So sad and surreal. It felt like Bowie was always going to be around, morphing and becoming ever weirder. I'm in shock. I had somehow missed the memo about his cancer battle. The last few weeks I've been obsessed with the music video for "Blackstar" and have been replaying all my fav records (esp. Station to Station and Low). Looks like I'll be doing even more of that now.
The biggest problem with David Bowie's music was that his songs sounded nothing alike album to album. Those of us inclined to classify musicians into catagories with definitions that sharply defined (and limited) a discussion of an artist's range had a hard time with Bowie,who didn't play their game. Bowie was his own man, listened, read, and viewed what it was he liked in the broad spectrum of the arts and literature and, surely, skillfully, often brilliantly, brought the elements to bear on the music created, which was mesmerizing, challenging, subtly , artfully layered with a crosscurrents of musical influence. His genius , above all the other talents he possessed, was as a synthesizer. Apart from the majority of other rock musicians who took from a variety of sources but seldom rose above the feeling of being merely clever and, Bowie, in fact, produced something new. Rock, rhythm and blues, folk, Kurt Weil, science fiction, William Burroughs, Philip Glass, Philly soul,musical theatre, Blue Note style jazz, punk--these were sources that caught Bowie's ear and which he brought together in relationships that , in their best expression, gave us a stirring , unsettling , daunting form of pop music that was of itself, a stand alone body of work that influenced artists to come. His influence, I think, is nearly as extensive as that of Elvis, of the Beatles, of Dylan. He prepared popular music for the 21st century in more ways than I can count at the moment. His loss is a major one. RIP. ---------- Ted Burke tburke4@san.rr.com
Bowie was a huge figure in my personal musical canon growing up. He was a great innovator of rock music and influence on Western (youth) culture, with his theatrical, gender bending, glam rock personae. And he was able to sustain a long career, surfing just ahead of the cultural wave. I was quite stunned to hear of his passing. ----------
The interesting thing to me about Bowie's music is that while every album was different there was never any doubt who it was you were hearing. The style of each one was different but the overall effect was always very much Bowie.
Much love 2 David Bowie. One of the First LPs i ever got was Hunky Dory. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth... Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Ziggy will always be with us, I wasn't ready for Ziggy I thought, but I was all over Ground control to Major Tom. Art transcends death and becomes new to us once again. I haven't heard anything from the new album yet- I guess I have work to do.
I just watched the video for Blackstar and asked WHAT? So I googled for what it might mean and found an article on NPR, which said: "Blackstar resonates precisely because it favors emotion over meaning." clearly right now I am unsure what I am feeling and must continue to watch the video until I have something to hang on to.
Last Edited by New but determined on Jan 11, 2016 7:23 PM
Perhaps one of the more controversial musicians as far as his lifestyle and how he lived, David Bowie was a man who subverted conventional biases and brought true quality to rock music. His example helped lead a few generations to follow their muse and do what was in their heart regardless of what was accepted or not accepted. I've been seeing a lot on FB of how broad his appeal was to his peers in the music circles the world over. Friends as diverse as Pete Townsend, John Lennon, and Bob Dylan, and a host of others. All that said, who didn't tap their foot to Let's Dance, or sit with Major Tom on a tin can in orbit, truly feeling blue? Where WERE the spiders from Mars? The guy was total quality from a to z. We've lost a real icon of unconditional love and huge vision.
