Celebrity deaths you really can't be arsed about

[Beatle Simon]

I'm not 'can't be arsed' about celebrity deaths, but they don't affect me like they used to.
I was 18 when Kenneth Williams died, and the next day everyone at work was talking about it and all felt sad. I was upset when David Bowie and Prince died, but no-one where I work now seemed to care.
Maybe we're all cried-out after Diana.

[Bored Of Education]

As was memorably sent up in The Simpsons. But parodies only work if the audience recognise the subject itself.

Fair play, he did the voice for that as well.

[Greenlander]

He voiced his cameo in Family Guy too.

[Benjm]

Thanks, Bored & Greenlander, I didn't know that. Not taking himself too seriously only increases his likeability.

[Femme Folle]

I guess you probably weren't a 20- or 30- something woman in the USA during the '90s. Most of us had crushes on Luke Perry, so his death is very sad to me, and even doubly so for the reason HP mentions. He was almost 8 years younger than I am. You just don't expect to hear about people that young dying of stroke. In some ways, it's more shocking than the suicide deaths.

[G-Man]

The death of famous people usually gives you a chance of giving a slightly sad hat-tip to their body of work, unless they still had a lot to offer (such as Prince). There will be those who'll join you, those who'll nod with a flash of sadness, and those who are totally indifferent. When Mark Hollis died recently, there were lots of RIPs and videos of favourite Talk Talk songs on my timeline. I was among the "nod" crowd. But I was sadder about the death of film director Stanley Donen, who I had assumed had already died at some point, because in 1951 he helped create one of my favourite cultural moments.

Sometimes the death of a celebrity is mourned because it represents a passing of an era. So when session guitarist Joe Osborn died last year, I was saddened by the passing of another great member of the Wrecking Crew (Hal Blaine's death will be the big one in that regard, I suppose). Other times, as has been hinted at in relation to Luke Perry's death, we are reminded of our own mortality.

The whole concept of mourning celebrities is pretty random.

But I'll say this: in almost all celebrity deaths, there will be somebody who is arsed about it. Else they wouldn't be celebrities in the first place.

[Antepli Ejderha]

The death of famous people usually gives you a chance of giving a slightly sad hat-tip to their body of work, unless they still had a lot to offer (such as Prince). There will be those who'll join you, those who'll nod with a flash of sadness, and those who are totally indifferent. When Mark Hollis died recently, there were lots of RIPs and videos of favourite Talk Talk songs on my timeline. I was among the "nod" crowd. But I was sadder about the death of film director Stanley Donen, who I had assumed had already died at some point, because in 1951 he helped create one of my favourite cultural moments.

Sometimes the death of a celebrity is mourned because it represents a passing of an era. So when session guitarist Joe Osborn died last year, I was saddened by the passing of another great member of the Wrecking Crew (Hal Blaine's death will be the big one in that regard, I suppose). Other times, as has been hinted at in relation to Luke Perry's death, we are reminded of our own mortality.

The whole concept of mourning celebrities is pretty random.

But I'll say this: in almost all celebrity deaths, there will be somebody who is arsed about it. Else they wouldn't be celebrities in the first place.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts.

I've posted a few RIPs on here that have got few if not no replies, it just reminds me again that what is or was important or relevant to me isn't the same for everyone. For example Paul Flynn was the last death I started a thread on. Growing up in Wales he was politically very important yet for most on here that was irrelevant, and understandably so.

[Jah Womble]

I mean, Keith Flint died the other day. His tribute thread turned into a pisstake before the body was cold. The most interest I could muster was a mental 'that's a shame'.

Some of the comments were a little off-colour, but I don't think it was a 'pisstake' as such. (Brits in particular have a habit of looking for the dark joke pretty much 'on impact'. See Twitter, etc, for evidence.) His death was very sad - especially given the apparent circumstances - but that wouldn't ever preclude a bit of wordplay.

I'm confident that surviving friends will find a gag or two about me when I pop off (possibly of the 'who's going to write his obituary?'-nature). I'd certainly hope that they would, anyway.

[Sporting]

I'm not 'can't be arsed' about celebrity deaths, but they don't affect me like they used to.
I was 18 when Kenneth Williams died, and the next day everyone at work was talking about it and all felt sad. I was upset when David Bowie and Prince died, but no-one where I work now seemed to care.
Maybe we're all cried-out after Diana.

To give you an example of how callous and uncaring I can be, what I most remember about her death is that they postponed the Liverpool - Newcastle game that day, one which me and a few others had been planning to watch down a pub in Great Malvern.

Sorry of course about her death but you will never convince me that all other events had to stop forthwith.

Probably in a minority of one on this one so I'll shut up now.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

To give you an example of how callous and uncaring I can be, what I most remember about her death is that they postponed the Liverpool - Newcastle game that day, one which me and a few others had been planning to watch down a pub in Great Malvern.

Sorry of course about her death but you will never convince me that all other events had to stop forthwith.

Probably in a minority of one on this one so I'll shut up now.

You're probably not - equally one of the main things I remember was that Blackpool vs Carlisle was moved from the Saturday (of the funeral) to the Sunday, costing me a day out as I couldn't make the Sunday. I may be out on my timings but seem to remember there being talk of postponing all league fixtures on the weekend after 9/11, but they (and our planned trip to Cheltenham away) went ahead in the end.

[Giggler]

Bury actually played on September 11. Lost 1-0 at Wrecsam.

[Greenlander]

You're probably not - equally one of the main things I remember was that Blackpool vs Carlisle was moved from the Saturday (of the funeral) to the Sunday, costing me a day out as I couldn't make the Sunday. I may be out on my timings but seem to remember there being talk of postponing all league fixtures on the weekend after 9/11, but they (and our planned trip to Cheltenham away) went ahead in the end.

Argyle actually played on the night of 9/11 with about 3800 there. The whole evening was a real what-the-fuck-are-we-doing-here atmosphere, made all the more strange as we were all congregated on the Mayflower as the other three sides of the ground had been completely flattened for redevelopment. Everyone just wanted to get out of there and go home. What's odd looking back is coming so soon after Diana I'm surprised it went ahead, but maybe the fact it did and games the following Saturday too it signalled a return to the more pragmatic life has to go on as normal approach.

Oh, and with regards to the People's Princess, we were due to play Fulham that weekend but had to shift our game to the following Tuesday which pissed loads off us as we'd booked London weekenders.

[elguapo4]

Liverpool played a home European game on 9/11 if I remember correctly.

[Ray de Galles]

To give you an example of how callous and uncaring I can be, what I most remember about her death is that they postponed the Liverpool - Newcastle game that day, one which me and a few others had been planning to watch down a pub in Great Malvern.

I was furious about that game being pulled too, especially as the previous two seasons had been the matches that finished 4-3 with the winner in injury time.

I'll always think we were robbed of the chance of a hat trick of them.

[Jah Womble]

I think I was mainly racked off about telly being nothing but ashen-faced newcasters interviewing former school pals and fifty-first cousins in front of the same giant picture of her for the next forty-eight hours. (That, and Xfm's long-awaited launch getting f***ed over by the news.)

[Hot Pepsi]

It's not such a bad idea for everyone to stop everything they're doing for a bit to think about mortality, impermanence, loss, and what's really important. Insofar as a famous person's death does that, it was all for the better. They're also a chance to reflect on history and things in the culture that have passed by. And especially when it's a young person and/or they're killed unexpectedly, one can only feel some compassion for their family and friends, even if it doesn't really hit us as a loss personally.

That could have been the case with Diana. Unfortunately, all the shit about "The People's Princess" and "the importance of royalty" and all that drowned that out. And then her children were cruelly pushed out into public during that time, which just underscored the absurdity of how the monarchy works - "they get to be richer than God, but their lives are often nightmarish," but it appears that no lessons were learned by the people who needed to learn them.

[WOM]

Yeah. That's it for me...your first part. For us, he was 90210 and youth and good looks and success. I find the equivalence for my daughter in Glee. She lived for Glee. Watched every show multiple times on DVD. Then one of the heartthrob leads died of a drug overdoes. BAM!. Then a couple of years later, another heartthrob lead gets caught with child porn. BAM! Then, instead of trying to cope with it all, he kills himself. BAM! That's the reality of mortality hitting you in the face. No matter how rich or famous or beautiful, life treats you the same way most of the time.

[laverte]

I taught a class, in France, in which there were nine boys, three of whom were called Dylan. All born in the early 1990s. It was a very popular name for a few years, all because of Luke Perry. A weird legacy, to be sure, and one he shares with the other emblematic boys' names of the era, Kévin (Costner) and Jordan (Michael/Air/possibly Knight).

[Hot Pepsi]

I taught a class, in France, in which there were nine boys, three of whom were called Dylan. All born in the early 1990s. It was a very popular name for a few years, all because of Luke Perry. A weird legacy, to be sure, and one he shares with the other emblematic boys' names of the era, Kévin (Costner) and Jordan (Michael/Air/possibly Knight).

This suggests that it peaked around the time the show was on and then peaked again a few years later. Perhaps when women who watched the show as a teenager were starting to have families.

https://nametrends.net/name.php?name=Dylan

I knew a few Dylans in high school and college and their parents - so roughly the same age as Dylan the character on 90210 - and as far as I know, were probably the type to be into Bob Dylan, who of course, took the name from Dylan Thomas and, according to wiki, "Thomas's father chose the name Dylan, which could be translated as "son of the sea", after Dylan ail Don, a character in The Mabinogion."

[Hot Pepsi]

Yeah. That's it for me...your first part. For us, he was 90210 and youth and good looks and success. I find the equivalence for my daughter in Glee. She lived for Glee. Watched every show multiple times on DVD. Then one of the heartthrob leads died of a drug overdoes. BAM!. Then a couple of years later, another heartthrob lead gets caught with child porn. BAM! Then, instead of trying to cope with it all, he kills himself. BAM! That's the reality of mortality hitting you in the face. No matter how rich or famous or beautiful, life treats you the same way most of the time.

He did try to cope with it. Killing himself was how he coped. Not all coping strategies are healthy.

That show didn't exactly "go out on its own terms," did it?

[jwdd27]

Liverpool played a home European game on 9/11 if I remember correctly.

Arsenal certainly had an away game, losing 1-0 to Mallorca - Piers Morgan got a mention in the next Private Eye, as instead of editing an historic copy of the Daily Mirror, he was glued to the Arsenal match throughout the evening.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I knew a few Dylans in high school and college and their parents - so roughly the same age as Dylan the character on 90210 - and as far as I know, were probably the type to be into Bob Dylan, who of course, took the name from Dylan Thomas and, according to wiki, "Thomas's father chose the name Dylan, which could be translated as "son of the sea", after

Your quite right about Bob Dylan's influence on Dylan as a boys' name. By the end of the 60s there were already plenty of toddlers named Dylan scuttling about. However, though it's a widely reported assumption it was borrowed from Dylan Thomas, Robert Zimmerman was already Bobby Dillon when playing in his high school rock band. According to several sources, including Echo Hellstrom his then girlfriend (and The Girl From the North Country) he adopted Dillon from Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke. By the time he reached New York a few years later Bobby Dillon hand become Bob Dylan, probably because it sounded more serious.

[Hot Pepsi]

I could have sworn I’d heard the Dylan Thomas story from multiple sources.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Oh yes that's what everyone assumed, but this is more likely...


The "Bob Dylan" Mythology

How the soon-to-be rock star's name evolved from Zimmerman to Dylan has become part of the great Bob Dylan mythology.
It happened sometime between Bob's final year in high school and when he moved to Minneapolis to begin his truncated freshman year at the University of Minnesota. By most accounts, Bob was already a Dylan by the time he started hanging out in the cafes and among the folk crowd of Dinkytown, the student section of Minneapolis
The common mythology holds that Dylan took his name from poet Dylan Thomas. However, this is absolutely false. Bob was a Dylan long before he picked up any of Thomas's poetry.
In a 1978 Playboy interview, Ron Rosenbaum asked Dylan, “By the time you arrived in New York, you'd changed your name from Robert Zimmerman to Bob Dylan. Was it because of Dylan Thomas?”
Dylan's response: “No, I haven't read that much of Dylan Thomas... It wasn't that I was inspired by reading some of his poetry and going “Aha!” and changing my name to Dylan. If I thought he was that great, I would have sung his poems and could just have easily changed my name to Thomas... I just chose that name and it stuck.”

Zimmerman Becomes Dylan

According to Daniel Mark Epstein in his biography, "The Ballad of Bob Dylan," the switch from Zimmerman to Dylan began back when Dylan was 17 or 1
As the front man of his rockabilly-blues garage band, The Golden Chords, Bobby Zimmerman was the typical James Dean-posing rocker, playing high school talent shows and trying to impress the chicks. Even at that young age, Dylan had an amazing natural sense about the importance of image for entertainers. He groomed himself accordingly: it was all about the look and the appeal. Paramount to all, was the name

At the time, wrote Epstein, “He was a great fan of Matt Dillon, the sheriff of the television series "Gunsmoke." In 1958, he confided to his high school sweetheart (Echo Helstrom) that he planned to devote his life to music, adding that 'I know what I'm going to call myself. I've got this great name—Bob Dillon.' That was how he told new friends to spell his (assumed) last name. He also told them that Dillon was his mother's maiden name (it wasn't) and that Dillon was a town in Oklahoma (it isn't).
With the name Dillon fully intact, Epstein goes on to assert that the spelling shifted to Dylan in Dinkytown.

[Stumpy Pepys]

I just found out Magenta Devine (died 6 March 2019) was an icon. Apparently.