As a parent you tend to absorb part of your kids culture. Our kids were very into High School Musical and my wife & I watched each of the films with them. We have to admit to getting a bit emotional at the end of the last one as we were saying goodbye to characters we had seen grow for so long.
Our youngest daughter was, for a number of years, a devout Directioner (a fan of the group One Direction) so their music became part of the soundtrack to our lives. The news of Liam Payne's death (one of 1D's members) hit much harder than it should for a guy in his 50's.
While I did like much of their music (it was well crafted pop and good at what it did) I wasn't their target audience and couldn't exactly consider myself a fan, but the band was still part of my life for several years by osmosis.
I think it's Liam's struggles with mental health that have caused his death to have such an impact. The last celebrity death to do so was that of Robin Williams — again, a very troubled soul despite the jovial front.
