I just realized that this is literally the first time a singer I really liked died, after I had gotten into their music. I didn't seriously start listening to music until c. 2010 and had not really followed it before I was 21, which is strange.
This sucks, needless to say. They've been making good songs since they reunited;
King Animal is actually up there with Badmotorfinger and Superunknown (possibly in third place to them, but still very good). No more, I suppose.
Cause of death is apparent suicide by strangulation - he was found with a band tightly around his neck, although on the ground. Assuming this is correct, and that he was generally in a good mood up until hours before his death, this sounds like an impulsive suicide rather than a planned one. Impulsive suicides are both the most common and the worst kind, because people who commit impulsive suicide would in most cases have lived satisfying lives had they not succumbed to the impulse. The vast majority of Golden Gate Bridge jump survivors (there are something like 35 or 40 of them, about 1% of the total) have regretted their decision and do not go on to commit or attempt suicide.
The other possibility of course given the ground-based strangulation is autoerotic asphyxiation, although that tends to be really obvious, so I think we can assume it's not that if it's being investigated as an apparent suicide.
