And suddenly there is a little less magic in the world. From the NYTimes:
David Bowie, the legendary singer and songwriter whose outlandish stage shows and alter egos like Ziggy Stardust helped make him a music and fashion icon in pop culture, has died, his publicist said…
The multitalented artist, whose last album, “Blackstar,” was released on Friday — on his birthday — was to be honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall on March 31 featuring the Roots, Cyndi Lauper and the Mountain Goats. He also has a musical, “Lazarus,” running Off Broadway.
Born David Jones on Jan. 8, 1947, in South London, Mr. Bowie rose to fame with “Space Oddity,” in 1969, and later through his jumpsuit-wearing alter ego Ziggy Stardust and another persona, the Thin White Duke. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
In a post on Twitter, the musician’s son, Duncan Jones, said, “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all.”…
David Koch
♫ ♫ put on your red shoes and dance with me….♫♫
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If our love song
Could fly over mountains
Sail over heartaches
Just like the films
If there’s reason
To feel all the hard times
To lay down the hard lines
It’s absolutely true
mclaren
Like putting out a fire
with gasoline
Anya
A favorite of my parents and mine; his music was soundtrack of my childhood. This label is thrown a lot but he was a true artist. RIP Goblin King, my childhood obsession.
sharl
Via @Mikko, his final YouTube video was released just four days ago (4m8s). Its title is Lazarus, and it is a dark production that clearly deals with mortality. Given what he must have known by then, and the discomfort/pain he was probably suffering, it must have been a remarkable final act of bravery and strength to do that.
And here’s the link to his son’s tweet (from earlier comments), with a grainy but lovely father-&-son photo, and a steady stream of responses from around the world.
Finally, the GIF in this tweet is rather remarkable from a technical standpoint – an animation showing all the “looks” he has taken on throughout his career, shown in rapid succession. (Not particularly a thing that appeals to me, but YMMV.)
RIP
sharl
Well booger, one link too many. Eh, it’ll hold until someone frees it.
opiejeanne
I found this:
http://sandradodd.com/bowieletter.html
Mustang Bobby
When I first heard him in 1969 I was in the throes of figuring out my sexual identity and I was afraid if I told my friends I liked his music it would only add to the “you’re weird” factor. So I never bought his albums but loved listening to him because he made me uncomfortable in a good way… if that makes any sense.
I hold him and his family in the Light.
BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: Cute letter.
sharl
Thanks for liberating comment #5, front page person (guessing AL)!
NotMax
One and only one Bowie LP in the personal vinyl library, and that one is Low.
BillinGlendaleCA
Wow, the ticket price was $16.25!
BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: I’ve got the 1976 greatest hits, Changes and ‘Let’s Dance’.
Death Panel Truck
My condolences to his family. I liked him with John Lennon in “Fame,” and with Queen in “Under Pressure.” Otherwise, meh. To each his own.
Donut
For all the songs of Bowie that I loved over the years, this short phrase from “Joe the Lion” has always been my favorite:
RIP, David, and thank you for sharing your art with the world
low-tech cyclist
RIP, David. I’m sure your spaceship knows which way to go, but we’ll miss you.
OzarkHillbilly
Valar Morghulis.
raven
Let’s Dance is my fav, Stevie Ray plays that axe.
geg6ip
OMG, crying first thing in the morning. Love, love, love Bowie.
I have memories going back to the Ziggy and Aladdin Sane days, but I’m too upset to even discuss them. RIP.
geg6ip
Why the fuck am I in moderation??? Fuck!
Amir Khalid
@geg6ip:
A change of nym for an existing email address will do that to you.
Cermet
Interesting person – very few big hits compared to many singers in the 60’s, 70′, and 80’s and never really had any significant impact on the formation of rock. Yet, had fame far, far beyond his music; guess he either understood fake persona better then most or really was above it in his “arty’s” attitude approch. Either way, he had some good music and will be missed.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
I didn’t change my name. Somehow, it got changed for me. What the hell is going on here????
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: China Girl is a sentimental favorite.
geg6
@Cermet:
No significant impact???? WTF are you talking about?
Jesus.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: They’re coming to get you.
raven
David Bowie – The Dick Cavett Show
raven
Wow, it’s the lead on Mornin Joe!!
Joel
Got your mother in a twirl
She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl
Hey babe, your hair’s alright
Hey babe, let’s go out tonight
Cermet
@geg6: Really? Well, I am listening … .
Pogonip
@geg6ip: Are you Lovey’s Geg6?
Mustang Bobby
David Bowie and Bing Crosby, Christmas 1977.
Pogonip
@geg6: Never mind.
BillinGlendaleCA
Hmmm, the Democrats have run Washington the last 8 years, really Nicolle? What a moron.
geg6
@Cermet:
Perhaps you should ask all the actual musicians posting thank yous to him on FB and Twitter for being a big influence on them.
Patricia Kayden
So sorry to hear that this is true. The classic rock stations I listen to didn’t announce it this morning. I guess it’s just getting out.
RIP David.
geg6
First saw him during the Ziggy Stardust tour, one of the first concerts I ever went to. Completely blew me away. And he continued to do that for his whole career. Always at the forefront, always the unexpected. A true artist.
I really am upset over this. One of my all-time favorites.
Darkrose
I literally cannot parse the idea that David Bowie is gone. Wow.
Elizabelle
Learned of this overnight, from sharl on previous blog, just as news was filtering out. NYTimes did not have it up for some time — confirming it, I guess. WaPost never had a story up before I fell back to sleep about the time Anne put up this thread. LA Times put up the best short version of an obit, the fastest.
Anyway: you might check out the NYTimes articles on Bowie’s two latest albums
Writers pick up on how much Bowie was dealing with mortality, and death, particularly in the new album. Makes me wonder if they knew, or suspected, particularly in the last year, with Blackstar’s recording sessions, but allowed David B his privacy.
I’ll put up links in a moment.
Cermet
As per the NYT: “taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas”; ok but as someone who does not attend concerts, that is just “Hollywood” fluff. Fun, and I guess a number of groups did learn to perform a better “show” thanks to his style and approach. I only listen to the music and yes, he had a few really good songs. But for me, style and showmanship does not make one a great influence on music. Willing to hear otherwise; still, he was a good artist.
Almost forgot; was a pretty good actor.
BillinGlendaleCA
Gawd, they’re talking about the Clenis again on Joe of the Morning, CLICK!
BruceFromOhio
I’ll give you television
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you man who wants to rule the world
Rest in peace, Ziggy Stardust.
sharl
@Cermet: I’m not sure this will help, but David Bowie made a lot of “odd” kids, teens, and young adults feel a little bit less alone.
Here’s a tweet from a science writer who also is gay, and is old enough to remember – in a very personal way – when that was a lot more difficult for so many (it still is in a lot of places):
~
There is also Mustang Bobby’s comment #8 above, which kind of gets at what Silberman is saying.
Elizabelle
NY TImes on the recording of Bowie’s last album, Blackstar, with a jazz band:
I love that image, of David Bowie standing and singing with the band for his last recording session. Even when he knew they would overdub or even rewrite his vocals.
from longtime producer/collaborator Tony Visconti, in the article:
Joel
@Cermet: Nirvana
Depeche Mode
Arcade Fire
The Pixies
Smashing Pumpkins
etc.. etc.. etc..
David Koch
@BillinGlendaleCA: Is this the same morning joe who was forced out of congress for having an affair with a young married intern who later turned up dead in his office?
Jordan Rules
@Cermet: Do you ever consume music in a group setting or where it’s performed live?
PaulW
just woke up to the news.
“Put on your red shoes and dance the blues” for some reason sticks with me as a quote, more than any one line by Shakespeare or in the Bible.
I may be the only one who wasn’t a huge fan of his for the movie Labyrinth. I actually went to see it for the Muppets… ended up crushing on teenage Jennifer Connelly (I was 16).
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: I almost asked who Clenis is. Almost.
debbie
The Ziggy album is still my favorite.
OzarkHillbilly
From an article on traveling to Scotland:
Elizabelle
The Singer Who Fell to Earth, March 2013, NY Times, by Simon Reynolds.
Good overview of Bowie’s penultimate album, and of his career and influence on style and the rock industry. Worth a click.
Some great photos of Bowie as he reinvented himself over the years. The Victoria and Albert in London was doing a retrospective on him in 2013.
Raven
It’s interesting to me. I didn’t really know or care much about artists my age (66) during the 70’s. Bowie, Petty and the Boss all came onto my radar in the mid to late 80’s. I guess it was because I fell into county music for some time.
MomSense
Planet earth is blue and there’s nothing we can do.
NobodySpecial
@Cermet: Nice. Do you spit in caskets when you go to funerals, too?
Elizabelle
NY Times slideshow, David Bowie through the Years, from 2013.
The third photo, the costume from Aladdin Sane, is exquisite.
sharl
@NobodySpecial: I detected no hostility or willful disrespect in Cermet’s original comment; do you really think his lack of understanding merited your flame-thrower response?
OzarkHillbilly
@NobodySpecial: I am really wondering what thought process led you from what Cermet said to your reply. Really.
BillinGlendaleCA
@David Koch: Yup, that guy.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s all the 90’s again, I just wonder, do I get to be in my 30’s again?
Villago Delenda Est
And only a few days ago people were celebrating his birthday.
This is sad. His life was so rich, like a kaleidoscope, so few like him, constantly reinventing himself for the times, refusing to be the same.
He’ll be missed.
Germy
Before he was a household name, he appeared on TV as spokesman for “the society for the prevention of cruelty to longhaired men.”
Botsplainer
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I turned it on at the gym this morning, first time this month. Halperin’s doughy face was sharting just how there are confirmed allegations about Bill Clinton’s past conduct that Hillary needs to deal with.
Once I realized that I was musing why nobody has ever beaten Halperin to death with a baseball bat just to put abject stupidity out of its misery, I turned it off. I don’t need to feel that much hostility first thing of the day, and his face and thoughts do it to me every time. Happily for him, I’m unlikely to ever cross paths with him, because if I saw his puffy, pasty face, my self-control would be gone.
delk
Back in the ’90’s Miller Genuine Draft had a series of ‘mystery date’ concerts. For whatever city was announced, on the actual day of the show the winners were given a time and location. You never knew who the artist was, just that it would be a major act and the venue would be small.
I won and got to see David Bowie. The attendance was 500.
The only other time I saw him was the Glass Spider tour in front of a significantly larger audience.
Oh man wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
Elizabelle
I just knew of Bowie for his radio hits, Let’s Dance (on vinyl; play it several times a year — love it!), his style, his acting (The Elephant Man) and caroling (Bing Crosby, anyone), his videos (Ashes to Ashes); the music press articles; marriage to Iman, he was always doing something interesting.
And that is “just knowing” Bowie by osmosis (save for Let’s Dance; and I did not know it was Stevie Ray Vaughn on guitar, until this morning). So he had a huge impact.
Also learned that David Bowie did a concept album on George Orwell’s 1984, but the Orwell heirs would never give him rights to use their material.
That album became “Diamond Dogs.”
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: My 30s, even with the divorce and all that, were really pretty good, mainly because I finally stopped trying to be what other people thought I should be.
Morley Bolero
Space Oddity was transformative for me.
Thoughtful Today
Amen.
Matt McIrvin
69 is too young but talk about dying on your own terms. The new album is as wildly creative and baffling as anything he ever did.
Elizabelle
LA Times preliminary obit. Has a lot of info that doesn’t turn up (yet) in other major US dailies.
gogol's wife
@NobodySpecial:
I’ll never understand people who go on a memorial thread to criticize the deceased. But it’s the internet, Jake.
Patricia Kayden
@Botsplainer: “Once I realized that I was musing why nobody has ever beaten Halperin to death with a baseball bat just to put abject stupidity out of its misery, I turned it off.”
Thanks for the belly laugh to break up the sadness over Bowie’s passing.
Matt McIrvin
@Cermet: He had gigantic influence through the New Wave artists of the Eighties and the post-punk/alternative/college-radio stuff that followed.
OzarkHillbilly
@gogol’s wife: Cermet did not criticize Bowie. He just gave an opinion of Bowie’s influence on rock. I happen to think Cermet is wrong (my opinion on music is worth bupkiss) but what he/she said is in no way, shape or form an insult to Bowie.
WereBear
There will be great sadness in Casa WereBear today.
Followed him from Space Oddity onward, though I was a mere child. Something about him always fascinated.
A light that will shine for a long time.
Bruuuuce
Now he knows, too soon, whether there really is life on Mars. His influence on, and collaborations with, other artists runs wide and deep.Without Bowie there might not have been a path for Peter Gabriel’s Genesis to do its early shows, with the costumes, or, indeed, much of what eventually got into music videos on MTV in its heyday. He’s worked with Brian Eno, Queen, and Mick Jagger, and the list of bands paying tribute to him is longer than it’s possible to list.
I hope the tribute concert scheduled for March 31 goes forward. It’ll be spectacular.
ThresherK (GPad)
Wow. Just nothing more, except nobody has mentioned “Modern Love”. And “Under Pressure” is in the top five of mega-star one-off get-together meetups.
Rob
This is such sad news to wake up to. I only hope the week can somehow get better.
C.V. Danes
Be at peace, Major Tom.
geg6
@Joel:
Seriously. I just can’t with this “not important” shit. Can only be said by someone that knows absolutely nothing about Bowie or his music and other art.
jharp
I saw him live at the Richfield, Coliseum outside Cleveland circa 1978.
Now an empty field. You’d never know anything ever stood there.
Kind of depressing.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear:@WereBear:
Maybe it was his “compulsion to flout moral codes than a real biological and psychological state of being.” (talking specifically about his sexuality but I think it applied equally to his life and ‘codes’ in general)
geg6
My absolute favorite Bowie song:
We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when
Although I wasn’t there, he said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone, a long long time ago
Oh no, not me
I never lost control
You’re face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World
I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home
I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here
We must have died alone, a long long time ago
Who knows? not me
We never lost control
You’re face to face
With the Man who Sold the World
https://youtu.be/HSH–SJKVQQ
SarahT
This is just so horrible. Heard rumors for the past few years that he had cancer but he looked and sounded as amazing as ever in all the videos made for “The Next Day” (one of his greatest albums, IMHO). All the typically brilliant videos I’ve seen ahead the new “Black Star” album, though – he was finally starting to look his age a bit, but not ill. God this sucks so much. I can’t stand the idea of a world without David Bowie.
geg6
Seriously? Moderation for one link???
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
WereBear
I feel sorry for Cermet. Since they never experienced the transcendence of Bowie’s music.
It’s too bad. Because it was fantastic.
rikyrah
I was sad to hear about David Bowie. I loved him.
RIP, Mr. Bowie.
Karen
David Bowie had a fearlessness that drew me to him. No matter which persona he was, he didn’t give a fig what anyone said. It’s ironic that all those years he was a drug addict, he survived but it took cancer to kill him.
I loved him as glam rock Ziggy Stardusr the best and yes, the world lost a big part of its magic.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: :-)
delk
Mick Ronson
Earl Slick
Robert Fripp
Carlos Alomar
Adrien Belew
Peter Frampton
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Reeves Gabrel
Bowie had a knack, not just for finding great guitarists but getting some of their best work out of them.
Mike J
@Bruuuuce:
It’s easy to imagine the king of glam playing with Eno or Queen. Instead, look at the stuff he did with Iggy fucking Pop. Punk hadn’t really formed as a genre yet, and Iggy was the rawest of the raw. Bowie channeled Iggy into more than explosions. Bowie took Iggy’s heart full of napalm and turned it into a fireworks show. Oh, and saved his life while he was at his lowest point with drugs.
Even if Bowie had never done another thing, The Idiot and Lust for Life would have been enough to declare him a genius. Bowie was the punkest glam rocker ever, and those two things are supposed to be opposites. The great wall of China isn’t big enough to make a pigeon hole to put him in. He may have been our greatest artist.
Emma
Damn. It’s like watching the soundtrack of my life fade away. I’m going to play his music today, and remember.
rikyrah
I loved Modern Love. Always broke out into song when it came on the radio
Ridnik Chrome
“Oh no love, you’re not alone
You’re watching yourself but you’re too unfair
You’ve got your head all tangled up
But if I could only make you care
Oh no love you’re not alone
No matter what or who you’ve been
No matter when or where you’ve seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I’ve had my share, I’ll help you with the pain
You’re not alone
GIMME YOUR HANDS!”
bemused
Another one of the greatest artists gone. Longtime fan, very sad and shocked. Was it publicly known he was ill?
bemused
@Emma:
Exactly I feel.
Gin & Tonic
@Emma: Semi-related: Paul Bley, jazz pianist, died last week, and the statement his family issued said, in part (quoting from memory), “Private memorial services will be held in Stuart, FL, Cherry Valley, NY, and wherever Paul Bley records are played.” I think there will be a lot of private memorial services for David Bowie today.
Mike J
d. aarón podestá @JeSuisDean Jan 9
If you’re ever sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
The Thin Black Duke
Thank you for everything, David.
Lynnd
@sharl:
The one thing I’ll always remember about him, is his love for his son Zoey. RIP Thin White Duke.
SarahT
My fave ever Bowie cover : http://youtu.be/KaOC9danxNo
And a I love this from Neil de Grasse Tyson: Neil deGrasse Tyson
@neiltyson
3h
I wonder if some forms of creativity can only be generated by a Space Oddity that Falls to Earth. RIP #DavidBowie (1947-2016)
CarolDuhart2
I remember how different David Bowie was. Before him, rock and rollers were striving to be super-macho even as they sported long locks. They wore jeans and even tried to hang around tough groups like the Hell’s Angels and such. No way were they going to be even suspected of being gay, or weird. They were going to be Elvis! E Even the early guys who wore suits had a style closer to “Mad Men”. Some of them no doubt aspired to be just that-cigarette smoking, cocktail drinking guys who played the guitar or sax and dated the stewardesses they met while traveling.
Not Bowie. Weirdly, and elegantly dressed, he put the “show” in rock shows with costumes, lights and all the rest. And he paved the way in other areas: refusing to cling to a “style” or a “persona”. .
And that’s another thing. Before Bowie, rock shows did little to be theatrical besides some pyrotechnics and lights. Bowie brought in along with Elton, Elo, and the other British “second wavers” a concept album put on the stage.
And now: a playlist:David Bowie, A Tribute
Ahasuerus
As if to add insult to injury, veteran character actor Richard Libertini (who?) passed away, apparently a few days ago but just getting reported now. Basically, if you watched TV or movies from the 70’s onward, you know what he looks like, even if you never knew his name.
MomSense
@Ahasuerus:
Oh no. “Back in bowl” He was great in so many tv shows and movies.
Ejoiner
Wow – I appreciated his artistic work (in many fields) but my one album of his I genuinely like is “Earthling”- I’m also a big Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor fan so that probably explains everything there :)
A Great One who will be missed.
Redshift
This makes me really sad. Bowie is one of the few artists I really care about losing. He was one of the first concerts I saw (Let’s Dance tour.) The last time I saw him was touring with Nine Inch Nails, too long ago. They didn’t just do opening act/main act (which could have possibly been which?). Instead, Bowie played his set and then they merged and played a set of duets before NiN played their set, and it was amazing all the way through.
Also couldn’t help wondering how many of the younger fans knew that without Bowie, there would be no NiN, and also when he played The Man Who Sold The World, how many thought he was covering Nirvana. ;-)
A great loss.
Phylllis
@Ahasuerus: @MomSense: Coming to make an All of Me reference. Think I’ll have to queue that one up this coming weekend.
Mike J
hey baby we like your lips
hey baby we like your pants
Betty Cracker
The thing about Bowie is that he was a man for many different times. Plenty of rockers have endured and enjoyed success across multiple decades. But Bowie reinvented himself afresh and won new fans from successive generations. He was truly unique.
Yutsano
@rikyrah: As I recall Tina ADORED working with him. They did one live performance of that song together (that I recall) that was pure stage magic. He was such a unique soul, and he actually changed lives with his sexual fluidity. Good-bye to you King Jareth,
@Phylllis: Gonna have to do All of Me and Labyrinth as well.
Felonius Monk
SarahT
Stuck in moderation please help !
sharl
There are so many others besides geg6; from a couple years ago:
~
(He has learned the bad news.)
~
And some good advice:
geg6
@SarahT:
Me too. Infuriates me that one f-ing link sends me into moderation.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ahasuerus: I followed your link and I’m still going “Who?” My only excuse is the old saying, “If you remember the 70’s, you weren’t there.”
Redshift
My Twitter feed is full of tributes to Bowie from astronauts. If you haven’t seen the video of Space Oddity being performed in space,by Chris Hadfield, check it out.
geg6
@Redshift:
I’ve seen that. Great stuff.
EZSmirkzz
“We all got it coming kid.”
The video of “Lazarus” was a nice touch. Touche David.
geg6
Since I can’t get out of moderation, here is my favorite Bowie song ever (without the video link that seems to have caused the problem):
We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when
Although I wasn’t there, he said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone, a long long time ago
Oh no, not me
I never lost control
You’re face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World
I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home
I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here
We must have died alone, a long long time ago
Who knows? not me
We never lost control
You’re face to face
With the Man who Sold the World
dr. luba
Choosing a favorite Bowie album is like choosing your favorite child….impossible. I loved them all, played them over and over, still listen to them sometimes. But favorite song? Heroes, for some reason. No question there at all.
Satby
aww, I get my ISP back for this news? RIP David Bowie.
oldster
He did a brief cameo on Ricky Gervais’ “Extras” that always amazes me. Plays himself, of course.
For the first five or ten seconds of seeing him, I thought, “oh, how too bad–he’s just old. I’m old, he’s old, he’s washed up. Looks so old, and he’s phoning in this performance.”
Then he sits at the piano and starts playing, and the years fall off of him, and the performer emerges.
And then in retrospect you see that his distraction and distance was not phoning it in, but essential to his reaction to Gervais’ character.
Fair bit of music-hall in the old boy, in with every other element he combined.
RIP
dr. luba
@geg6: I found that album in a cut out bin at K-Mart when I was a kid. My first Bowie album ever. It was incredible, helped change my musical tastes. Still brilliant.
SarahT
@geg6: We ve been paroled, yay !
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: Here you go.
ThresherK
@Mustang Bobby: I was wondering what that upstart Boy George might be thinking today. I fall into the generation who doesn’t remember a Before Bowie but certainly remembers the start of O’Dowd’s public success with Culture Club.
Then I realized that Boy George is older than I am and he’s been a public figure for a third of a century. His breakthrough was closer to the Ziggy Startdust years than it was to the Tin Machine era.
When did that happen?
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: Thought I’d give it a try just to see if I could and yeah I was. Not sure why.
Ahasuerus
@OzarkHillbilly:
That got a chuckle. I actually do remember something of the 70’s, but my excuse is I was still young and impressionable.
If you’re actually interested in Who?, you should check out The In-Laws, with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, and Deal of the Century with Chevy Chase and Sigourney Weaver. Libertini plays a crazy Latin-American dictator in the former, and a Middle-Eastern arms dealer in the latter. Small parts, but more memorable than the remainder of those movies.
Elizabelle
The Guardian obit was fascinating, with all the bands and musicians young David Jones/David Bowie cycled through, relentlessly, on his way to becoming Ziggy and later personas.
He’d form or join a band, record and release something, and cycle on immediately if it did not catch fire. (In one case, a late 60s song became a 1970s radio hit in the UK once Bowie was a known figure.)
He fired managers time and again, once paying out over a million in damages after the fact.
He was of his time, and ahead of his time, right through his last record (Blackstar).
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne: That letter is so sweet and kind and tender. That’s a keeper, thanks for sharing it.
Emma
@EZSmirkzz: I just saw Lazarus. Oh God, he was singing his own death. Hell of a finale for a mighty life.
Amir Khalid
@ThresherK:
For a reference point: Boy George and Susan Boyle and George Clooney and Barack Obama (and I) were all born in 1961.
SarahT
@oldster: YES ! That was brilliant
WaterGirl
@geg6: I’m gonna guess that when you typed “RIP” someone after the R you ended up in the nym field and the “ip” got added accidentally.
Or something like that.
Ksmiami
@BruceFromOhio: actually it’s “I’ll give you man of wars (weapons/guns) to rule the world.” I saw David Bowie on Halloween at theHollywood palladium. A true artist and rock icon influencing everyone from Lou reed to Kurt cobain. crap crap crap
gelfling545
That his music was included in my granddaughter’s (age 17) & daughter’s playlists as well as mine (age 65) says, I think, something about his appeal.
Felonius Monk
@Ahasuerus: I do remember him. Not by name, but certainly by look. He was one those character actors who was always recognizable, but never known by name. Sorry to hear of his passing.
WereBear
@Ahasuerus: Nay, The In-Laws is rightly hilarious, with Richard Libertini doing his usual marvelous job:
But the whole movie is just marvelous, and incredibly quotable throughout.
Elizabelle
@Ksmiami:
Cobain, with an addled assist from spellcheck? (That’s FYSC to us.)
Waldo
If he’d done nothing else, Bowie should still be remembered for his role in one of the weirdest moments in daytime television history. Google “Bowie Iggy Pop Dinah Shore 1977.” Just watched it again. Surreal.
danielx
We can beat them, forever and ever
Oh we can be heroes, just for one day
Should have done this before, but I’m starting a list of rockers and musicians in general who have passed. I am starting to realize how fortunate I was and am to have seen so many legendary performers and acts performing in their prime, though I missed Bowie.
WereBear
Wild is the Wind is the one that makes me cry.
In my CD collection for the car is Station to Station and Best of Bowie (I rotate them around) so I can get along okay; my work laptop is so old it still has a CD slot.
Though I will be making a Pandora Station for him today.
Satby
@Amir Khalid: And you’re all 6years younger than me. My lawn, get off of.
Elizabelle
@Emma: Lazarus is a stunning video.
Bowie reminds me so of Fred Astaire, the grace. The beautiful, delicate bones, right up to the end.
The Guardian, Tim Jonze: Was David Bowie saying goodbye on Blackstar?
Well, yeah. Contains link to Lazarus video.
Nina
Labyrinth was what did it for me. Although, it was hard to believe. Who wouldn’t throw it all away to live in that masquerade ball forever?
bmaccnm
I am thinking all kinds of things about theater and art and performance and talent and gifts. I gasped out loud when i heard the news today, oh boy. I’ve always felt different from everyone else, like there’s a wall of scrim between me and them. In 1979 I was very young, on my own, living in the French Quarter and working as a construction worker. I am a girl, by the way. I saw David Bowie at the Sanger, where I saw so many other greats. I remember watching that scrawny guy on the stage and being flooded with understanding, that you can use the scrim to your own benefit to be who you want to be at different times, with different people. An extra ordinary life lesson for me. I also remember being absolutely amazed at the voice that came from that scrawny guy, how the impression of weirdness and weakness broke with that deep, powerful voice.
So, I can’t say where Bowie ranks of those who built rock and roll. I don’t know what makes one a rock and roller, except that I know he wrote some verses to that effect. The wave of verses and riffs rolling in my head today says something about his skill as a composer and musician. I know I learned a lot from him about the gift of artistry, about how theater can move you in ways you never expected when you bought your ticket.
Later, when I became a parent, I learned that you can learn most of what you need to know about a person by observing what kind of parent they are. I remember being impressed by Bowie’s love and support of his son.
Ashes to ashes. Thank you, David Bowie. You were important to me.
EZSmirkzz
@Emma: The guy was an artist, and to my mind he was passing into the great non-existence with an eye towards who he was, an artist. He was showing the world how he thought one should approach dying, by living to the utmost to the very end. This was the public persona of the private man.
“They are all perfect.” – The Last Samuri
WereBear
@EZSmirkzz: Beautifully put.
The Other Chuck
My favorite quote about the man, directed at insecure youths:
Shana
I’ve loved Bowie for years, but the two things that stand out for me are:
1. Christiane F – a german movie about the Berlin heroin scene in the 70s with a soundtrack almost entirely made up of Bowie songs, and a big scene where they all go to a Bowie concert.
2. WXRT in Chicago – they used to have two featured artists a day and if you listened long enough you’d get almost everything the artist released, going deep into albums not just playing the hits. You could pick up a card at record stores around the city that listed the month’s schedule. It’s how I know so much of Bowie’s music without ever owning an album.
SarahT
@dr. luba: mine too. Just last week for some reason I kept playing “heroes” over and over – could not get it out of my head that day.
Matt McIrvin
He influenced everyone, but on the other hand, he rarely shows up on lists of “The 100 Greatest [x]” because he was so sui generis; it feels wrong to fit him into a category.
Even though he wasn’t an isolated lone genius; he collaborated with everyone.
WaterGirl
I cried my way through this entire thread.
Sometimes I look at my life and wonder how the crazy young girl that was me ever got to where she is today. When I think about that, I always see young me, full of promise, jumping on my bed in the dorms, singing and wildly dancing to Starman. And I wonder, where did that girl go?
I loved you then for your music and the magic and the possibility you brought to my world. I love you even more now for the magic you held on to, living your life to the end with the zeal I seem to have lost, facing your death with a grace that is beyond imagining and truly inspirational.
Rest in peace, Ziggy Stardust.
dexwood
I drove my hippie roommates nuts playing Ziggy Stardust over and over as loud as possible in 1973. In 1975, when The Man Who Fell To Earth was being filmed around New Mexico, I was able, through the help of a friend, to get my copy of Ziggy autographed. It was a rushed meeting, but Bowie was very gracious. I still have the album. In 1995, my son was 10 and just getting into music, He asked me what I liked so, I gave him two CDs, Pink Floyd’s Meddle and Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. He loved them. First thing this morning, about 6, my son texted me with the news, telling me how sad he was. Thank you, David.
AnotherBruce
@Mike J: Awesome comment, thank you.
Brachiator
Tried to post something on Bowie last night, but for some reason Balloon Juice kept eating and hiding my posts.
I woke up for some reason, couldn’t sleep, and turned on BBC news. The normally unflappable news readers were, well, flapped when talking about Bowie’s death. They interviewed a musician who worked on the latest album, who spoke of how Bowie would be open to ideas that would just let the music take them to unexpected directions. What an incredible attitude, especially with all that he must have been dealing with.
I saw him live once, in Anaheim. An incredible show.
it’s hard to place him as an artist. He was so mercurial, and yet he seemed a constant presence. Not quite a Trickster, and certainly influential and a presence, and yet always appearing in the corner of your eye, there, but somehow also just out of reach.
RIP, David Bowie
delk
@Shana: My husband and I were coming home from a road trip and he kept checking the radio to see if we were in range of XRT. He’s originally from NY and I was telling him that back in the day, if the wind was blowing the wrong way you couldn’t get XRT in parts of the city.
I miss the ‘featured artist’ days.
benw
“Under Pressure” is still my favorite. Both Freddie and Bowie gone. RIP
Magatha
@bmaccnm: This is beautiful – thanks. And thanks to Elizabelle and others for the various links.
Mnemosyne
For people in the LA area, Steve Jones is going to have Dave Grohl on his 12-2 show on KLOS this afternoon, and I can’t imagine that it won’t be Bowie-centric. That would be THE Steve Jones (Jonesy) of the Sex Pistols.
Spinoza is my Co-pilot
@dexwood: I saw Bowie at Cleveland’s Public Hall in ’72 at his first ever performance in America (didn’t realize that at the time) which was the opening of his Ziggy Stardust tour. Had played the album on repeat all summer, and the live show was fantastic, to say the least. Never saw him perform again after that, sad to say, but I enjoyed much (not all) of his music over the years, including what I’ve heard of Blackstar. I was just getting to know the young woman who later (after college) became my wife of lo these many years at the same time that my friends and I were getting into Ziggy Stardust, so some real emotional attachment to that music, you know? Haven’t listened to it in a while (listen almost exclusively to new music these days) but definitely will this week.
Damn but 69 is too young to go. Not really “young”, of course (as my 60+ body tells me every day) just too soon. Mortality. Fuck.
Oh, and Meddle is still my favorite Floyd album. Wish Waters and Gilmour would patch it up before they’re gone, too, but it seems unlikely. Life’s too damn short for such grudges.
Mnemosyne
I only saw him live once, I think, on the Glass Spider tour. I was born the year “Space Oddity” came out, so I never lived in a world where David Bowie was not a star.
Cacti
Only took 22 posts for a boorish hipster to check in and tell us how not important the dead guy actually was.
(sigh)
RIP, Ziggy. Peace and comfort to those who loved you most.
Spinoza is my Co-pilot
@Cacti: Yeah, boorish hipster likely knows little of Bowie’s catalog of music, or how — unlike almost any of his peers — he remained relevant with continual new stuff over the decades, all the way to the very end. His music was at least equal to his fame. Interesting and artful reinventions over the years, and many collaborations with other artists, in which community he was well-respected and loved (by all accounts). His music doesn’t have to be your cup of tea, but to not recognize the talent and artistry is thickheaded.
Spinoza is my Co-pilot
@WaterGirl:
That’s me, too (male version). Well, other than the jumping on the bed part, I suppose. Wonderful post, WaterGirl.
Ruckus
@Cermet:
I’m not even a Bowie fan and I know his influence on music in the last 45-50 yrs.
And I’m only 2 yrs younger than him. Makes one think just a bit about mortality, it does.
ellie
It was David Bowie’s birthday on Friday I believe and I peppered my Facebook page with my favorite songs from him. And then I woke up this morning and saw a text from my brother about the news and really haven’t stopped crying. David Bowie was the soundtrack of my childhood; I had older sisters who played his albums and there is one family story of me at five years old, my 10 lbs of hair crazy around my face, standing on the bed, striking a pose and screaming ‘Ziggy played guitar!’ at my dad who came in the room asking ‘What the hell is going on?’ as my sisters laughed and laughed.
And of course the Onion sums it up perfectly:
http://www.theonion.com/graphic/universe-honors-david-bowie-emotional-starlight-vi-52142
RIP David
Cacti
@Spinoza is my Co-pilot:
To say he wasn’t influential is just bone stupid. A sample of the artists who had their careers boosted by David Bowie, or cited him as direct musical influence include:
Luther Vandross, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joy Division, U2, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Pixies, Nine Inch Nails, Moby, Madonna, Jay-Z, Motley Crue, Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Klaxons, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Fall Out Boy, etc.
When you consider the range of styles represented in that list, saying Bowie was anything other than hugely influential is just silly, on top of being disrespectful.
Feathers
Any other Coffee Achievers out there? That played constantly on late night TV, back when everybody didn’t drink coffee all the time, only old people.
“Putting out fire with gasoline” I knew Bowie hits from the radio, but the first song that really made an impression was the theme from Cat People. That was followed the next year by The Hunger, where he was amazing along with Catherine Deneuve. Watched that again recently. The disease stuff has dated badly, but not the love story.
It was a total reinvention to see him from The Hunger to Let’s Dance & someone upthread has already mentioned “put on your red shoes and dance the blues” as another amazing lyric.
I actually had stayed up too late last night listening to the new album. I was really happy to hear the saxophones. “Can Bowie bring back saxophones?” I wondered. Went to bed when his death was a hoax. Now it’s not.
And Cermet’s problem is his definition of rock.
Ruckus
@Mike J:
That right there says it all.
dexwood
@Spinoza is my Co-pilot:
I do know. Like you, I was (am) a fan of much of his music, but not all. That’s the way it goes. The Ziggy album was, and remains, particularly meaningful for me on multiple levels. I met the woman who is my wife in 1975. On her first visit to my house that summer, she looked through my record collection, you know, like people did then to get a sense of the other person’s taste. It was Ziggy Stardust, however, that she pulled from the stacks and requested I play because she “loved” that record. Done deal, all around for me.
Spinoza is my Co-pilot
@OzarkHillbilly
Umm… Cermet:
In a thread lovingly memorializing this just-deceased and top-notch artist, that’s “I Don’t Go To Concerts” Cermet’s cement-headed and, yes, disrespectful contribution. From someone who, obviously, has no clue about Bowie’s music or his place within the universe of pop/rock music artists. I found those quoted comments ignorant and (considering the timing) shitty, and I’m not the only one here to do so. Or, do you think Cermet’s comments would be appreciated by those closest to Bowie, as pretty much the rest of this thread would be? There’s your answer.
Ruckus
@Shana:
It’s how I know so much of Bowie’s music without ever owning an album.
I said above that I’m not a particular fan, but yes if you are alive today (OK maybe have to add under 80) you’ve heard his music.
Someone up thread called him an artist, but he was really more than that. He was a man, maybe the man of our times. Look at the comments here, Mustang Bobby for one, but also many others who were influenced by him in a positive way. He pushed boundaries back. That is a very, very hard thing to do and it wasn’t just his music that did it. It was him.
Mnemosyne
@Spinoza is my Co-pilot:
I just snickered and shrugged it off. If an old man wants to stand on his lawn and shake his fist at these kids today because he’s not sure if they’re boys or girls, let him. In this case, ignorance is its own punishment.
opiejeanne
@Satby: and you’re 5 years younger than I.
dlm
@benw: Both were class acts.
Mnemosyne
If this “Jonesy’s Jukebox” episode gets posted streaming, I’ll post a link to it. Dave Grohl and Steve Jones, both of whom met Bowie at least a few times, and both of whom were big fans even before they became professional musicians themselves.
Beckya57
@geg6ip:
That’s exactly where I am. I can’t read all the retrospectives yet, I know I’ll start bawling. I had heard the rumors about his health, but didn’t believe them, largely because he had just brought out a new album. So when I got a text from a girlfriend I thought she’d seen a hoax story, but a quick look at the news told me otherwise. I’ve dragged my husband literally hundreds of miles to go to his shows. RIP Ziggy, Aladdin, Thin White Duke, Lazarus.
gogiggs
@Cermet: He invented glam rock, which was awesome.
He produced Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.
He wrote Mott the Hoople’s biggest hit.
One of his songs was ripped off for the first rap song to hit #1 in the US.
Pretty much every important pop artist out of Britain from ’75 to ’90 was trying to be some combination of Bowie and Bryan Ferry.
In the US, glam rock led to hair metal, which was unfortunate, but not really his fault.
Most of the ’80s was dominated by people directly inspired by Bowie.
The man was a goddam giant, one of a handful of the most important musical artists of the 20th century.
Zinsky
Bowie’s middle career work (Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs) was outstanding and as unique and creative as any artist of the past 50 years. His early stuff is self-referential folksy fluff and his songwriting after Low was dogshit, but he was a brilliant live performer and collaborated with some of the greats of the era including Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Mick Jagger and Queen.
A towering figure in the annals of rock music!
debbie
@Redshift:
Nirvana’s unplugged version of The Man Who Sold the World was unbelievable!
tones
@David Koch: red shoes rhymes with dance the blues
tones
@PaulW: same here , she is my age exactly and what a dream boat she was for us then!
Bowie in Labyrinth and on the muppets, so good.
Jacel
@gogiggs: Not only all that, but Bowie played saxophone on a folk album by Steeleye Span.
john fremont
@delk: Don’t forget his collaboration with another virtuoso guitarist, Pat Metheny, on the Falcon and the Snowman soundtrack from the mid 80’s. Bowie helped steer me to jazz.