The Top 5 Most Shocking Deaths In Rock N Roll History
These five deaths shook the music industry to its core.
On this day 45 years ago, on Monday Night Football, no less, the world learned of the shocking murder of one of rock n' roll's biggest icons, John Lennon.
One of the principal songwriters and visionaries of The Beatles was murdered outside his apartment in Manhattan, as ABC's Howard Cosell was dealt the unfortunate hand of having to inform the nation over the airwaves in the middle of a Dolphins-Patriots game.
It's considered one of the most jarring moments in live television up to that point and one of the most stunning deaths in music industry history.
In honor of the 45th anniversary of that tragic day, I wanted to look at five of the most shocking deaths in rock 'n roll history.
READ: These Are The Greatest Debut Albums In Rock History
These are artists whose lives were tragically cut short, be it by personal demons or freak accidents, leaving fans completely blindsided when they heard the news.
Without any further ado, let's begin.
5. Dimebag Darrell Shot Dead On Stage (2004)
Darrell Lance Abbott, known to his fans as Dimebag Darrell, was the powerhouse lead guitarist of groove metal outfit Pantera.
For much of the 1990s, Pantera's blend of aggressive riffs and vocals with Dimebag's silky smooth and super-fast legato runs had the metal community in a chokehold, but by 2004, the band had been broken up for years, and Darrell and his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, had formed a new metal outfit, Damageplan.
The brothers were at a concert in Columbus, Ohio, coincidentally on the same day as John Lennon's death 24 years earlier, when a deranged fan hopped on stage and gunned the virtuoso down in cold blood.
The ruthless killing sparked conversations about musicians' safety during live shows as well as the need for beefed up security, but none of that would bring Dimebag back.
The metal community mourned the loss of an absolute titan who was still in his prime (38 years old), as his death left a hole that could never be filled.
4. Lynyrd Skynyrd's Fatal Plane Ride (1977)
By 1977, southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd were approaching superstardom.
With songs like "Sweet Home Alabama," "Saturday Night Special," and "Freebird" in their arsenal, the band was riding as high as possible.
So when news started to spread on the morning of October 21 that members of the group had been killed in a plane crash, it almost seemed to surreal to be true.
The band boarded their Convair CV-240 passenger plane the night before to fly from Greenville, SC, to Baton Rouge, LA, and were ironically ready to buy a new plane, citing issues with their current one that made some of the band members weary about flying in it.
The plane ran out of fuel somewhere in rural Mississippi and crashed into a forested area, clipping a tree and splitting into several pieces.
Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, among other support staff, were all killed as a result of the crash, with other members of the band receiving serious injuries that would require hospitalization.
They had just released what would be their final album as a complete outfit, Street Survivors, just three days earlier, a record that featured the band engulfed in flames on the cover.
Little did anyone know how terrible an omen that would end up being less than 48 hours later.
3. Randy Rhoads' Ill-Fated Joyride (1982)
Ozzy Osbourne's penchant for surrounding himself with some of the finest guitarists to ever grace our universe may have started in the 1960s with Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi, but many would argue his most talented axe-slinger was Randy Rhoads, the diminutive neo-classical shredder from his early solo career.
With hits like "Flying High Again" and "Crazy Train" already under his belt by 1982, Rhoads was making a name for himself as one of the most popular guitarists of the 80s not named Eddie Van Halen.
Then it all came to a screeching halt.
While on tour with Osbourne, Rhoads decided to go for a joyride in a small propeller plane with the band's bus driver as their tour bus was getting worked on in Leesburg, Florida.
The bus driver (who also had his pilot's license) started to "buzz" the tour bus, making several low-altitude passes in an attempt to spook Ozzy – who was napping on the bus at the time.
After a couple successful attempts, the pilot made the third and final ill-fated pass, clipping the bus with his wings and sending the plane spiraling.
Rhoads was killed instantly.
Although he was just 25 years old at the time, the budding guitar god was already one of the most well-respected musicians of his day.
Others in the community offered their condolences to Osbourne, who had lost something of a little brother figure in his life, and the hard rock community at large mourned the passing of a giant.
2. Freddie Mercury Reveals He Has AIDS (1991)
While Queen frontman Freddie Mercury tried his best to keep his private life private, it wasn't exactly a well-kept secret that the flamboyant rock singer preferred the company of other men, so when news of his poor health started to circulate in the late 80s, rumors started to fly.
Around that time, AIDS had become somewhat of a hot button issue, so it made sense why Mercury was doing his best to hide what was actually wrong with him.
As the public grew more and more concerned with the increasingly gaunt lead singer, including his garish appearance in Queen's last music video "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" (which I've included above), Mercury thought it would be best to get out in front of the swirling narrative.
He announced to the world on November 22, 1991, that he had contracted AIDS, and although his health was clearly rapidly deteriorating, he sounded positive, saying he would "fight this terrible disease" with the help of others.
Then, just over 24 hours after releasing the statement, Mercury would succumb to the disease.
A figure larger than even life itself being whittled down to nothing more than a husk of his former self was shocking to fans of Queen and rock in general alike.
This was seen as one of the final death blows to the decade of debauchery and decadence that was the 1980s, so it gets bonus points for shock value in that regard.
1. Kurt Cobain Joins "The 27 Club" (1994)
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was seen as the voice of a generation, so much so that his arrival on the music scene killed an entire genre (hair metal) almost overnight.
After Nevermind was released in 1991, the tastes of the music industry shifted entirely towards the doom and gloom stylings of Seattle's grunge movement.
And Kurt Cobain was front and center leading the charge.
However, Cobain was also a complicated man, to put it mildly.
He was a depressed, self-loathing, drug addict, and the newfound fame he achieved with his band was starting to crash down on him like a wave.
Even as the band released a killer follow-up in 1993 with In Utero, Cobain's depression and drug dependency spiraled out of control.
He would have to cancel shows, would go missing for days at a time, and his relationship with wife Courtney Love had become strained almost to the point of no return.
So it wasn't a shock when the moody rocker checked himself into rehab in March of '94.
What was shocking, however, was the news that he had gone missing from the rehab facility the following month, a fact that was only known by a handful of people close to Cobain.
Apparently, Cobain had jumped the fence at the Los Angeles facility, flew back to Seattle, and spent the next several days tying up loose ends and getting high on his drug of choice, heroin.
Then, on the morning of April 5, 1994, Cobain shot himself in the head with a shotgun at his Seattle home, sighting his hatred for the music industry, among other things, in a suicide note.
Four days later, the now-famous announcement went live on MTV News.
The voice of a generation had silenced himself forever, shocking millions of loyal Nirvana fans around the world grieved for days on end, while some still haven't gotten over it.
To this day, outside of John Lennon's tragic murder, it may very well be the most shocking death in rock history.