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    • For Your Reviews* Regarding His Albums “The Next Day” – was he telling us “something” we didn’t know & “Blackstar’ – he is saying goodbye to us all ?

      I do find the “titles” a touch Ironic – given the sudden circumstances.

      It could be interpret as such given the title names – don’t you think ?

      As you’re an ardent fan – *Reviews has replaced “raves” which you are entitled too – In Mourning look to the “Good Life” that shines within all STARS such as Bowie.

  9. Fucking hell. 18-month battle with cancer. He kept the lid on that, like he did on everything else. How did he do it? An incredibly terrible and yet wondrous moment. A legend in life and in death.

    Just now, I can’t begin to imagine a world without his music and his magic.

  12. Yup, 7 o’clock GMT Today prog ,R4 news, “this just in a few minutes ago, David Bowie, 69, has died of cancer.”
    Not the uberfan like so many here, just a common or garden big fan. he’s been a part of my musical tapestry since ’67.
    Yup, I’m crying.

    • “Look up here, I’m in heaven
      “I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
      “I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
      “Everybody knows me now”

      Perhaps he was trying to break the news gently.

  24. Should say Ashes to Ashes was the second song I remember both hearing and liking. I was never the hugest fan, but he was always there, a lurking musical presence. Difficult to imagine him not being there.

  29. I cannot even begin to express how much David Bowie has meant to me over the years. From Starman on TOTP as a 13 year-old to listening to Blackstar just this weekend I doubt very much that there has ever been even a month go by when I didn’t listen to, and love, something from him. Just very, very sorry to see him go.

  31. On a Saturday I did something I’ve done many times before, I bought the new Bowie album. So sad that he won’t be around to make anymore wonderful songs.

    Not everything he did was brilliant but it was never dull and it was always worth taking notice of.

    RIP.

  38. I may find myself here this lunchtime – seems as good a place as anywhere.

    LOCATION

    On the wall of 23 Heddon Street, London W1

    CLOSEST UNDERGROUND STATION

    Oxford Circus

    • That’s kind of you @biggles, and, as you rightly point out, ridiculous.

      If it is possible to absolutely love someone without meeting them, that’s how I felt about Bowie. It’s no use pretending any more. My youth has just died. I’ll just have to grow old disgracefully as he did (there is a lot that is very naughty on Blackstar, you know).

  43. Shocked to hear this. I had no idea.
    Going to the Bowie exhibition at the V&A a few years ago really brought home to me the astonishing breadth and scope of his life’s work. This is a giant of contemporary culture that we’ve lost, and a great, great artist.

  44. Blackstar”

    In the villa of Ormen, in the villa of Ormen
    Stands a solitary candle, ah-ah, ah-ah
    In the centre of it all, in the centre of it all
    Your eyes
    ​
    On the day of execution, on the day of execution
    Only women kneel and smile, ah-ah, ah-ah
    At the centre of it all, at the centre of it all
    Your eyes, your eyes
    ​
    Ah-ah-ah
    Ah-ah-ah
    ​
    In the villa of Ormen, in the villa of Ormen
    Stands a solitary candle, ah-ah, ah-ah
    In the centre of it all, in the centre of it all
    Your eyes
    Ah-ah-ah
    ​
    Something happened on the day he died
    Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside
    Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried
    (I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar)
    ​
    How many times does an angel fall?
    How many people lie instead of talking tall?
    He trod on sacred ground, he cried loud into the crowd
    (I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar, I’m not a gangster)
    ​
    I can’t answer why (I’m a blackstar)
    Just go with me (I’m not a filmstar)
    I’m-a take you home (I’m a blackstar)
    Take your passport and shoes (I’m not a popstar)
    And your sedatives, boo (I’m a blackstar)
    You’re a flash in the pan (I’m not a marvel star)
    I’m the great I am (I’m a blackstar)
    ​
    I’m a blackstar, way up, oh honey, I’ve got game
    I see right so white, so open-heart it’s pain
    I want eagles in my daydreams, diamonds in my eyes
    (I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar)
    ​
    Something happened on the day he died
    Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside
    Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried
    (I’m a blackstar, I’m a star star, I’m a blackstar)
    ​
    I can’t answer why (I’m not a gangster)
    But I can tell you how (I’m not a flam star)
    We were born upside-down (I’m a star star)
    Born the wrong way ‘round (I’m not a white star)
    (I’m a blackstar, I’m not a gangster
    I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar
    I’m not a pornstar, I’m not a wandering star
    I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar)
    ​
    In the villa of Ormen stands a solitary candle
    Ah-ah, ah-ah
    At the centre of it all, your eyes
    On the day of execution, only women kneel and smile
    Ah-ah, ah-ah
    At the centre of it all, your eyes, your eyes
    Ah-ah-ah

  48. Genuinely shocking news, with a sneaking bit of admiration for the old bugger staging it so well. There’s not many artists of his age who I would mourn being robbed of the chance to hear new music from.

  50. Musically he was my first, before the The Smiths, but I keep thinking of other ways he cropped up in my childhood, too. In The Hunger, for example, where I simultaneously became aware of Tony Scott and Bauhaus, or in The Man Who Fell To Earth where I got hooked on Nic Roeg.

    It’s a great loss, and I feel very sad.

  51. The way he lived, the way he worked, the way he performed, the way he made his life his art and the grace and dignity with which he left us. That is a fucking pop star. That is a genius. A funny, fiercely intelligent seeker of the new, the strange who used his time here to do as he darn well pleased.

    Everyone says hi – luvonya Bowie x

  55. A person who has always been present one way or another in my life. Various snippets of songs keep coming into my head. His lyrics take on a new meaning now. Planet earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do. I guess his lifestyle caught up with him in the end. Some manage to keep going despite such excesses but not him sadly. Terrible shame.

    • In particular the lyrics (and video) for last single Lazarus now have a whole new meaning and poignancy in the light of this tragically sad news.

      “Look up here, I’m in heaven
      I’ve got scars that can’t be seen.”

  57. I don’t have much of his catalogue be he has intrigued me for decades.

    Station to Station is wonderful.

    Even a dullard such as I can see genius. I saw a post on social media this morning and it was a virtual punch in the chest. This is awful.

  58. I wouldn’t say I was a ‘fan’ of Bowie (i.e. I didn’t rush out and buy his albums), but his output was so varied and innovative and at times so good, that he was still a massive part of my musical landscape. I’m genuinely shocked. Only yesterday I was listening to an mp3 of Blackstar and thinking, ‘This is challenging’. It is a shame that his contribution is over, but what a contribution to music and culture he made.

  62. Tony Visconti on FB: He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.

  63. I am genuinely stunned & feel quite bereft. I feel ridiculous getting upset about the passing of someone who I have never met but this has made me shed a tear today.
    I feel incredibly lucky to have seen him live back in 2002 at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester. Seeing a legend like this come out on stage & start with Life On Mars made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! One of those moments that no matter how many gigs you go to, you will never forget THAT impact.

    At the age of 14 me & some friends ‘discovered’ him & spent a whole summer marvelling at every new track we would discover from a pretty breathtaking back catalogue! Since then he has continued to reinvent & surprise us with every new release!

    As I saw someone say on twitter this morning. ‘Who’s going to tell us what the future looks like now?’

    Today I will be playing my favourite tracks on repeat. The Bewlay Brothers, Queen Bitch, Life On Mars, Speed Of Life, Rebel Rebel, Let’s Dance & Love Is Lost. Just looking at these titles is making me feel upset & just shows what a wide range of music this great man made.

    RIP Bowie.

  64. It’s been along time since my reaction to my phone buzzing that early in the morning was “Christ Almighty!”
    Very sad indeed. Life On Mars is “my” song

  67. I heard the news break on the Today Programme and my jaw literally dropped. One of those remember where you were moments I think. I wasn’t a big fan in recent years but always had the greatest admiration for his commitment to his art. I can never quite believe it when Titans like him fall. I’m on a complete downer now.

  68. This is awful news.I was reading the opening lyrics to Lazarus above when the song came up on sky news. Not a dry eye in the house. Even Arsene is paying tribute.

    We have lost a giant star in the firmament.

  70. ‘Where are we now’ just on radio and seems unbearably poignant in retrospect

    Like a lot of people, his 70’s output was a massive part of my first steps into music in my mid- teens and beyond – hard to comprehend at the moment

  73. Just a thought before I go to bed, if you don’t mind. In the conservative world of my suburban Catholic upbringing in the early 70s, he was viewed with suspicion by many who regarded him as “bent’ and a “queer”. Society generally regarded as unwholesome, weird and a freak. As it turns out, the dangerous ones were often those in authority who appeared benign and wholesome. Yet Bowie gave us nothing but joy and harmed nobody. He had every reason to be angry and bitter over his treatment but he rarely (if ever) seemed to be. He just got on with his work his life with grace, dignity, good humour and style. We were lucky to have him.

  75. Anyone else see the final Ziggy concert at the Hammersmith Odeon on July 3, 1973?

    Just me then?

    I wrote about it on the old blog, but the main memories for me were almost bumping into Barbra Streisand in the foyer as she made an early getaway in the Daimler limo at the end, and Jeff Beck coming on for the encore.

    The Beck tracks (Jean Genie/Love Me Do) have never been officially released but they are around as boots/downloads.

  76. I bought Blackstar on Saturday, but was saving it to listen to while working today – not so sure now.
    It feels like a death in the family, someone that has been part of all our lives for so long, and like John Lennon, was just releasing music again after a long break.
    In the mix of emotions, there’s admiration that he produced one final album, praise for such a strong, powerful & influential career, and such sadness that he’s gone.

  77. Just heard on the news and refuse to believe it. Have to write somewhere how deeply deeply saddened I am. Rest in peace, maestro, you gave us so much.

  78. I had a bit of time set aside today to listen to Blackstar while working. Am doing so as I write.

    @tiggerlion – I may have been right when I teased you on your review that you’d say any new Bowie is great, but in this case you were right. It is magnificent. I don’t really care how it compares to his back catalogue, but it compares incredibly well with anything you want. Anything. It’s extraordinary, even without the almost unbearable poignancy it’s now taken on.

    Jesus, I’m near tears. This never happens to me.

  79. Can I just say that I really dislike the way the major TV news channels are reporting Bowie’s death by showing giant blow-ups of tweets from famous people, replete with spelling mistakes and punctuation errors. Reporting that, say, Jack Dee is “Sorry to here (sic) that David Bowie has died” is lazy and pointless.

    • It shows how obsolete they are becoming. The news was broken on the official Bowie Twitter feed at 6:30am. The news channels realised it was not a hoax when the story was confirmed by Duncan Jones on Twitter at 6:54am.

      • @Beany They are not becoming obselete. BBC needs to confirm news before it is broadcast. Then they had to fill the screens with somethingfor a while until they get on top of the story. The 1 o’clock news had a decent 15 minute tribute including Bob Harris talking about the Berlin era and, yes, Gambo showed up.

        However, I do believe 24 hr news channels are pointless as long as we can access the internet.

  80. Alarm goes off at 6.59
    Nicky Campbell talking shite as usual
    Semi-conscious state suggests that amongst Nicky’s usual shite ramblings was a soundbite of shockingly sad news…
    Wakes properly to hear the news, despite the continued witterings of NC
    Been in fog for rest of the day… played Lodger, Scary Monsters and Blackstar so far today.

    If ever there was a definition of a legend, the Dame is it.

  81. When I found out this morning, at first I could have sworn that the guy on Radio 4 had announced that David Bellamy had died. I even shouted the news downstairs to Mr Breakfast (I was a bit groggy).

  82. A strangely moving moment in the local supermarket this afternoon.

    There was a new young guy in his early twenties on the till who I’ve exchanged a few words with previously. He asked me if I’d heard about Bowie. He then told me he’d been listening to Blackstar at the weekend and had been pretty much in tears this morning when the news broke.

    So it’s not just us curmudgeons who are feeling very sad today. Even the kids are sad. Or at least some of them.

  83. What a dreadful shock. Akin to hearing of Lennon’s death – a devastating hammer blow. During the ’70s, he was the one artist whose work I always looked forward to with huge anticipation, wondering what new direction he was taking. I was off work the afternoon he appeared on Bolan’s show singing ‘Heroes’ and, along with the TOTP performance of ‘Starman’, it left an indelible impression. A pop star of rare taste and intelligence who constantly amazed and intrigued.
    For those who like them. I have a small story which I can’t remember if I’ve told before.
    A great friend of mine, Ronald Fraser, appeared in ‘Absolute Beginners’ (or ‘Absolute Bollocks’ as Ronnie referred to the turkey). Ronnie was of the Nat King Cole generation, so knew little of Bowie. On his first day, he was wandering past the open door of Bowie’s dressing room when a deep voice called out – ‘Ronnie, do you like cricket?’ Entering the room, he found David engrossed in a Test match. As Ronnie was a cricket fan, he joined him that day, and subsequent days, watching the game unfold. He found Bowie to be ‘an absolute charmer’ who was very chatty and great fun to be with. At some point, Ronnie mentioned that his younger daughter was a huge fan of Bowie. Shortly after, before filming ended, David presented Ronnie with all his recordings, each signed with a message for his daughter. Some time after, when Bowie was on tour, he phoned Ronnie to ask his daughter to come to the gig. Bowie laid on a limo for her and a pal and invited them backstage to meet him and tell her how much he’d enjoyed working with her Dad.
    A true gent.

      • Great story. A side of DB that we hear very little about.

        The Swedish director, Johan Renck, who did Bowie’s latest video was talking briefly on TV last week about working with him. He commented on how witty he was and very easy to work with.

    • Wonderful story, ian. Over the years, there have been a good few snarky comments about how badly he has treated some of his collaborators, but they are well-balanced by stories like this about his generosity of spirit. And tellingly, he reconciled with most of his colleagues, and none of them have/had a bad word to say about him.

      • In the Story of Bowie (repeating on 6Music over the last few weeks) he admitted he was “a bit of a shit” at times to his friends and colleagues. But as you mentioned he made up with them as the years past and they steadfastly stand by him.

  84. I was awoken at 7.05am with a phone call from my brother in law announcing what at that time was a rumour that David Bowie had died. My brother in law is the biggest Bowie fan I know by some distance. I turned on BBC 1 and there was nothing for about 5 minutes and then it was announced. Shortly after they had Emma B giving her inane tribute and saying that Ground Control was her favourite Bowie record. Within the next 10 or 15 minutes they managed to get people who actually knew about Bowie to start saying some sensible things. I got into my car at 8.30 and 6music was playing wall to wall Bowie with some nice tributes. Ziggy Stardust was my introduction to Bowie. I remember the initial disappointment at listening to the album because it wasn’t as rocky as Suffragette City (at the time my favourites were Deep Purple and Free). After getting over that disappointment I his releases of that era up to and including Low which remains my most liked Bowie album. Then I lost track for a number of years until my brother in law played me Heathen which I thought was rather good. When the Next Day came out I got the deluxe edition with the extended Love is Lost. That reignited my interest substantially. 10 minutes of magnificence. Whatever is said, he was a special talent and unique. He will be missed.

  85. Here’s a US TV concert I watched on youtube not long ago. Bowie takes requests and shows his magentic, charming personality. He’s funny, warm and friendly with the callers and audience plus gives fine performances from his back catalogue. Well worth your time if you want an uplifting blast of who he was.

    https://youtu.be/qnnY_Z9OtC0

  86. I was late leaving for work this morning.
    Didn’t watch BBC Breakfast, didn’t turn the tablet on.
    Got in the car – Radio 6 playing Bowie. Thought it was probably due to the release of Blackstar at the weekend. Then another track. And then the sad announcement.
    Sean Keavney and Matt Everett sounded visibly shocked and in disbelief.

    Very sad news

  88. Just as no amount of classic music could blind us to the awful pun that was “The Beatles”, Dave was pursued throughout his career (right up to Chris Hadfield strumming in his tin can far above the world) by that Space Odyssey/ Oddity cash-in title.
    Thing is, Zig The Wonderkid really did arrive into this robot’s life like that monolith in Kubrick’s film. One minute we’re all apeman digging in the dirt, then this perfect otherworldly figure appears, seemingly out of nowhere. We touch it (“Gimme your hands!”, he implores) and we never look back.
    And you know that monolith? It’s black. And it’s full of stars.
    (I realise this sounds terribly pretentious but I suspect I have Mr Jones to thank for my pretentious streak too..)

  90. Just as I suspected when the news broke this morning, anyone and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to say a few words. The story has just been on the Swedish news. So who did we get soundbites from?

    A music journalist. A culture pundit. Some random young dude (“Bowie fan”) in a record shop.
    No real problem with any of those.

    But then we got well-known glam rocker and Bowie fan David Cameron telling us what a genius he was. How I cringed.

    Couldn’t one of the Admins have fixed it so that Tigger could say a few words? Any real fan would have done. A little passion rather than platitudes.

    • Jezza? Um, possibly because, as well as being a bit of a dick, he is actually a credibly knowledgeable music lover. Hell, he’d fit in great on this sight, and maybe is, given some of the political jousts. Better a fan than a sleb presenting. (Mind you, haven’t seen it yet.)
      It’s still ever so quick off the mark, suggesting someone somewhere was prepared for this?

    • I agree with retro there, on Eggheads Jeremy Vine often goes off the script and talks a bit about the acts mentioned in the music questions, sharing his own obscure knowledge. He’s obviously a fan.

  94. I shared this story on Facebook. It comes from Mike Tobin, erstwhile manager of Stackridge.

    When I was part of the RCA promotions team , a small group of us were in the bar @ our Birmingham Hotel following a Bowie concert. One of his “minders” said that David would probably come down & join us for a while. Sure enough he appeared a few minutes later. He was introduced to each of us & shook our hands, one by one. Then he sat down with us and …..this is the abiding memory, he remembered all of our names! Then engaged each of us in conversation , asking us what we did & thanking us for our contributions, and most importantly showing a genuine interest in our answers .

  96. Memories – “Life On Mars” on TOTP when I was 7, my Mum telling me he was only allowed to appear on TOTP a couple of times a year as he was too weird (and me believing her). My Mum & Dad going on a shopping trip to Belfast also when I was 7, Mum asking what records I wanted bringing back & me choosing “Rebel Rebel”, flipping it over and finding the B-side, “Queen Bitch” was even better than the A-Side. How odd yet wonderful “Drive-In Saturday” sounded (still does on both counts). The 8-year old me being spooked with the half-man, half-dog sleeve of “Diamond Dogs” in Alwyn Kydd’s record store in the Strand Road in Derry. The 9-year old me listening to my 1975 re-issue copy of “Space Oddity”, a maxi-single that included “Changes”, in a friend’s house in Lawrence Hill in Derry. Listening to “Sound & Vision” at 10, amazed at the structure of the song with it’s long instrumental opening. At 12, one of the best intro’s ever on “Boys Keep Swinging”, later covered by another of my heroes, Billy MacKenzie. At 13, Brecht & Weill in the top 30 via “Alabama Song” (can you imagine that today?). At 15, getting the Baal’s Hymn EP (Brecht again!), and being knocked out at the gorgeousness of “Remembering Marie A”. At 16, hearing him team up with Nile Rodgers (another hero) and the gigantic drums of “Let’s Dance”. At 18, the beautiful, haunting single with Pat Metheny “This Is Not America” as I embarked on my first proper job. At 20 hearing him “do” soul again with the underrated “Underground”. And so on…
    I feel sad for today’s teens who don’t have a Bowie, and never will. I’m heartened by the fact that he’s gone out on a really good album, and that 61 of the top 200 tracks on iTunes today are by DB. I hope that those who don’t get him because they didn’t grow up with him will look at the fuss today, and go and investigate his work. Every album, even the 80s ones, has something of worth, and many are solid gold all the way through.

  97. I’m still not dealing with this at all well, which is obviously ridiculous as he wasn’t a friend / family and I don’t normally tear up at the death of slebs (apart from Bobby Robson and Philip Seymour Hoffman, obvs) but this has just absolutely kicked lumps out of me. I’m shocked by how much Bowie’s passing has affected me.

    I managed to listen to Blackstar (the track) this morning and that was me gone. I kept away from the net, tv and radio, but dropped in here several times and the stuff on this thread has been absolutely fantastic (everybody, but esp. Black Celebration, DogFacedBoy and ianess) _ I take my hat off to your eloquence, and am grateful for it.

    Actually, in my para 1 there I referred to Bowie’s ‘passing’ – it’s not that actually, it’s his absence: it just feels absolutely massive. He’s just been such a… foundation… for nearly 5 decades, and he’s just created, underpinned and inspired so much of the creativity that we on here all love. What a huge, huge loss.

    The only thing that I did hear on the radio was wonderful, sincere and beautiful: Martha Kearney interviewing an audibly stunned and bereft Rick Wakeman on BBC R4’s ‘The World at One’. Kearney asked all the right questions in the right way, and gave Wakeman time and space to assemble his thoughts and speak about Bowie with great love, admiration and respect. I thought “Nothing’s going to top that – I don’t need to listen to anything else today”. Great stuff Rick: thankyou very much, and many condolences on your evidently huge loss.

    Hope you find it helpful too.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03f6d0w

  98. I’m no Bowie head, but couldn’t fail to be affected by so much he did. Growing up in SE London, he was in the fabric of the place. Half the people you met out & about claimed he went to their school ( he couldn’t have, obviously) & there was always something nice about drinking in the Three Tuns in Beckenham as a youngster knowing ‘Bromley Dave’ played accoustic there.
    A guy I did A Levels with ( a huge Bowie head) had a great tale. He saw Bowie in the Virgin Megastore, Oxford St – avec huge minder – in about 1980/81 buying vinyl with a shopping trolley. He asked the minder if it was OK to say ‘hello’ & got the nod. Bowie was delighted to meet a genuine fan & arranged to pick him up the next night from his folks’ house ( in Beckenham) in a big motor that whisked him to a table with Dave for a curry for two. He probed him with music questions – what he was listening to etc. & what he thought of his latest stuff & they had a great craic. Bowie dropped him back home later with some cool signed swag & a phone number for him to call when the next tour was announced. He called the number in due course & got an invite backstage for a London gig. Bowie had a photographic memory apparently & even asked how his specific A Level subjects were progressing!
    Not bad, eh?

  99. After a day of having to hold it all in at work, I got in and got upstairs – having made the mistake of listening to Blackstar on the way home – shut myself away and cried so hard that my head hurt. I haven’t done that for years. It felt horrible and stupid, but a couple of hours and another Blackstar later I feel vaguely better.

    It’ll be a while before I can take Hunky Dory, which is literally Mrs ‘s favourite album in the world ever.

    ‘Cos we believe in you….

    • Please spare us Julie Burchill.

      I assume she’ll trouser her normal fee from the Spectator for writing about how she nobly turned down the offer of fees from two newspapers for writing about Bowie.

      And good for her for managing to work in yet another reference to her son’s suicide, in this article that is in no way about the death of one of the greatest artists of the last half-century.

    • ‘Bowie was a private individual who didn’t ever spout platitudes and inanities about everything going on around him. You’d think some of these people would bear this in mind.’

      Got to agree with her on that. I mean celebs all queuing up to be seen wiping tears.

      Personally, I think it’s a massive deal. I loved Bowie and as I got older was astonished to realise how ahead of his time he was both musically and visually.

      I copies a look in the late naughties taken from a Bowie fashion shoot I’d seen from the mid-90s. And I was still ahead of the mainstream curve by a couple of years.

  101. Terrible news. WDR in Germany is broadcasting a particularly good Rockpalast at the moment: good muscular band, Bowie clearly enjoying it, and what a great bunch of songs he’s penned over the years, and thanks for keeping your accent. Great loss.

    Here it is off Youtube. Recommended. Jeez, just realised, it’s only 2 years old.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFMdHBIFBmI

  103. Like many others I couldn’t claim to be a huge fan, yet from hearing the news break this morning to nearly midnight, I’ve felt utterly retched and empty. Hearing the tributes throughout the day have demonstrated how even on my periphery Bowie was able to have an effect throughout my life.

    I was listening to Blackstar over the weekend and was mightily impressed at how fresh it sounded. Sad news. Fuck cancer.

  104. The radio was on at work and the news came on. I didn’t catch the beginning of the sentence but heard something about an artist having died and asked my two young colleagues if they heard who it was.
    “Um, I think his name is Bo…Bowie or something.”
    I just stared at her. “Bowie? David Bowie??” (No, Sven Bowie, genius…)
    They nodded.
    “But…he just released his new album!” I said in disbelief, as if the immortality of his music would literally render him immortal…
    They shrugged. “I don’t really know who he is” said one of them.

    The radio kept playing all of his songs during the rest of the day. I had to steel myself every time I had to go into the back office where it stood, my eyes welling up if I allowed myself to listen to the songs.
    When everybody else had left and I was doing the final paperwork, the radio played Drive-In Saturday. Incredible. Who else wrote songs like that and became a mega star?
    In a class of his own.
    If Lemmy gets a heavy metal named after him then I really hope that they find some living micro-organism on Mars that can be named after David Bowie.
    I’ve been a fan for a long time, but I’m still very surprised at the emotions that his death has evoked in me – so it was nice to come home to this thread and see that I’m not alone.

    • The News was broken to me gently this morning by my wife before I left for work and turned the radio on. My work colleagues also indifferent so I empathise with you on that. Fuckin’ heartbreaking.

    • In fairness, whenever the UK media played a medley of the hits yesterday, the most recent tended to be Let’s Dance, which is nearly 35 years old. It doesn’t mean that the songs aren’t marvellous, or that people won’t at least have heard them. But it does perhaps mean that there are a lot of people who don’t feel any great connection.

      • Yes, I’ve only heard one person at work mention Bowie’s death, and I work with people from their early twenties to late fifties, and quite a few of them are involved in the visual arts, which the media keep telling us Bowie had a big impact on. I don’t doubt the sincerity of anyone who was upset by Bowie’s death, or get into that post-Diana reaction of expressing bewilderment at the public mourning. But there is a whole range of reactions between tears and indifference. Even on here a lot of people admit that they’re not that familiar with a lot of his later stuff – that is, anything from about 1980. And if you’re in your twenties or thirties, the idea of a 69 year old dying isn’t that shocking. A lot of his image changes can now look very dated, and it’s hard to understand the outrage they caused if you weren’t around at that time. For a lot of people he will just be some good pop records – which is still an achievement.

        • I know lots of people who have been massively moved by Bowie’s passing, both on here and in real life, but I must admit that it hasn’t had any real impact on me, beyond basic human sympathy and (if I’m being honest) feeling awful for @tiggerlion.

          I know the songs, but Bowie was never really part of the fabric of my existence, and his music certainly didn’t define my youth – “some good pop records” is a pretty good summary.

          More than that, watching the reaction has made me question how much I’m actually invested in music at all. I can think of only a tiny handful of people I’ve never met before whose death might draw a tear, and none of them are musicians.

          • That’s been exactly my reaction: “basic human sympathy” for someone “I’ve never met before”.

            I think what people are really grieving over is the end of the artist’s career, because the death from cancer of a 69-year-old bloke from Beckenham is, sadly, hardly newsworthy. But that career end didn’t come as much of a shock to me. Before Blackstar and Lazarus were announced, many people assumed he had quietly retired. He hadn’t gigged for many years, he’d been releasing new music about as regularly as Donna Tartt publishes new fiction, and he wasn’t even a regular fixture on Graham Norton’s sofa. He’d already slipped away.

            As for the communal outpourings of upset over the last 48 hours, I think it’s Ziggy/the Thin White Duke/Pierrot who’s being mourned, not David Jones (about whom we knew next to nowt, let’s face it), and those personae that he created all ceased to be several decades ago now. In other words, not unlike Mr Spock, I’m struggling to find a logical explanation for all the “in bits, no words” posts on social media.

            And yet…

            He did release a slew of singles between the early ’70s and early ’80s that few can compete with in terms of their consolidated place “in the canon”, as they say. Those songs sounded different then and they still sound different today. They had unusual but accessible melodies, surprising and appealing chord changes and production values, proper WTF doolally-rock-god lyrics, and they were extremely well sung (his skill as a vocalist was always overshadowed by his hair and knitted jumpsuits, which is a great shame). Practically anyone now pushing 50 or only only has to glance at these titles to start humming the songs (or at least Ronno’s riffs for them): “The Man Who Sold the World”, “Space Oddity”, “Changes”, “Starman”, “Five Years”, “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Ziggy Stardust”, “Life on Mars”, “Jean Genie”, “Sorrow”, “Young Americans”, “Fame”, “Sound and Vision”, “Heroes”, “Ashes to Ashes” and “Let’s Dance”. That sixteen hummable humdingers of songs over a period of twelve years. Ruddy heckit.

            But they were also a very long time ago. For how many of us who are not huge fans is anything he did after “Scary Monsters” still top of mind? That’s why I’m mostly unmoved. I respect David Bowie the artist, the songwriter and the singer as one of the greats, but for me at least, his time had passed many years ago, so the physical death of David Jones the man barely affects the way I feel about that amazing – probably unprecedented – body of work between 1971 and 1983.

            A final fashion note. I’d dispute that he “defined an era” or even influenced anybody except his most fervent fans. He was always an outlier, to be admired rather than emulated. Yes, we may have claimed we were in thrall to the wacky, weirdo look of Bowie’s latest incarnation, but when Saturday night came around, let’s not kid ourselves: we all dressed like Rick Parfitt.
            ____

            Disclaimer: I’ve never been a Bowie huge fan but I’m no Bowie denier either. I’ve owned copies of half a dozen albums of his over the years. I saw him once live, on the Heroes tour. Frankly, it was the meh-est performance by a major rock ‘n’ pop ‘n’ roll icon that I’ve ever seen – and, hey, I’m a survivor of the 1999 Dylan gigs. I’d like to be able to say that seeing David Bowie was a life-changing experience, but unfortunately it was everything that his most vehement critics always derided him for: egocentric, heartless, quasi-fascistic, style-over-substance, cocaine-fuelled posing and posturing that – like that ill-advised sixth shot of tequila – you struggle to remember anything about the next day, with the difference that, unlike shots of tequila, it wasn’t even fun at the time. The only memory of it that has stayed with me is a very large array of trouser, a wall-mounted display of kitchen strip lighting, and a god-awful teeth-on-edge-setting racket that came screaming out of the amps. It was the ultimate just-play-some-old gig: the more the crowd brayed for “Life on Mars” or “Changes”, the longer the free-form interpretative post-rock jam of “The Secret Life of Arabia” went on and on. Oh, well.

      • @Ernietothecentreoftheearth Not sure if they only played up to Let’s Dance, but he had many hits after that including 6 more top 3 singles in the 80s, few biggish hits in the 90s (including Jump They Say and Hello Spaceboy), Everyone Says Hi was a hit this century and I believe Where are we Now made the top 5 just 3 years ago.

        Probably reflects more on the people who choose what to play rather than what the public know.

        • You are right about “Where are we now” as that got a lot of coverage a couple of years ago. And it was played a couple of times yesterday. I am not sure that the bulk of the population would be familiar with the others you mention, if only because the first two are 20 years plus old

  105. I found out when I got up at 2AM my time with low blood sugar. Idly flicking through Facebook when you’re onboarding glucose and other food…not the best way to get that piece of news.

    Took me ages to get back to sleep. Got in the shower to be woken by a shriek from Dearly Beloved as she got the news. Spent a chunk of the day playing whatever Bowie was loaded on the iPod, as well as John Martyn.

    Am thoroughly in a funk right about now. Partially sleep deprived, part rampant fuckknucklery at work, and part this. Like others, I wasn’t a huge huge fan, but would consider myself a big one who is relatively knowledgable. He just seemed to always be so relevant. I had the sense, and I admit I could be wrong, that reinvention, a word that has been bandied about quite a bit, may not be entirely accurate. As I read more and more today across the various platforms, and looking at him latterly, I derived the sense of a guy who was doing what he wanted and found interesting. He wasn’t churning out the same old garbage year in and year out, but doing something…interesting.

    I bet he’d had have been aces to have at a dinner party. As others have said, I doubt we shall see his like again, and we will be the poorer for it, as we are for his passing.

  106. A bit of light relief – and a reminder that along with everything else he was a funny geezer too -don’t be put off that it’s TFI/Evans – he barely gets a word in as Bowie decides he wants to spin a bit of yarn…

    • Wonderful. Thanks for sharing. That was my first thought when my wife rang me with the news, yesterday morning. How the fuck did he keep that quiet?
      Bless her, she waited until I had pulled into the car-park at work, rather than tell me when I was hammering up the M40.

      Last night was lots of shared memories on FB and Twitter, catching up with copious News broadcasts and persuading my wife (never a fan) that he was never “just a singer, for God’s sake.” I’m not being a hypocrite here. I own 3 albums, nothing past Let’s Dance. But I was 16 in 1972. His magic run of singles, from Changes to Starman, from John I’m Only Dancing to The Jean Genie, from Drive In Saturday to Time, from Life On Mars to Let’s Spend The Night Together to Sorrow, to Rebel, Rebel spanned just 25 months. But they also spanned those formative years for me. Years when music has the biggest effect on us. Years when your life happens in a kaleidoscope of colour and emotion and joy and pain. He was always there.
      This morning? 90 miles in the car, with those singles, plus Hang Onto Yourself and Suffragette City and Quicksand and TVC15 and Kooks and Prettiest Star and a few others, singing, marvelling at Ronno’s guitar, and a few tears. As someone said last night.
      “And the stars look very different today.”

      • Beautiful, beautiful – you’ve said everything I’ve wanted to say about his impact, his presence, during my vital formative early teenage years in the early 70s but which I still can’t articulate yet. Thankyou so much @niallb.

        I still can’t believe that he’s not going to be there, creating and evolving and innovating away like fuck and making really good boundary-stretching yet accessible and popular art. He’s always done that and now he’s gone and it’s stopped, and I’m not ready for that.

  111. Was thinking last night about his early to mid 70’s era

    Hunky Dory was released right at the end of 1971. Heroes came out in October 1977

    In between came another 8 albums (1 live) including at least 2 complete changes of style, musicians, image and persona.

    Add to this starring in The Man Who Fell To Earth,

    Produced Raw Power, Transformer, The Idiot and Lust for Life, wrote All the Young Dudes 6 US tours, 3 UK tours, 1 Japanese tour and 1 European tour, plus another US and European tour with Iggy Pop (most if not all done without air travel).

    Absolutely astounding workrate

  112. Every Christmas when the kids are home, we watch the DVD of The Snowman, the version with Bowie at the start pretending that he is the grown up boy,James. Dont think we will be able to watch this Christmas.

  116. In an otherwise light article in the Daily Mail, Craig Brown concludes with a few paragraphs which I think say more about the responses to Bowie’s death than anything else I’ve read.

    “Well, there’s no denying that Bowie gave us some great pop songs, but these statements seemed to me to go beyond all normal expressions of grief or admiration. Instead, they were outcries against mortality: not only against the death of Bowie, but against the very fact of death itself.

    Since its birth in the late Fifties, pop music has been seen as the sound of youth. For a long while, the very idea of an elderly rock star was regarded as ridiculous, an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. Sixty years on, perhaps we are only just beginning to realise that rock stars grow old and die, just like the rest of us.”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3409444/CRAIG-BROWN-Shock-news-No-pop-stars-died-today.html

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