I was dumbfounded, perhaps a little bit in shock, for some time afterwards. When I got into work, I turned to the letter carrier across from my sorting case and heard myself saying "David Bowie died". It sounded so strange. I could hear the words coming out of my mouth, but it was almost as if I whispered it. He said "Yeah, weird. I heard it this morning". He said nothing else. What more needed to be said? Somehow, I felt alone in my confusion. I wasn't really grieving the loss of this legend, but I also didn't really know what to do. I wanted to start playing his songs from my iPod, loudly so that everyone could hear. I wanted to talk to more people about it, discussing what his life meant to them. But I didn't. I just stood at my case, sorting my mail, as if it was a normal day.
But it wasn't a normal day. It was far from a "normal" day. An icon left us, rather suddenly. A true Rock God. A man that changed the face of music, fashion, sexuality, dramatics, and so much more. An innovator. Perhaps, a genius. When it comes to legendary musicians passing away, he is the first, for me, in which I lived almost my whole life knowing of him, reading about him, listening to his music. Elvis died in 1977...I was five years old. I don't remember that day at all. John Lennon died in 1980...I was eight. I knew he was popular, but I didn't really know why at the time. Bob Marley died in 1981...I was nine. I had no idea of Marley's importance to people at the time. Freddie Mercury died in 1991...I was a little older and wiser, but not a huge fan of Queen at the time. I knew it was a great loss but we all knew he was sick for a long time before his passing. There have been others to pass away in my life; Marvin Gaye, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra. Although some of these deaths were shocking at the time (especially Lennon, Elvis and Gaye), their deaths never seemed important to me. Bowie's death is different.
I remember, very vividly in fact, the first time I really sat and listened to a David Bowie album. It was 1984, I was 12 years old. I was at my Big Brother's house (I had a Big Brother because my parents were divorced and my father was not around...that's a whole other post!). We were going through his albums and I found Let's Dance. My Big Brother, Bob, said he loved that album, that it just came out not that long ago. He took it out of my hands and put it on. I sat and listened to all of it, straight through. From the opening song, Modern Love, which turned out to be one of my favourite of his songs, all the way through. I loved it all. It turned out to be a great starting point for me, since Much Music, Canada's version of MTV, was to launch that same year, and Bowie was all over it. The videos to Modern Love, China Girl and Let's Dance were all on heavy rotation. I couldn't turn on the TV and not see David Bowie all over it. From there, I worked backwards, discovering the sounds, styles and words of someone that people had loved for many years already.
- Space Oddity, a song released way back in 1969, talked of Major Tom leaving Earth, possibly getting stuck in space, never to return to his wife and kids. I'm now hooked!
- Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes and Life On Mars from 1971's Hunky Dory. Forever in my head.
- Starman, Suffragette City and "Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly, and The Spiders From Mars" form The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.
- Panic In Detroit and The Jean Genie from 1973's Aladdin Sane.
- Rebel Rebel, you tore your dress, from 1974's Diamond Dogs.
- Young Americans, Fame and his wonderful version of Lennon and McCartney's Across The Universe from 1975's Young Americans.
- Station To Station and Golden Years from 1976's Station To Station.
- We could be Heroes just for one day!
- Fashion and Ashes To Ashes where Major Tom becomes a junky, from 1980's Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).
Just a few of the highlights for me. Songs I grew up on, after discovering the sound of Let's Dance in 1984. Bowie became a staple of my music-listening life. For more than 30 years I have listened to and enjoyed, not only these popular tunes, but most of his entire catalog of music. I have mentioned before how hard I took the death of MCA of The Beastie Boys. MCA, AdRock and Mike D really had a huge impact on shaping who I am to this day. Bowie didn't have that impact for me...but I know he did for a great many people. All of or heroes will die one day; Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger and (maybe) Keith Richards, Paul McCartney. For me, when Eddie Van Halen goes it'll be a hard day. David Bowie was on that list. He's now gone, suddenly, from all of our lives. And it's not like we knew him. He didn't call every weekend or come over for Thanksgiving or Christmas. But he was always there...and now that he's not, things seem very different. He will live on in song, and movies, forever, but, for now, I feel a little emptier inside. Perhaps I am grieving, not just for myself, but for all the people who Bowie meant so much to. The millions of people he touched. The people who's live literally changed because of his attitude or music. It's a huge loss to the world and David Bowie will greatly missed.
R.I.P. Mr. Jones.
This is good Bob. This is good.
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