I was devastated by the news. It was such a shock. It hit me harder than I would have expected, which made me realize just how important his lyrics were to me. Just copying a couple of my facebook posts here...
Tuesday the world lost one of the greatest drummers who ever lived. But for me, it was his lyrics that meant the most. They gave validity to my feelings about freedom of thought and expression as a teenager. His observations and social commentary, often using fantasy characters as metaphors, just made complete sense to me. This one may be worse than Squire or Wetton (And that's saying a LOT). Farewell to the King!
Up until yesterday, I guess I sort of took for granted how much Neil's lyrics meant to me. Coming out of a rough patch in my family's history, and a 2 year period of constantly being "the new kid", I started high school and got turned on to this crazy band out of Canada that seemed to speak directly to me and who I was. Rest in peace Neil, you made the world a better place for millions of people like me.