When Famous People Die
Why it matters to us.
I vividly remember the time when I learned that Kurt Cobain died, back in 1994. I wasn’t a hard-core grunge person, merely flirted with the genre, especially the clothing. He hadn’t been a particular favorite of mine. Still, he had been a voice of GenX and his death floored many of us.
Our friend group, still in our late teens, gathered that evening to reflect. As we listened to Nirvana non-stop, we talked about Cobain and what his life, and his death, had meant. It was a good conversation, thought-provoking and deep, punctuated with the glow of candles and cigarettes. (This was the 90s, after all.) Not only that night but in the following weeks, I learned that others in my friend group held him in high regard and why, and what his life had meant to them. They were grieving, much more than me, but I respected that they were feeling that way.
Celebrity grief is a weird thing. Love them or hate them, it can’t be denied that they play a role in our lives. Whether we find them inspirational, comforting, or vile, we definitely have feelings when they die. Just look at what happened after John Lennon and Princess Diana died. Thousands upon thousands of people held vigils and memorials all over the world, despite never having met them. It’s human nature to mourn those that affect us in some way.
