In a shocking announcement that rocked the entertainment world early this morning, avant-garde rock star David Bowie has died.
The 69 year old had battled some type of cancer for the past 18 months, and he died at home surrounded by his family.
Bowie had just released his latest album, Darkstar--a black star, so who knows what he meant for the title, particularly with this news--on his birthday on Friday.
There had not been any reports whatsoever of ill health.
Bowie was as out there as it came, starting in the 1960s as standard rocker Davy Jones. He changed his stage name so as not to confuse it with the Monkees star, and this was one of many transformations he accomplished over his 50 year career.
He rose to prominence Ziggy Stardust spaceman/androgynou alter ego in his hit "Space Oddity," and from there, he kind of signified the transitional early 1970s rock scene, from rock to glam and back to rock again.
Wearing outlandish clothes and makeup, he was sort of a cross between a British Bob Dylan and a space cadet, with lots of makeup thrown in.
He moved through different phases during his career as most people change their hairstyles, and every music phase brought on another persona--and more hit records.
He was the Thin White Duke, he was the professional video rock star, he was the elder statesman.
But whatever he was, he was creative. Nobody went through different metamorphoses as frequently as Bowie did.
He also was an actor, a producer, a writer and a collaborator.
People questioned his sexuality, but he had a long time marriage to model Iman, had an earlier divorce, too, and had several children, including one kid who was named Zowie.
And he made some of the greatest singles of his time, and LPs too. I have peppered this post with some of the great sleeves from these great singles.
Bowie had kind of laid "low" in recent years, coming back with a single or album pretty much when he felt like it.
His new LP has garnered generally favorable reviews, and that is probably what makes his passing such a shock.
He seemed to be on a comeback of sorts, and now we find out that it was pretty much his last gasp.
Let the professional rock writers go down every avenue of his career.
Right here, I am going to be simple as can be.
David Bowie made some great, and I mean, really great records.
He was both visually and aurally stunning, by taking the music and making it something to both see and hear.
Yes, "Sound + Vision" to the max.
We will all miss David Bowie. Anybody who loves pop and rock and disco and rhythm and blues and techno will miss him, because he contributed so much to each genre.
R.I.P.
It's clear in hindsight that the new album, full of images of sickness and death, was his final farewell to his fans.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed to have been somewhat planned in a dark type of way. From the title to when it was released, it is kind of eerie. His producer has since said that yes, the timing of the release was planned for around the time that Bowie was to expire, which just happened to be around his birthday. Very strange indeed.
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