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★ ~ The David Bowie Thread ~ ★

Our living room tribute to the great Gnome.

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Well, the world got a lot less interesting today, or entertaining, or mysterious. What can you say when a giant exits the stage? Here's hoping he's waiting in the sky, and would like to come and meet us but he thinks he'd blow our minds, if that's any comfort.
 
He was smiling right up to the end.
I'm wondering if he did what I think Lemmy may have done, and deliberately taken an OD of something.
That would explain the timing. He knew he was going, so he brought out Blackstar on his birthday.
 
Mythopoeika said:
He was smiling right up to the end.
I'm wondering if he did what I think Lemmy may have done, and deliberately taken an OD of something.
That would explain the timing. He knew he was going, so he brought out Blackstar on his birthday.
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A lot of folk have been speculating along these lines, in both cases. It was one of my first thoughts regarding Lemmy, certainly.

Despite loving much of his work I can't pretend to be an unswerving fanatical follower of Mr Bowie.

But it's bloody weird living in a world without him isn't it?
 
It's weird because I feel the same way Andy as someone who also didn't buy his records ... he was just there every ten years or so with something fresh and it somehow never felt pretentious, a miracle considering all of his alter egos ... Madonna tried the same route with her career, re-inventing herself every 10 seconds but could never pull it off as naturally as Bowie managed to.

.. maybe because Bowie took his time and evolved at his own pace over the 50 odd years instead ?.
 
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skinny said:
Bit of a shock, eh.
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Definitely mate, completely left field - yet I think there were clues - first album without his face, and a black disassembled star upon it.

Bloody mortality is knocking on the door again.
 
EyronRen said:
1. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). I bought the album in 1981 along with The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and I suddenly had two of the most beautiful and strange men to love. These were the last albums that I got to share with my dad as he was killed shortly afterwards. David and Syd became replacement daddies in some ways and life long loves in every other way.

2. Life On Mars? Because as I said on Saturday I sort of felt it was about me. I was a lost and lonely little girl without her dad and this song calmed me.

I apologise for repeating the Life On Mars? post, but it's all I can manage right now. I'm a lost little girl again.
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Turn right at the second star and keep straight on until morning, and you'll realise that you've come to the right place EyronRen, after all, we're all family here.
 
Mythopoeika said:
He was smiling right up to the end.
I'm wondering if he did what I think Lemmy may have done, and deliberately taken an OD of something.
That would explain the timing. He knew he was going, so he brought out Blackstar on his birthday.
Click to expand...

Aye Mytho, for some one suffering from endstage carcinoma, he looks rather plump(?)...only 4 days before his final departure.
 
A bit of Bauhaus and Bowie from The Hunger's soundtrack ... I used to have this tune on glow in the dark 12" vinyl, it's ace to switch your bedroom lights off and watch the disc spin on shrooms ... well, it was about 25 years ago, I'm more sensible now.

 
Swifty said:
It's weird because I feel the same way Andy as someone who also didn't buy his records ... he was just there every ten years or so with something fresh and it somehow never felt pretentious, a miracle considering all of his alter egos ... Madonna tried the same route with her career, re-inventing herself every 10 seconds but could never pull it off as naturally as Bowie managed to.

.. maybe because Bowie took his time and evolved at his own pace over the 50 odd years instead ?.
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Quite agree. I never found him pretentious, just a font of ideas which would naturally arrive when their time was due (to almost paraphrase Charles Fort), and some of which were hard to get to grips with. By that very token, was talking to people about Blackstar today...
 
It's interesting that Bowie has been so much on our minds lately. Not just because of the new album, either. Well, for me and mine, at least. Just a few weeks ago I found myself watching that bizarre pantomime he was in, "Pierrot in Turquoise", just on a whim, and my spouse was spontaneously strumming some Bowie songs on his guitar. Seems like his influence was all around in the weeks before his death.
 
Ulalume said:
Seems like his influence was all around in the weeks before his death
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Indeed. Even this thread itself seemed to be an awakening for a wake.

It's intriguing to wonder about some forms of temporal resonance: almost like the timewave zero concept, where truly-major events can presage themselves.

Or: It's not so much of a leap (perhaps) to envisage that where an individual soul, an almost-worshipped sentience, passes-on (either to something else, or nothingness) those for whom a key part of their vitality has been influenced by such a being, might somehow sense an imminence of departure.

A billion tiny tendrils of influence, admiration and love, may bind and build a bond that transcends the limits of seperation and distance.
 
Ulalume said:
It's interesting that Bowie has been so much on our minds lately. Not just because of the new album, either. Well, for me and mine, at least. Just a few weeks ago I found myself watching that bizarre pantomime he was in, "Pierrot in Turquoise", just on a whim, and my spouse was spontaneously strumming some Bowie songs on his guitar. Seems like his influence was all around in the weeks before his death.
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He was all over t'media here too. New album out, y'know.
 
Anyone see the beeb doc Five Years shown last night? Concerning 5 key years in his 70s heyday although it actually went beyond those.

Featuring footage of the man himself & contributions from those who worked with him during those days with stories behind the scenes. Fascinating stuff & quite a lot I'd not seen before.

I was a fan in those days though I lost touch some time in the 80s onwards. I'm now thinking I should revisit some of these to see what I missed.

He's been around so long it's easy to forget how extraordinary he was & how he moved from one thing to another. Another thing, he had no problem getting top musicians & producers and could get the best out of them.

Revisiting the classic 70s stuff again, it becomes clear what a bold & different artist he was - not only image but also music. And I think artist is the operative word - he wasn't a great musician but had the ideas to produce great music, usually breaking new ground.

Highly recommended, the prog is here
 
The BBC have been deeply-respectful in their coverage and comment.

I had no idea about him having been the first pop-star to float himself on the stock market (allegedly). Or apparently the first mainstream artist to offer selected parts of his content via online, only.

And to have forward-monetised (wrong term, maybe?) his front catalogue of tracks and albums, yes, apparently he sold the rights to his unwritten works, from a date onwards (thus prempting the whole copyright/IPR challenges in the early early digital days)
 
One thing I forgot to mention...
I think it was the day Blackstar was released, I thought 'I wonder if Bowie is going to go on a world tour?' and I Googled about to see what dates were available.
I was surprised to see there was only one gig listed, and there was a message saying there was no tour planned.
I thought that was a bit odd, because he always had the habit of going on tour to promote an album release.

I suppose at the time I should have figured out that something unusual was about to happen.
 
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