The Passing of an Era

I was on my Myspace page this morning when I read some rather shocking news. The frontman for one of my favorite bands passed away, from an apparent heart attack, a little less than a month ago. This band, his vocals in particular, spoke to me, so I was saddened to hear of his death.
This got me to thinking about quite a lot. I was introduced to this band by my ex, Bernie. I had heard of them before I met him, but I had never heard their music or really even taken note of them before. This is one of the few good things I took away from that relationship. An appreciation for a band that I probably would never have heard otherwise. This band had one album go gold, and yet another go platinum, but despite that, they were still a largely underground band from Brooklyn that never really made it to the mainstream.
It got me thinking about the passing of an era. This music spoke to me, on a very personal level, for one era of my life. At the time, I was deeply depressed, and this music spoke to me because it, too, was about life, death, and everything you experience in between. It spoke of depression, because the band had dealt with it too. I listened to it almost exclusively for a very long time. After that relationship ended, I stopped listening to it on a regular basis. I would dust off one of the albums and listen to it occasionally, but for the most, they went unlistened to. That era of my life had passed. The music was still beautiful, but it didn't speak to me anymore. I started a new relationship, with a good man. I got my life back. I got engaged to that man. I married that man.. As with the lead singer of this band, that era has passed.
I will still listen to, and appreciate, this band. I will still mourn the passing of a truly unique musician. But this is the ending of an era, in more ways than one.
RIP, Pete Steele. You will be sorely missed!
1962-2010