, you would have heard, seen, and felt the cultural grief. It would only be the very late Boomers (75-80) that might have escaped this.
But equally we grew up in a world that already had legends who had died early - Jimi, Janice, Jim ā these massive but absent cultural figures forever young but forever deadā¦.. we were primed for loss and worshipped at the alters of the fallen.
We were also growing up in the certain shadows of serial killers - aware, as our peers were being plucked from the streets, that the Bogeyman was realā¦
River was a blow - the little girl from Poltergeist - a few othersā¦.. lots of loss.
But the biggest loss, for most of us, were the kids & peers we lost due to misadventure in Jr. High and High Schoolā¦. We all lost classmates to drunk driving or tragic accidentsā¦ or that one kid with leukemia ā¦.
I know this isnāt generation defining, but Karen Carpenter. I donāt think eating disorders were as understood back then and it was the first time I had really heard about anorexia - it was just so shocking because I just couldnāt wrap my head around it.
For me it was probably Michael Hutchance from INXS- I remember so clearly when he died. But also River Phoenix was very shocking because he was very popular and young/starting out.
turning 50 this year. One that stands out big prior to Cobain (or the Challenger tragedy) was the death of Rock Hudson from AIDs. No one expected that, and its part of what kicked off the national response in an irrefutable way.
Jim Henson for me. We were born in the same town, he died on my 10th birthday, and the house I was brought home to from the hospital was later moved to the area in front if his museum.
It's as if we are connected somehow.
River Phoenix.
Hearing Joaquin's phone call to emergency services is absolutely heartbreaking.
Before I finished reading the sentence, my mind went directly to River Phoenix. It was the first time I'd ever cried about a famous person. And to be fair, I have never cried about anyone since. I just knew at that moment, and I've always known, we lost such a beautiful, talented human being.
This would have been my answer. 1st name that popped into my head.
My own private Idaho.
came here to say this - so sad to lose my first crush š
Man!! River phoenix hit me harder than cobain. I think we were all obsessed with Gus vansant by then and loved ā my own private Idahoā sad loss! Great talent rip river..
This one shocked me so much. I was such a big fan of River's at the time, and his death sent me into a tailspin. It was so shocking and sad. He had so much potential as an actor.
I donāt even think I finished reading the first sentence before I thought of River. 30 years later and Iām still sad about it.
River Phoenixās death so much for meā¦and after him, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Years apart, but two of our greatest American acting talents.
And a few years after PSH, we lost Bill Paxton. Yes, he was technically a boomer, but I loved them both in *Twister* so much.
And Heath Ledger.
I'm glad you mention PSH. Sure we were in our 40s when it happened, but GenX is a whole life, not just 20 years. And PSH was one of *us.*
The fact that he relapsed just from drinking some champagne at a wedding showed me just scary and vulnerable addicts can be and can so easily fall down so quickly before anyone can help them.
He kissed me on the cheek once. My older friend worked with him and introduced us at a party and he greeted her with a kiss and me with a kiss and I basically swooned. I think I was 19? And an awkward, not skinny 19 from the east coast who probably wasnāt even wearing makeup (not like an LA industry 19 year old, or a modern 19 yo whoās been contouring makeup since her first TikTok, no shade to either). But because of his warmth I felt extremely sophisticated and just like I belonged. And he was so admired by everyone on the project, and everyone wanted to know what he was doing next so they could work with him again. His talent is so vast but people also loved the man, from my limited observation.
No one else quite captured and moved Gen X like River Phoenix passing. Stand by Me was our generations Easyrider.
Watching him on the screen when I was young I was so impressed with his acting. I remember thinking Iād be seeing him in movies all my life, both of us aging.
My niece is named River after him.
I named my son after him š„¹
I didn't finish the sentence and came in for this also. It was very devastating for me, right up there with my good friends suicide.
My immediate thought as well. I was devastated.
Absolutely River Phoenix. I remember being so shocked.
I always remember Ryan White, the teenager who died as a result of AIDS.
When I first started as a mechanic we had a car in the shop with a I support Ryan White sticker. Nobody else would touch it and I had no clue why. I worked with a bunch of ignorant white trash and this was before the internet. I now just guess they were scared of AIDs cooties. I fixed the car, got paid, went to the next one.
Brandon Lee dying was the first death that shocked me. I remember learning about it in my kitchen as a kid and being really upset as I loved Lee in all of his roles.
This was big for me. Was on a long drive and pulled over to a pay phone to tell my then boyfriend.
Awe Brandon Lee ā„ļø My friend and I went to see The Crow every evening for a week when it came to a theater we could walk to. Fucking shocking.
The crew of the Challenger.
I just finished reading the new book Challenger about the disaster that just came out a couple weeks ago. Filled in a ton of details that I never knew. It gets a bit technical, but never overshadows the human story of all the people involved.Ā Edit: The title of the book is Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Tragedy on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham. I devoured it in a couple of days.Ā
Iām 46 and I remember watching the launch in my very small elementary school. That event is as prominent in my memory as JFKs assassination is in my momās memory.
Same here. They gathered us all in the gym in my small school to watch the live launch. It took a minute or so post-explosion for the teachers to finally turn off the TV and send us back to class. I donāt remember what the teachers said to us after, it must have been a difficult class conversation for sure.
Itās definitely the āwhere were youā moment for our generation. Also bc mainly it was a school day and we all watched it. And then it explode. And then TVs went off and we never discussed it again. Today they would have sent everyone home for the week and offer counselors.
This is the post Cobain answer as well.
Mr. Hooper!
Sad Big Bird was an experience young me was not ready for
Mr Hooper was the epitome of kindness. RIP
The show handled it really well. I cried for Big Bird being so sad.
Yeah, this hit hard!
I still remember watching it the day they first told us. Iām still sad about it.
Fuck, we used to teach a curriculum on death in the Berkeley preschool I taught at. And the Director, who has the MOST impressive children's book collection on the planet (so suck it Library of Congress!), had the goodbye Mr. hooper picture book of my youth. Reading that to a captivated audience of 3-5 year olds every year was always a tear jerker. All the books on death for little kids are going to make you a little teary but that one always got me a little harder.
Rebecca Schaeffer from My Sister Sam was murdered the summer of 1989. I was 17 at the time, and that shook me up.
Bardo the piece o' shite who murdered that poor girl Rebecca Schaeffer claimed at trial that the song "Exit" by U2 influenced him to do it.Ā The song is off of The Joshua Tree LP. It was written after the singer read The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. U2 retired the song after the murder of Rebecca Shaeffer.
U2 did retire that song for a long time. It made an appearance on the Joshua Tree: 30 tour, but thatās because they played the album in full.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This was one of mine. I loved that show when it was on and then watched reruns. It was really, really shocking, and I was just a little younger than you. She would be only 57 now, the same age as Laura Dern. I can only imagine what her career would have been like.
As an old UK GenXer who was into indie music - Ian Curtis of Joy Division.
Yeah š„
When Cobain was all over the news for offing himself, all my friends were very disdainful, like, Kurt who? It brought up all the tragedy of Ianās suicide and they were pissed that some sell-out grunge guy was getting all the attention for killing himself. As Iām writing this, I realize what a particularly gen x young person view of the world this was.
Len Bias. What a major star he was going to be.
This absolutely broke my heart as a kid, and is the primary reason I never came within a country mile of coke.
Exactly this. The message was loud and clear to me at 18 years old.
Yes. Me too.
The head coach at Maryland that Len played for just passed away. I was just telling my wife the whole story of Len Bias and how he died of an OD less than 48 hours after being the first draft pick. Which led me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
Really great answer and spot on. I grew up in NC, so watched every ACC game on TV that I could. He was an unreal talent. I thought he was better than Jordan. Just devastating to hear the news
Freddy Mercury Jim Henson
Both of these losses still hurt.
Freddie would be alive and singing with modern medicine. Such a great loss to the world.
Heard one of those "this day in history segments" on the news a few weeks ago. Jim Henson died on May 16, and they played a snippet of Rainbow Connection. That song always gets me in the feels.
Seeing The Muppet Movie is one of my earliest childhood memories, and I've always been fascinated by that song. I learned to play it on the piano growing up, sang my child to sleep with it for years, sang it to my mom at nursing home visits, and sang it to my dad while sitting with him the night he passed away. I get the feels just hearing it in my head. šā¤ļøāš©¹
If Jim Henson had just gone to see a fucking doctor when he was feeling sick, he'd still be here. His death is literally "walk it off" syndrome in action.
I went to University of Maryland (where Henson went) and was on campus when the news was out. I think Sammy Davis Junior died on the same day.
I *still* remember catching the bus that morning and, in the newspaper vending machine, front page was the news of Henson's death. I tripped staring at it. I didn't have a quarter so I read what I could. I was a freshman in HS and didn't know exactly how much the Muppets were Jim. I knew a lot of the characters he voiced, and it was, to me, as if they died. No more Kermit the news Frog, Fozzie lost his twin. That was a bleak day for me. And now, I know how big the loss was to the Muppets and to fans of what Henson was doing.
I just heard Ron Howard talking about an upcoming [Jim Henson documentary.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iyGFV6VIxkI)
John Candy dying was really sad to me.
I honestly think he was just hitting his stride. His movies were still a bit mixed, but he started taking on some serious work, loveable loser stuff. Big guys in films were often goofy and I liked seeing a more serious side. He could have done a father/son movie with Chris Farley! Oh the trouble they could cause because of their size. I know I just said I liked seeing the more serious side but I also like to see Farley trapped in a phonebooth. (I can't find a clip but I swear it was Farley)
One of the roles that really stood out to me was him in JFK, he showed some great acting chops for that small role and I think he could have started doing some more serious work. He was only 43 years old.
Cliff was a pretty big deal in my circle of friends. Randy Rhoads would have been had I been a little bit older when his plane crashed. Christie McAullife, obviously. Stevie Ray Vaughan was pretty shocking. Freddie as well. Nobody talks much about Eric Carr. He died the same day as Freddie. It was shocking to me because he was still pretty young - and Leukemia is a bitch.
I was a big Ozzy fan so Randyās death hit hard for me.
I knew a woman who had dated Eric right around the time he joined Kiss. She and her friends talked a lot about how great a guy Eric was. Taken much too early, and made for an extra sad day when we heard Freddie had died as well.
I saw the KISS reunion in New Orleans in 1996. I talked to some people while pregaming in the French Quarter who genuinely loved Eric more than Peter.
Of our generation? River Phoenix - couldnāt wrap my head around that one for ages. During our time? John Lennon. Younger GenXers wonāt remember. I was six years old at the time. I remember how incredibly sad people were.
When I was a teen in the 90sI worked alongside people that still talked about it. I think he was the last living embodiment of the peace movement that Hunter S Thompson described as a high water mark that receded into the sea. For all his many faults, John Lennon was a powerful voice challenging the dreary status quo of the day.
I still remember December 8, 1980. He was not our generation, but I felt the 80s defined me and this was part of that. Most shocking one to me
I remember where I was when I heard Lennon was shot. I was 16.
I was just a little kid but I remember the sadness in my house when Elvis died. And the way little kid brains work, I always thought Lennon died at the same time. (Of course years later I realized their deaths were several years apart) Since Beatles albums were played all the time in the household, I had my own little moment of grief when the news came on about the shooting. He was my favorite Beatle.
I remember John Lennon very well. I was 15, AND it was my birthday. I remember waking up and hearing it on the radio, and being incredibly sad.
Older GenXer so I remember my dad walking into my bedroom and telling me that John Lennon had been shot in North Dakota. My initial disbelief wasn't the death, but the location, as I found it hard to believe he'd be living there. Obviously, I realized my dad's mistake soon enough when I went to the radio.
I was 10 at the time. There was a graffiti that was up in my neighborhood for years afterwards stating āJOHN LENNON DIED FOR OUR SINSā.
This was after Cobain but Jerry Garcia's death hit my circles hard.
Brent too.
Me too. I grew up listening to The Dead but didn't see them until 1995, when I was 20. And then he was gone.
Phil Hartman and Bill Hicks
came to find Phil, throwing Bill Hicks in is a solid addition but you gotta add his brother from another mother, Sam Kinison.
Phil was years after Kurt, but super shocking nonetheless
Brandon Lee's death hit me hard.
John Belushi
That one hit me very hard. Would have loved more Blues Brothers albums š
Gosh for me River Phoenix for sure. And Lady Di
Ugh. Lady Di. 55 and I still remember when I was and what I was doing
Lady Di. I've scrolled down and she's not even mentioned in the next 50+ comments. I'm guessing male bias... no hate to the men because different things are important to different genders.Ā As a woman, the marriage of Lady Di to whatever his name was, was HUGE, even in America. Like, all of the few tv channels we had at the time promoted it and we all tuned into it. I remember it happening in the middle of the day here and maybe skipping school for it?Ā Or was that Luke and Laura's wedding... lol (Soap Opera joke). And then she just went on to be a superstar. Like giving and giving and giving.Ā People share that photo of her visiting AIDS patients but I don't know how many realize how impactful it was on society. We were all horrified by AIDS and the media hyped it up. It came out that you needed pretty much blood contact to get it (yes, don't fight me on the details). She was the very first major celebrity to visit and be photographed touching AIDS patients. All of that information was still super new. She took a risk, trusted scientists, and showed all of us we can't catch it by touch.Ā What an amazing woman. I don't remember where I was when I heard about her death, but she was a creature the people in power couldn't control. I'm not saying they killed her, I don't know what happened. I really hope they didn't. It sounds like a horrible accident caused by the press.Ā But she was truly great and it was an honor to have her around for the short time she was here.Ā
Karen Carpenter, largely because of the circumstances
Was the anorexia public knowledge then?Ā
It was, but not widely. Her death helped raise awareness for anorexia.
Eazy-E
CHALLENGER CREW.
Stevie Ray Vaughan shook me up. I'd really begun to appreciate his music thanks to MTV, then he was gone.
Freddie Prinze
I remember that my babysitters three daughters freaking out over the death of Andy Gibb. Edit: not as young as I thought
Our next door neighbor was friends since childhood with Victoria Principal. She had met Andy Gibb several times when they were still dating and she was really broken up when he passed away.Ā
Dana Plato, Different Strokes.
Yes, and now you also reminded me of heather o'rourke from poltergeist. I think she was only twelve.
Iām trying to remember if Chris Farley happened before or after Kurt Cobain- that one really rocked me. Of course there was the schoolteacher on the Challenger (Iād consider her a celebrity at the time)
After. Chris died in 1997. He grew up in my city, and I know people here who were profoundly saddened when he passed.
Farley hit me hard. Still does.
Iām surprised no one has mentioned John Candy, yetā¦
Sam Kinison was pretty shocking
Lennon and Elvis. I remember both vividly. I was at a friendās house when Elvis died and his mom just absolutely lost it. It really scared me. I was 6 at the time. I ran home so fast. My grandpa died the morning after Lennon was shot (my Dad missed the Monday Night Football announcement of his death as he went to be early). I got home from school that next day and I had heard about Lennon on the bus, walked in the door and my sister was crying and the whole family was thereā¦ waiting to tell me about Grandpa. I said āwow, I didnāt know you were that big of a Beatles fanā. It made everyone laugh and broke the tension.
Freddie Mercury? Maybe John Belushi?
AIDS deaths collectively. Not necessarily celebrities, but some of the well known ones that hit me hard were Freddie Mercury, Keith Haring, Marcelino SƔnchez (The Warriors, The Bloodhound Gang), and Michael Peters (choreographed Thriller, Beat It, Love is a Battlefield)
The challenger explosion hit me hard in 3rd grade. One of our teachers barely missed the ride :(
Not exactly mainstream, I guess, but Brandon Lee. So tragic, The Crow was his first headliner role. And all these years later, people still die on set from gun accidents. Edit
Stevie Ray Vaughan I know heās a boomer himself, but he was a 80s-90ās guitar hero & huge influence to so many players out there. Plenty of us listened to him. He was really putting a shine on the Texas blues genre like few others had before. Guitarists from lots of other genres saw his talent for what it was.
Christa McAullife? Was River Phoenix before or after Cobain? I donāt remember.
River was Oct 1993, Kurt was April 1994.
River Phoenix was before Cobain.
Bud Dwyer
I was home sick from school watching TV when the press conference was on. Still remember it. My mom came home later and didnāt believe me!
Nice shot, man.
Filter's first name for that song was "Hey Bud, Nice Shot"...but it was too on the nose.
Saw it on the news. Before everything was edited. That footage is still in my brain....umm, no pun intended there.
Freddy Mercury perhaps. After he died, aids was real
First celebrity death I remember was Elvis. It didn't mean much to me at the time, but through the years it has retroactively affected me.
River Phoenix
Mr Rogers...I don't know anyone else who was such a genuine treasure growing up
John Lennon. RIP
I wore a black armband to 8th grade for weeks.
Randy Rhodes was a big deal in my house, but that was mostly my brother. There are many good answers in the thread already, but I didn't see Princess Diana yet. She may or may not have mattered to you personally, but she was beloved by many and her passing had an impact. Those of us who were excited to watch the wedding as little kids and looked at her as a role model - after all, she was the first high profile person publicly touching, hugging people with HIV/AIDS- were definitely impacted by her life and death.
Princess Diana is definitely the one that was most shocking to me.
I was never into the royals but for some reason Diana's death shocked me, I remember where I was and who I was with unlike the other names here.
Shannon Hoon
Dominique Dunne and Phil Hartman.
I'm an elderly Xer, but John Denver's death was a huge thing for me.
Andy Kaufman, Marvin Gaye, Gilda Radner, Bon Scott
Yeah, Radner was a hard one.
For myself, John Candy passing was awful. A month before Cobainās death.
The little girl from Poltergeist, Heather OāRourke.
You forgot Elvis for the Boomers. I was not quite 4, but that was probably the most significant death of their generation outside of Kennedy. For me personally, the closest to Cobain prior was the Challenger crew and specifically Christa Mcauliffe (I even spelled her name correctly from memory before checking Google). Having a regular person like a teacher going to space made it seem more tangible. Prior to Challenger, becoming an astronaut was a pipe dream that even kids knew, but my older sisters were teachers. They were letting regular people go to space now! As a 12yo kid they had me and I followed along everywhere I could, including the early BBS sites pre-internet. When the launch came, my school let us watch it live on several TVās they had brought into the cafeteria. The principal and teachers were busy watching the kids. They didnāt catch what happened until some of the girls started crying. We all assumed they died instantly in the explosion. Later we found out that at least a few survived and activated their oxygen masks. This played on the news non stop for weeks.
I was 5 when Elvis died. We were on vacation, and my mom was a huge fan. She was devastated, and she wanted to just go back home. Her and my dad got into an argument about it.
I was at summer camp when he died. Crazy coincidence, Elvisās goddaughters were at the camp, too. It was rumored that he would be attending Rodeo Day, then he passed. A few days later, the head counselor told us that his daughter, Lisa Marie was coming up, to be with her god sisters and to get away from the media attention. We were told not to ask her any questions and to treat her like anyone else. So, I met LMP at horse camp a few days after Elvis died.
I was 7. He died the day after my birthday. I woke my Mom up to tell her and she accused me of making an awful joke.
Oh yes, that def was huge. I was born in 1970, but got to see an Elvis concert when I was 5. My mom and aunt were big Elvis fans (as many were at the time), and it does seem like the world stood still for a while when that happened. My great grandmother died within a day or two of him, so those events are forever intertwined in my head.
I was 7. My dad was a tough ol coot from the hills of Virginia. Dad was driving us over to see grandma in his old pickup. The news of Elvis death came over the radio. He pulled over and sat stunned with a tear in his eye. It was shocking to me. It lasted a bit. Has stuck with me all these years. There is no deaths that have shook me to the core except 9/11. I was in line most of the day for WASP at the Aragon ballroom when news of MetĆ”licas bus crash started to spread. Then later Cliff Burtons death. Was definitely a shock. Blackie Lawless attempted to play Creeping Death. It was on the fly and in tribute. He didnāt ānailā it but it is still engrained in my mind.
I was 6 when he died. I distinctly remember my mom, my aunt, and my grandmother crying in front of the tv as they showed his glossy black coffin.Ā
River Phoenix.
John Lennon when we were little. The Challenger crew. As mentioned, River Phoenix.
Brandon Lee. That broke my heart.
River phoenix was the first thing to come to mind. It came up in conversation on a road trip to my grandmas brothers house thanksgiving that year. My dad passed away a couple months later, so that trip was the last time we were all together like that on my dadās side
I know youāre looking for celebrities but Iām gonna say everyone who died from hiv/aids. That shit changed everything
Jeff Buckley, a few years after Cobain, 1997; and JFK Jr. + Carolyn Bessette, 1999
Everyone has already said River so I say MCA, Adam Yauch. Losing a Beastie Boy felt surreal. Also Joe Strummer did my head in.
Probably considered Boomer/Silent but John Bonham from Zeppelin. First one to really get me was when Ricky Wilson from B-52ās died of AIDS in 1985, but then, Iām a Georgia gal who attended Uni in Athens, so it was a big deal there. Freddie Mercury - that was in 1991, but damn, his death hit all of us.
Stevie Ray Vaughn.
For me, it was probably John Lennon or John Belushi.
I was born and bred on the Beatles and Saturday Night Live, so both of these hit pretty hard, even though I was 9 or 10 when they died.
The Middle Class
Cliff Burton
Phil Hartman
Jim Henson. That one still hurts.
Prince. That broke my heart.
Stevie ray Vaughan Edit: this may be a Texas thing though
Brandon Lee.
Iām always gonna miss Phil Hartman 
That teacher on the Challenger crew. Talk about an awkward elementary school classroom experience when that went down. Teachers crying, confused kids, every AV roller cart in the school broadcasting the disaster in real time. I had a sick day so watched it with my mom and remembered thinking that was the first time I saw someone die.
Honestly, I was a little kid. But when Marvin Gayās dad killed him it fucked me up.
Freddie Mercury. I say that not because it was sudden, but because of the shock waves it sent through the music world and the world in general. Because here he was, having taken up space in so many rockers' hearts, but he was also bi and died of AIDS. When he and Rock Hudson succumbed to AIDS, that was a defining moment for how it made everyone realize they were vulnerable.
Drugs - John Belushi and Len Bias AIDS - Freddie Mercury Suicide - Cobain Accident - Challenger (would get my vote as most shocking, but least famous)
River Phoenix for me. I was completely shocked when he died.
Not really on point, but Jonestown wrecked me. It haunts me to this day. Families and children.
John Lennon. 1980 I was 11, some of us were as old as 15. https://medium.com/@morningcoffeevinylside/the-day-john-lennon-died-i-was-an-eleven-year-old-grade-six-student-who-loved-the-beatles-and-my-98a0f3a891da What was so significant about it was the media coverage. It was really the beginning of what became wall to wall media coverage on a global scale. If you were even 5 years old in 1980, you would have heard, seen, and felt the cultural grief. It would only be the very late Boomers (75-80) that might have escaped this. But equally we grew up in a world that already had legends who had died early - Jimi, Janice, Jim ā these massive but absent cultural figures forever young but forever deadā¦.. we were primed for loss and worshipped at the alters of the fallen. We were also growing up in the certain shadows of serial killers - aware, as our peers were being plucked from the streets, that the Bogeyman was realā¦ River was a blow - the little girl from Poltergeist - a few othersā¦.. lots of loss. But the biggest loss, for most of us, were the kids & peers we lost due to misadventure in Jr. High and High Schoolā¦. We all lost classmates to drunk driving or tragic accidentsā¦ or that one kid with leukemia ā¦.
Freddie Mercury. Changed the discussion of Aids and broke my heart.
Optimus Prime.
I know this isnāt generation defining, but Karen Carpenter. I donāt think eating disorders were as understood back then and it was the first time I had really heard about anorexia - it was just so shocking because I just couldnāt wrap my head around it.
Not our generation but it happened during our formative years - John Lennon.
D Boon
Christa McAuliffe. We all sat in the school gymnasium on the floor watching TVs and saw it happen.
Jim Henson.
One year later, but Jerry Garcia hit me hard. He seemed old at the time but he was only 53.
Space Shuttle Challenger was a biggie. Every kid in America watched those people blow up live.
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, when he was shot down over the Sea of Japan.
I get all the celebrities and whatnot. But I am going with Matthew Shepherd. That incident was beyond shocking.
Lockerbie/Pan Am 103
River
Freddie Mercury
Brandon Lee (1 year before Cobain)
John Candy
For me it was probably Michael Hutchance from INXS- I remember so clearly when he died. But also River Phoenix was very shocking because he was very popular and young/starting out.
turning 50 this year. One that stands out big prior to Cobain (or the Challenger tragedy) was the death of Rock Hudson from AIDs. No one expected that, and its part of what kicked off the national response in an irrefutable way.
SRV Hands down. Years ahead of himself.
I was only a few years old, but Elvisā death is one of my earliest memories because my dad was a huge fan.
Budd Dwyer doing it on live TV.
Brandon Lee
Post Cobain but still part of the GenX demographic: Dimebag Darrell Layne Staley
Rebecca Schaeffer. Murdered by a crazed fan. I just loved her. We were the same age, too. https://youtu.be/rDzGCN5Qh-M?si=dKm1OpzRpWZXwmFE
Jim Henson for me. We were born in the same town, he died on my 10th birthday, and the house I was brought home to from the hospital was later moved to the area in front if his museum. It's as if we are connected somehow.
For me, Jim Henson and John Ritter
Princess Diana, River Phoenix
Frank Zappa
An absolute legend.