RIP Ziggy Stardust.
That was the entire text message I got this morning from my big brother. I almost drove off of the road. The sheer thought that music pioneer and career shapeshifter David Bowie could be gone…it was staggering. And yet, he’s gone. 69 years on this planet (no idea how many years on others), countless contributions to music, art and fashion, endless scores of disciples, and now his voice has been silenced.
Farewell, David Bowie
I was just a kid when Bowie was doing his Ziggy Stardust act, but decades later, our band will still break that out at rehearsal or sound check and everyone always sings along. It’s infectious. I enjoyed a lot his early work (Space Oddity is sheer brilliance), and, with a couple of exceptions, loved a lot of his pop stuff. If anyone wants to doubt that Bowie’s visual styles influenced everything from the first 15 years of MTV to the entire glam rock movement, they’re high.
Modern Love is social commentary wrapped in a brilliant composition. Changes, Under Pressure, Young Americans, they all have parts that just make you love unique vocalization and adventurous songwriting. Bowie was the kind of guy where you get a greatest hits album and ask where your favorite 8 songs are. They didn’t make the cut because he had that much quality material.
Years, years, years later, Bowie put out Earthling, and that was so in tune with where I was at that point in life. From Little Wonder to I’m Afraid of Americans, it was such a departure from everything (the pop charts were giving us Barbie Girl and Spice Girls). It amazes me to this day how a living legend like Bowie could adapt and be so in harmony with Trent Reznor 30 years into his career. Of course he could. The man is a chameleon, or some other alien race close to it.
Covering David Bowie
The greatest Bowie cover I ever heard was Space Oddity by Saigon Kick (Video HERE). There’s almost no one playing in the majority of my life who hasn’t felt Bowie’s influence in one way or another. Wherever his journey takes him, we were blessed by his time among us.
RIP Ziggy Stardust.
nK
PS: Americans is still a go-to song in the gym. Long live the Goblin King!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT2oqEHwvUY