Hi.
It's been a while, and I've noticed an unpublished blog that I forgot about as well, which I will get to soon...
I've been waiting to do this because I just couldn't find the words and, in fact, this started as a Facebook response that I suddenly realised was the basis for the blog post that I had been waiting to write.
So, here goes -
When someone makes a big mark upon the world through their art or any other way, those affected by it will always respond.
In times gone by there were those who would show up on mass at specific places to do with that person, as people have done at the place where the famous Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars album cover was taken!
Some artists create things that are divisive, such as Dali & Picasso in their paintings.
This divisive boundary pushing creativity exists in many art forms, and David Bowie was one of those who made their music this way.
Like many musical artists like this, occasionally their material makes it through to the mainstream, such as Let's Dance, Space Oddity (itself an oddity musically in fact), Fame, and others.
If, like me, you were attracted to their entire catalogue, then it can affect you.
I understand those people who are irritated by the outpouring of emotion for Mr Bowie (who turned down a knighthood by the way), but in my case I'm responding to losing someone whose music touched them, and I'm not talking necessarily about the big mainstream hits, but about his entire catalogue!
Well, what I own of it!
I will be honest and admit that I don't own everything, but I own the majority of his material!
I am missing four albums that I know of, of which I have two of them on cassettes that I recorded onto using CDs that I'd borrowed from the library - Earthling and Lodger - I know! I just never got around to getting everything yet! I always intended to, and I will do!
The first song I remember hearing from David was Ashes To Ashes, alongside the video on Top Of The Pops! I was only nine years old at the time (August 1980), but there was something about it even back then that I liked!
I didn't understand the lyrics at all, but the music and melody grabbed my attention, as well as the ever so slightly creepy music video! It's still creepy in some ways, but the music is damn funky and very different at the same time!
Over the years there were moments that grabbed me in his music, and over time I collected a fair bit of his catalogue.
I can understand people being drawn to the "classic" albums, such as The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars, Hunky Dory, et al, and I think they're fabulous as well.
I remember in 1989 that the album Tin Machine came out. The idea he had was that he wanted to try and put a band together to take him somewhere else, as he was underwhelmed by his own output at that point!
So, with brothers Hunt & Tony sales on drums and bass respectively, and Reeves Gabrels on guitar, as well as himself on vocal and guitar, and occasional member Kevin Armstrong on guitar and keyboards, the rock band Tin Machine was born!
He was already aware of these musicians abilities. Hunt, Tony & Reeves had been Iggy Pop's backing musicians on the classic Lust For Life album, and other work. The album absolutely rocked, and the material was edgier as well. Songs such as the title track, Under The God, Sacrifice Yourself, and Heaven's In Here (great riff) showed a reinvigorated Bowie in so many ways, and footage of the band live at that time show him happier in his music than he had been in a long time!
In 1993 David released the album Black Tie White Noise, the title track of which I thought was fabulously funky, unsurprising considering that like the Let's Dance album, it too was produced the wonderful Nile Rodgers of Chic fame!
The 1995 album 1. Outside really jumped out at me!
Seen as "the one that got away" by Bowie himself, as well as the album's producer and co-writer Brian Eno, I thought the whole thing was fabulous, with the way that it told a story throughout the 19 titles on the album, and there was all sorts of additional bits in the packaging - wonderful artwork, a story that David wrote to go with the songs, and it was just an incredible experience in my opinion.
Sure, the whole thing is dark, but then I think that music and art have to look at all aspects of emotion and life, including the darker side therein!
The album has some wonderful work on there, a lot of which I can see as being obviously influential on artists such as Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who remixed the incredible song The Heart's Filthy Lesson from the album!
Another factor in the album hitting me like that is that I was in a really bad way at that time, and in a way the darkness of the album actually helped me in a lot of ways - sort of like a catharsis in a way! I won't go into that, but trust me that I wasn't the me that people know now!
I really liked the song Little Wonder from the Earthling album, which I, ahem, copied onto tape from a CD I borrowed from the local library! I will have a proper copy soon!
Late on in the 90's, I got the game The Nomad Soul for the PC, on which there were songs taken from the forthcoming album Hours. In the case of the song New Angels Of Promise, the lyrics were slightly different to fit the game, but I was stoked by the new music on there, and the music could be played separately on a normal CD player as well, since the were actual music files - MP3's were still being worked on at that time to how we know them today!
The eventual album the songs came from is one of my favourites to be honest!
I know, that might seem strange considering, but I really like a lot of the material on there! As I do the Outside album too! There is something about the two albums that really grabs onto me - I can't put my finger on it, but they really do resonate with me in a lot of ways, much like all of his music seems to!
Actually, in a career like David's, it's difficult to pin down exactly which is my actual favourite album of his!
His career has seen him experiment with different styles, musicians, producers... Hell, a lot of the time you can't even say that one of his albums is like any other one of his albums - Aladdin Sane is different to The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars, as they are different to Pin-Ups, and Hunky Dory! All fabulous albums!
Even the albums Low, Heroes, and Lodger, are so different from each other - similarities appear, but they have there own distinctive character!
His surprise release in 2013, The Next Day, is an amazing piece of work, especially the Extended Edition of it! I was once again blown away by the album, although I never actually understood the whole aesthetic of the artwork, whereby it was basically the Heroes album cover with stickers replacing the album details for the new album, and the new album's title strewn over the top of the Heroes album cover - just me I suppose?
No matter - the album has a number of gems on that I loved to this day, and will continue to love - I'd Rather Be High, the title track, Valentine's Day, If You Can See Me, Boss Of Me (with that lovely Tony Levin stick bass work)... I could go on forever.
On the 8th of January this year, David release what would become his last album, Blackstar.
It is a wonderful album that, even though it is just seven songs, has so much going on!
The title track is just under ten minutes of amazing musical experimentalism at it's very best! Lazarus is a beautiful and sad piece of work, that has a music video that matches the song wonderfully - it makes me cry actually now when I watch it! Other songs that jump out at me are Tis A Pity She Was A Whore, Girl Loves Me, and I Can't Give Everything Away.
That's just on my first couple of listens! I intend to listen to it more, because it's a great album, especially considering what he must have been going through while putting it together!
On the morning of Monday the 11th of January, 2016 I woke up to the news that David had died...
I was actually in shock, and in a way I was surprised that I had responded that way! When I told Louise about it, she couldn't believe it either, and was also affected in a way. She like a good few of his hit songs - Let's Dance, Modern Love, China Girl, Absolute Beginners, and a few more. She understood my response to it.
I am still shocked by it, and I have heard other people say the same thing about it!
I think that his legacy is more than many of us realised to be honest!
As I posted the other day on my instagram account - "singer, songwriter, musician, actor, artist, icon, legend." He was all that and more! I know that that sounds cliched, but I don't think that can be denied or be seen as being over the top?
He tried to push the boundaries of so many things - music, film, art, fashion, and even in electronics. He was very known for his charitable contributions and there is no dark side there, other than his dalliances with drugs in the seventies.
I for one will miss him, but will continue to listen to his music, and watch films that he was in. He will live on through that, and through those he has influenced.
His son Duncan Jones is a remarkable filmmaker, with his film Moon being one of my favourite films - if you like science fiction and haven't seen it, then I would suggest it as a must-see film. Sam Rockwell's performance in it is astonishing!
I didn't initially put the two together when I saw the film initially, and that's probably to Duncan's favour really.
Anyway, if like me you are still missing him and feeling that sense of loss, take out his music and keep listening - it's there for us to enjoy and to keep finding something new that we love in there, because there was always so much going on in his songs that we couldn't find everything in the first listen.
Tomorrow, the film Labyrinth is coming out. I've been listening to lots of his music, and I really want to watch that film!
Rest in peace David Bowie, I was lucky to be here at the same time as you were. I just wish that I had met you in person!
Yes, the stars don't seem the same now!
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