David Bowie has died

[matt49]

This is hard to come to terms with, even though we've known his health was poor for years.

Lots of us here will have grown up in the Bowie era. My musical consciousness was formed by the strange and amazing sounds of Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, as much as it was by the Beatles. A genius.

Sad sad day.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I feel incredibly sad. A genuine legend of popular music. Very, very sad day.

 

[knaithrover]

Very sad

 

[scene]

Just logged on to my PC and saw the headline on the BBC news. It's really hard to take in - so much time listening to his music in all his different guises. I can't quite believe it, even though I know he's been ill for quite a while.

Really, really sad - a great musician and performer. RIP.

 

[gasolin]

He said he never will do live concerts again sadly they where right

Make me sad that some people die when they are only about 70 (lemmey,david bowie) because that makes me think of my favorite danish musicians

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Yes very sad news of great legend that we have lost today great singer will be missed at least his music will live on

 

[chebby]

He's one of the foundation stones of modern, British, popular music.

I'm still a bit dazed and a little upset about this news.

Something from my childhood has just disappeared like one of the houses or schools I grew up in being demolished. Quite an odd feeling I've never really had before at the passing of a music icon. It seems a bit more 'personal' this time. Can't explain very well.

I am definitely going to make this a Bowie day starting with another viewing of our 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Motion Picture' DVD. Not quite my 'era' (I would still have been at junior school - just) but that doesn't matter.

 

[plastic penguin]

Quite simply the saddest day since Lennon.

Jools Holland said of Bowie: "He was very generous when it came to helping young musicians."

 

[Covenanter]

I think that we should celebrate his life rather than feel sad that he has died! 69 is not old by current standards but it seems to me that he had a good life - did lots of interesting and exciting things, was a seminal influence on pop music and culture, and left a large body of work as a legacy.

Ok it wouldn't be right to feel happy when somebody dies but let's move on and remember him as a man who achieved a great deal in life and gave a lot to the world of music. Play his music in remembrance of a great talent!

Chris

PS The review I read of his last album was pretty positive so we have that to look forward to as well.

 

[Vladimir]

RIP a great artist.

 

[steve_1979]

He was one of my favourites. Just by chance while reading about his passing this song started playing (I have my music set to play on random at the moment).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0syRTFF0UbQ

 

[aversaurus]

Childhood hero gone my Hart has broken

 

[matt49]

I'm still a bit dazed and a little upset about this news.

Something from my childhood has just disappeared like one of the houses or schools I grew up in being demolished. Quite an odd feeling I've never really had before at the passing of a music icon. It seems a bit more 'personal' this time. Can't explain very well.

I feel the same. A bit lost and finding it hard to explain why.

In Bowie’s case it wasn’t (and isn’t) just about the music. Sure, the music would be enough: Bowie was a truly great songwriter, one of the very best. And as a performer, he was a visionary.

But with Bowie it was also about the process of growing up and finding your identity. Bowie created a new way to be a rebel. It was a striking, haunting, beautiful way. It was rich and multi-layered. It was mad, charming, cool, electric, sad, spectacular, zany, desperate, joyful.

Bowie could be perfect, he could hit that musical sweet spot (Changes, Starman, Sorrow, Rebel Rebel, Golden Years, Heroes, Ashes to Ashes etc etc), but he was also flawed (and I don’t mean flawed in a boring way, such as when his powers waned in the 1980s: he was already deeply flawed in the ‘70s, viz. his crazy comments about fascism). The mixture of perfection and flaws and the zany brilliance that resulted from them meant that (for me) his music and personas were always both enlivening and consolingly tragic.

I haven't expressed this very well. Best to leave it to the man himself:

‘Rebel rebel, you've torn your dress

Rebel rebel, your face is a mess

Rebel rebel, how could they know?

Hot tramp, I love you so!’

 

[kikiso]

Yes, we should all be happy that we lived in the same era as a true genius and enjoyed his work. He will remain a legend that aspiring musicians will refer back to for decades to come. We are all mortal so will alll pass one day, but his legacy is unique.

One of a kind. RIP David Robert Jones, aka David Bowie.

 

[matthewpiano]

Very hard news to hear, and after listening to Darkstar and feeling so much creative energy from him over the weekend, his passing is an even bigger shock. He was a unique and truly great artist.

As Chris says, let's all celebrate his music as I'm sure many of us do regularly anyway.

 

[MajorFubar]

I heard it on the radio while half asleep / half awake at 6:50 this morning. I was hoping I'd dreamt it, until I checked Breaking News on BBC's website. I''ve not been this shocked by the sudden loss of a much admired icon since Mercury died in 1991 the day after announcing he had aids.

 

[lpv]

one of the best vocalists ever...

RIP

 

[drummerman]

Makes Lazarus, his last release, very poignant ...

 

[MeanandGreen]

Of a true legend. Musically he was incredible IMO.

Brings back that horrible feeling of my Dad passing in August also 69 with cancer.

My thoughts go out to David's family.

 

[jamesrfisher]

I find it very sad, he meant so much to me as I was growing up and he was still producing great music and still changing direction with it.

Interesting article in The Guardian as to hidden meanings in Blackstar and whether he was using it to say goodbye.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/jan/11/was-david-bowie-saying-goodbye-on-blackstar

 

[iMark]

Nothing to add, just sad.

 

[Jota180]

Legend.

 

[Jota180]

Double Post.

 

[spiny norman]

Typically brilliant Bowie: he not only dealt with his illness with quiet dignity rather than in the full glare of the media, but then made his own death one of his very best works of art, and delivered his own thoughtful obituary much more eloquently than any of the news people/commentators/twittering 'celebs' will ever manage.

 

[chebby]

Typically brilliant Bowie: he not only dealt with his illness with quiet dignity rather than in the full glare of the media, but then made his own death one of his very best works of art, and delivered his own thoughtful obituary much more eloquently than any of the news people/commentators/twittering 'celebs' will ever manage.

I remember you mentioning downloading the hi-res Blackstar album last Friday in the ... "What's your first purchase of 2016 going to be?" thread.