21 thoughts on “David Bowie”

  1. I do think he is a cultural loss. I know he had a significant impact on modern music across a couple of charted genres. He will be missed by many.

    Still, I’m not sure why it is front page, top for something like Drudge or other news outlets. Perhaps a slow news day, but there seems to be other big news to discuss that impacts many more people.

  2. A flawed, but reasonable analogy: David Bowie was to music what Andy Warhol was to pop culture. But Bowie’s contributions also crossed over into film (Labyrinth) and his music crossed generations (see duets with Bing Crosby, Freddie Mercury).

    Much of his work was not my cup of tea, but the man was talented, to say the least.

  3. I sort of got interested in him decades ago, when I decided my cultural world was too narrow and that I should expand my musical knowledge into the world of rock. A friend of mine who was very well versed in both rock and classical music (he called rock “today’s real classical music,” saying that what was called “classical music” in the modern era was “academic music,” written for academics to be appreciated by academics) acted as Virgil to my Dante. He encouraged me to listen to Bowie and Springsteen, stating that unlike many rock stars, they were serious artists. I got enough exposure to rock to decide: Nope, not my thing. But I enjoyed listening to Bowie’s music to the extent that I did. This, however, remains to me his finest moment:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADbJLo4x-tk

    Although that “every child shall be made to care” takes on a Re-Education Camp overtone, in retrospect. Instapundit down uses “You Shall Be Made to Care” as a rubric to highlight examples of Liberal Fascism.

    1. I never could tell one of Springsteen’s songs from the other. I think Gordon Sumner once made that point, and had to walk it back when The Boss’ fans were outraged.

  5. I’m with you, Rand (except for the song – never heard of it).

    But if I didn’t really care about him, I also never wished him any ill. Rest in peace.

      1. I don’t know where to find the quote, but I remember reading that Bowie was moved to hear his song sung by a real astronaut in space.

        Also, current ISS astronaut Timothy Peake has been nicknamed “Major Tim” after Bowie’s character “Major Tom”. He was a real major in the British Army.

        Bowie played an alien in the movie “The Man Who Fell to Earth” back in the 1970s. He came to Earth to get water for his dying desert planet. I only saw it once, back at the time. It was a pretty strange movie, but I liked it. I haven’t seen it since then, so I don’t know how well it has held up.

        I was not the biggest Bowie fan around, but he was successful in several different musical gendres. He was clearly very talented. RIP.

        1. Probably my favorite Bowie music was his funky period in the late 70s:

          Golden Years

          Also, here’s an early version of Space Oddity which offers a plausible explanation of why Major Tom cut off communications with Earth:

          Space Oddity

  7. RIP, I guess. I never got what was such a big deal about him.

    Rand, will you eulogize me when I die?

    1. I, I will be king
      And you, you will be queen
      Though nothing, will drive them away
      We can beat them, just for one day
      We can be heroes, just for one day

      And you, you can be mean
      And I, I’ll drink all the time
      ‘Cause we’re lovers, and that is a fact
      Yes we’re lovers, and that is that

      Though nothing, will keep us together
      We could steal time, just for one day
      We can be heroes, forever and ever
      What’d you say?

      I, I wish you could swim
      Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
      Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
      We can beat them, forever and ever
      Oh we can be heroes, just for one day

      I, I will be king
      And you, you will be queen
      Though nothing will drive them away
      We can be heroes, just for one day
      We can be us, just for one day

      I, I can remember (I remember)
      Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
      And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)
      And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
      And the shame, was on the other side
      Oh we can beat them, forever and ever
      Then we could be heroes, just for one day

      We can be heroes
      We can be heroes
      We can be heroes
      Just for one day
      We can be heroday

      We’re nothing, and nothing will help us
      Maybe we’re lying, then you better not stay
      But we could be safer, just for one day
      Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh, just for one day

  9. I can understand a little “oh, that’s a shame”. Maybe even a little “I met him once!” That’s normal.

    What isn’t okay is people wailing for someone they didn’t even know. If you’ve ever experienced real loss – like a loved one or a family member, then you know that the way you feel about Bowie doesn’t even compare. If you haven’t, congratulations.

    1. Then you don’t understand human nature. Musicians are invited into the hearts of their fans. They sing the emotions that others feel. That is why they become iconic.

    2. We don’t actually mourn for entertainers. We mourn for ourselves. Their demise marks the passing of an old order with which we were familiar, and heralds our own slide into irrelevance and ultimate oblivion.

  10. I think I can lay claim to being a rock and blues music aficionado, so here’s my assessment of Bowie’s music: meh. “Space Oddity” is just dumb (his record company correctly assessed it as a novelty song); “Ziggy Stardust” is a disjointed offering that tries jumping on the concept album bandwagon pioneered by the Who; Bowie’s vocal style was highly derivative of Bryan Ferry without Ferry’s soul; his lyrics were generally trite, his melodies oh-so-precious (e.g., “Man Who Sold the World” and “Queen Bitch”). Really, the only song of his that I consider first-rate is the powerful and moving “Heroes”, which owes part of its power to Robert Fripp’s guitar work.

    But for all of Bowie’s superficiality, he earned some respect from me for two albums he produced: Lou Reed’s “Transformer”, which although not a particularly good album by Reed’s standards, rescued Lou’s career after he left the Velvet Underground – Reed was about to leave music and go to work for his accountant father on Long Island when Bowie convinced Reed to record one more album; and Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”, which kept Iggy in the game after the Stooges broke up. Bowie deserves a significant place in rock history for those two albums.

  11. The reason people are making a fuss is because he was a, a huge influence on popular music, and that is a big deal in our culture; b, because his illness was kept v. private and his death came as a shock, and perhaps in the UK, where I am, because he was probably the most famous pop artist apart from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

    It wasn’t a slow news day, but perhaps 24/7 coverage of Islamist terrorism and dire Chinese stock market data is wearing on people’s nerves and it has been good to write and think a bit about music and entertainment for a brief period before we resume the usual fare of media commentary. Indulge us.

  12. If nothing else, I will always remember watching Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige and being blown away by whoever that was playing Nikola Tesla, then blown away again when I saw Bowie’s name in the credits.

    Looked and sounded nothing like the rock musician I had occasionally noticed and very occasionally liked. Even less like Labyrinth’s Goblin King. Looked and sounded like a serious Eastern European scientist or businessman, dark hair, moustache, formal attire and manner. Like Tesla as history records him.

    Made me believe, in an otherwise unbelievable story, that this was the man for whom controlling the lightning was one of the lesser miracles, the man for whom the laws of physics stood at attention and shouted “Sir, Yes Sir!”, and so did you if you had any sense at all. The movie needed him to sell that, with gravitas and charisma dialed to eleven but not a hint of rock-star smugness, and he nailed it.

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