David Bowie R.I.P

What would the average (American) person on the street know of his '70s work? 'Space Oddity' definitely, 'Changes' probably, 'Heroes' maybe. I'd be inclined to say something from Ziggy Stardust but I don't actually know how culturally ubiquitous those songs are. The riffs are probably more recognizable than the songs. 'All The Young Dudes' seems likely.

Honestly, I remember when I was a teenager (in the early to mid 90s), the general consensus (among teenagers) seemed to be that David Bowie was a washed up wannabe (old dude trying to be hip by touring with nine inch nails, etc.). It was only when I got into my 20s that I started buying his older albums that I got into his music.

I occasionally meet people my age who still have this mid 90s image of him.

Anyway R.I.P., one of the greats of all time.

devasted.
I think for a lot of people he was a beacon, especially for people who felt different or outcast. which i can't say was ever really true for me, and the bowie i first knew was the "let's dance" era, in his more corporate pop phase and well done at that.
but as someone who had such a desire to consume music as much of as i could, i can't think of anyone else outside of maybe zeppelin who made albums that suggested more possibilities in music, and in albums i could buy in the cornfields at Musicland. in the 80s and 90s in the midwest stick, the non-pop stuff on, say, "Heroes" was like a transmission from another galaxy, in an age when me even hearing about or being able to get a Harmonia album would have been literally impossible. just so much of it, the ryko reissues of ziggy and changesone, and diamond dogs and then the germanic dreadful soul of station to station, like i grew on ROCK BANDS like ac/dc and CCR and the stones and anything i listen to now that is remotely avant garde i heard an echo of in Bowie, even though he was able to make it accessible to me and make it something that i could understand but that weird "otherness" around the edges of his best work was a gateway to so many thing and i thank him for it.

Like, I bet a lot of people would say both 'oh I know recognize this song, cool riff' and 'what the hell is a 'Queen Bitch'?'.

"the general consensus (among teenagers) seemed to be that David Bowie was a washed up wannabe (old dude trying to be hip by touring with nine inch nails, etc.)"

this would have been around outside. that may have been the impression among some narrow age group but I was in college then and it clearly was not the impression of anyone else.

What would the average (American) person on the street know of his '70s work? 'Space Oddity' definitely, 'Changes' probably, 'Heroes' maybe. I'd be inclined to say something from Ziggy Stardust but I don't actually know how culturally ubiquitous those songs are. The riffs are probably more recognizable than the songs. 'All The Young Dudes' seems likely.

"Fame"

i know the song "heroes" has almost been killed by overexposure but i still remember hearing it and the whole thing seemed to just GLOW all those swirling synth and fripp textures, how could something from the past seem more futuristic than like guns n roses or nirvana that i was listening to?

and "Young Americans" for that matter xp

bowie became my guide as i traced his own connections and obsessions: lou reed/VU, iggy pop/stooges, t rex, kraftwerk, brian eno, cluster/harmonia from the 60s and 70s alone. my life just would have been totally different without bowie, and i'm sure the same is true for many others.

That's pretty much eperience. I knew him as the Labyrinth dude and from the Mick Jagger duet which I saw when they rerun Live Aid for its 10th anniversary. If I hadn't made friends with some glam rockers in the mid-90s, I doubt I'd know that much more about him, and even now I don't think I can name more than 5 tunes by him.

But he seemed like decent bloke, I like his movies that I've seen, and the Major Tom song inspired one of my favourite electro tunes of all time. So RIP, you weren't for me but you meant a lot for some friends of mine, thanks for helping them through hard times.

http://youtu.be/87yi3yb1saw

This is really fucking me up, and not in the way I expected.

I keep thinking about Bowie's phenomenal career and how much he was able to accomplish and the indelible mark he has left on rock music and how much his music has meant to so many people, and then I wonder what the world would have been like if a police officer had shot him when he was twelve years old, and then I just want to hug my sons.

i always thought of him as a beautiful humanoid creature-king, not a person who could die. feeling genuinely bereft.

Forget his own albums for the moment. Dude worked on Raw Power and Transformer and The Idiot and Lust For Life. That's a hell of a legacy unto itself.

and All the Young Dudes as well

(several xposts)

Quicksand, and all it's magic, is hitting a bit harder this a.m. RIP Bowie - truly a powerful musical force in my life, and I'm so thankful.

i always thought of him as a beautiful humanoid creature-king, not a person who could die. feeling genuinely bereft.

otm

dont even know what to say. people at work saying "I can't even name a single David Bowie song"...where the hell have they been?

― frogbs, Monday, 11 January 2016 14:30 (33 minutes ago) Permalink

In my office (in the U.S., fwiw) I overheard "the guy from Labyrinth died."

Why Bowie is Better Than God:

We know for certain that David exists.
David has cooler clothes; God's billowing robes are just so passe.
David is less prone to smiting sinners (a definite plus).
If you hear God's voice in your head, you're probably crazy.
If you hear Bowie's voice in your head, you may be crazy, but at least you have something to sing along to.
David looks better naked than God does. (Conclusion based on appearances in "The Man Who Fell To Earth" and the uncensored "China Girl" video)
God couldn't tease his hair that high, even during the 80's.
God can't play the guitar.
David has better shoes.
David is richer.
David is still attractive.
God probably looks like Mick Jagger or Keith Richards by now.
Going to a Bowie concert is a lot more fun than church.
God doesn't paint his toenails.
God's too uptight.
People don't corner you at malls to tell you that "Bowie loves you."
David looks better in a dress.

When I heard that James Brown died, I was not able to process it: how can someone like James Brown die? How is that physically possible?

Feeling the same way about Bowie right now. In a certain way, I don't think I really believe it (or I'm not allowing myself to believe it).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYbYsUPW8AAo87t.jpg

People grieve in different ways, some just prefer to tweet pictures of themselves

Stay classy Madge

And I guess to be fair, that's all I knew of him until my late teens/early twenties. I knew he was a musician, but probably couldn't name any songs back then.

I can distinctly remember the video for "Dancing in the Streets".

This was my first exposure to both Bowie and the Stones, and consequently why put off listening to either of them for a very, very long time.

Madonna ✔ @Madonna
So lucky to have met you!!!! Hot Tramp I love you So! ❤️ #rebelheart
4:06 AM - 11 Jan 2016
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYbYsUPW8AAo87t.jpg

RIP

"We can be heroes, just for one day"

#rebelheart

liked this post from Momus very much: http://mrstsk.tumblr.com/post/137085985233

Not having much luck at work today. I've been less upset about the deaths of people I've actually known.

I'm sorry but can someone please explain to me why Madonna's post is so objectionable in a way that other artists making fannish posts talking about meeting Bowie or being hugely influenced by him are somehow not?

Actually, on second thought, just don't.

ILX wouldn't be ILX without someone being dickish on an RIP thread would it now.

RIP

Regarding Madonna, ending her tweet with a hashtag plug for her new album is in questionable teaste.

I'm more having trouble because I'd much rather ignore work to focus on listening to all of Bowie's albums than try to work with all of Bowie's albums playing in the background.

not sure what's "dickish" abt my post but ok

Finding myself having an odd reaction to this given that he's been so uncharacteristically low profile for the past decade. It's sort of a slow sadness sinking in rather than shock. And now Blackstar is sitting there to be poured through.

Regarding Madonna, ending her tweet with a hashtag plug for her new album is in questionable teaste.

i figured it was a "rebel rebel" ref

not sure what's "dickish" abt my post but ok

I think Branwell explained it quite clearly, but in case you didn't get it, it's dickish to deride Madonna for reminiscing his acquaintance with Bowie and not the kazillion male musicians/celebrities who've done the same.

Madonna puts that hashtag on all her posts, it barely means anything anymore.

The one where she talks about Bowie being the first ever concert she went to is pretty sweet.

tribute show at Carnegie Hall, 3/31

http://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2016/3/31/0800/PM/The-Music-of-David-Bowie/

The one where she talks about Bowie being the first ever concert she went to is pretty sweet.

I bet you it wasn't though. What's Bono been saying?

This is completely ridiculous, I know, but I just got a little sad realizing that we'll never get another Nathan Adler album.

Thanks Tuomas! Didn't realize I was disrespecting the women of the world, will try harder next time.

moving on, daughter was pretty shook up this morning and wore her Aladdin Sane shirt to school. She's 13 and her obsession has been planing at a peak for the past year, makes this somehow sadder and weirder here for me....

also that's not even her in the picture, it's suzanne somers, American comic actress

You're not alone, RR. Outside meant the world to me in college. Blackstar seems to have a lot of that record in it.

chameleon is a weird compliment for bowie, he's much more a peacock

It never ceases to amaze me, listening to Man Who Sold The World and Hunky Dory back to back, the astronomical leap that he made in a single year from a decent artist with some interesting ideas to something akin to a pop/rock deity. Everything gets tightened up and streamlined and perfected and then he just rides that train for ten years.

Madonn has said often over the years that the Ziggy concert was her first, and she inducted him into the HOF. She's open about his influence on her.

*Madonna

What the fuck? No. I refuse to believe it.

RIP... what a life.

When I heard that James Brown died, I was not able to process it: how can someone like James Brown die? How is that physically possible?

Feeling the same way about Bowie right now. In a certain way, I don't think I really believe it (or I'm not allowing myself to believe it).

Yeah for real. Boulez died last week at 90 and I am still processing that, reading old interviews and articles and stuff, the force of his thought and aesthetic and just like the USEFULNESS of his WAY make it too hard to grasp that he could no longer be acting on earth.

This feels just like that minus the 'well but 90 years old' consolation. How could Bowie be gone at 69? How could Bowie be gone at all?

Same as Boulez though Bowie will not be gone, maybe not ever. The usefulness of his way will be there for everyone who needs it for their lives and art and people are always gonna need it.