RIP David Bowie

uwe · January 11, 2016, 12:10:27 PM

That's the best obituary so far: German newsmag DER SPIEGEL (sort of like TIME magazine) wrote: "Of course he didn't really die, he just returned to his home planet."

Dave W · January 11, 2016, 01:42:04 PM

A big loss. RIP.

Pekka · January 11, 2016, 01:47:15 PM

DER SPIEGEL might have a point. Still, a huge loss.

My favs are the late '70s period from "Station To Station" to "Scary Monsters". I've been planning to get his recent stuff and now it feels kinda stupid to rush and buy them so I'll wait a bit and let him leave peacefully. Thanks David.

Highlander · January 11, 2016, 02:53:36 PM

rip Ziggy...

Basshappi · January 11, 2016, 04:30:57 PM

Ziggy played guitar.

Rest In Peace.

BTL · January 11, 2016, 04:48:24 PM

I've always admired his work.

We've lost another great one.

gweimer · January 11, 2016, 06:26:34 PM

This is the one that stayed with me a lot, and I think it finally surfaced on a record somewhere, but it was years after this show was broadcast.

Hörnisse · January 11, 2016, 06:29:48 PM

Nocturnal · January 11, 2016, 08:19:41 PM

Quote from: nofi on January 11, 2016, 08:29:57 AM
this is so sad. i have been a fan since hunky dory and saw the diamond dogs tour. this sounds dumb but bowie struck me as one of those people who was 'gifted' in so many ways he seemed protected from things that affect mere mortals. i know one friend of mine who will have a very, very bad day today.

It doesn't sound dumb to me. i viewed him in a similar light. My first exposure to Bowie was thru the Ziggy era music. That is still my favorite work of his but I love so much of what he produced I can't really nail down a favorite song. He was a true visionary in my mind and I will truly miss him.

uwe · January 12, 2016, 05:18:37 AM

Quote from: gweimer on January 11, 2016, 06:26:34 PM
This is the one that stayed with me a lot, and I think it finally surfaced on a record somewhere, but it was years after this show was broadcast.

That is fledgling Diamond Dogs work, the transition period where Ronson was still around, yet Bowie already writing in a post-Ziggy vein. Bolder and Woodmansey of the Spiders were already gone, Ronson would soon follow as Bowie was again shedding his skin (and his musicians along with it) as he would habitually do. Diamond Dogs was recorded with only Bowie on guitar and while no Mick Ronson, Bowie's more basic, even archaic and generally somewhat "weird" guitar playing shaped the album's atmosphere. A dysfunctional guitar for a dysfunctional vision of the future.

Speaking of guitarists, Bowie probably worked with more brilliant ones than anybody else of his stature. At the top of my head: Mick Ronson, Earl Slick, Carlos Alomar, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Nile Rodgers, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Peter Frampton, Reeves Gabrels. That is one impressive list.

Basvarken · January 12, 2016, 08:37:49 AM

Tim Lefebvre, bass player of his swan song album BlackStar had some very nice things to say about him:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/blackstar-bassist-on-bowie-the-greatest-musician-ive-ever-heard-20160111

Pilgrim · January 12, 2016, 09:29:48 AM

I have great respect for him, but fans floor me. Last night I saw a report from London with girls crying and saying "the light has gone out of the world." Some folks need to get a grip on reality.

But I've sure had a good time listening to his music over the past few days. He was in a class by himself, and we're the poorer for his loss.

uwe · January 12, 2016, 09:51:08 AM

Bowie was a great artist, to many people who knew him he was not the nicest person on earth. Always in search of inspiration, he had the habit of finding people, befriending them, sucking them out and then discarding them. But great art and a less than Nobel Prize-winning character is hardly a rare combination, more de rigueur if you look at people like Picasso or Miles Davis.

I am convinced my office stereo has psychic powers: Among the 10.000 or so tracks it has, all of the sudden (on random) Bowie's Word on a Wing (or WORDONAWING if you use the STATIONTOSTATION spelling!) comes on, now I feel bad.

nofi · January 12, 2016, 10:10:13 AM

andy warhol did much the same as bowie seeking inspiration, surrounding himself with people and mining them for ideas. except warhol groupies had a habit of suicide or drug deaths. they were easy to replace, though.

uwe · January 12, 2016, 10:52:30 AM

Quote from: Basvarken on January 12, 2016, 08:37:49 AM
Tim Lefebvre, bass player of his swan song album BlackStar had some very nice things to say about him:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/blackstar-bassist-on-bowie-the-greatest-musician-ive-ever-heard-20160111

I didn't know he was the guy from the Tedeschi-Trucks Band. His bass playing on Blackstar is exquisitely melodic, something I am always a sucker for. Bowie always had an ear for good bassists: Tony Visconti, Trevor Bolder, Herbie Flowers, George Murray, Carmine Rojas, Tony Sales, Gail Ann Dorsey.