Please forgive me, but I need to go off topic today...
Waking up this morning to the news of the passing of one of the most influential artists of the past 50 years. The Thin White Duke, Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust… name your favorite iteration of this enigmatic artist... the one thing you cannot do is deny the impact of the life of David Bowie, who passed away yesterday at the age of 69.
I was privileged to see this great artist a couple of times in concert, both times in my hometown. Once as a VERY impressionable 13 year old who was snuck to the concert by a cousin and once as an adult. The first time was at one of Bowie’s self-proclaimed favorite venues, the venerable Tower Theater… the second on his “Glass Spider… tour that opened at Veteran’s Stadium in 1987.
That Tower Theater show was the first of quite a few seminal points in Bowie’s career, spawning a live album and a recording session that drove an infatuation with the Philly sound… using a break in the tour to record at Philly’s famed Sigma Sound … those sessions generated the Young Americans album. An album that is hotly debated among Bowie fans, some saw it as sellout, others as progression. True to form, Bowie continued to push the envelope, challenging his fans with his next release, Station to Station… not as accessible as Young Americans and certainly the signal that change was coming.
That change came when Bowie dove into the German music scene and his next three albums, Low, Heroes and Lodger reflected and drove the change in music going on in the world. Anger, noise, experimentation with Iggy Pop, Brian Eno and Robert Fripp all gave his work another less accessible and caustic edge.
In 1980, Bowie collided everything he did in the 70’s with one of my personal favorites, Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. Smooth dance music with hard guitar edges, some more accessible cuts surrounded by more aurally challenging material. A trait that was becoming more and more evident in Bowie’s music… and then came his collaboration with Nile Rodgers of Chic fame.
Longtime, more traditional Bowie fans hated this foray into accessible dance music. Let’s Dance and Tonight were two of David’s “fluffier… albums but spawned a series of radio and dance club hits that can still pack a dance floor today. I actually was OK with what he did here, as he utilized some incredible musicians (including Stevie Ray Vaughn on the title track.) He ended the 80’s with one of his worst albums, 1987’s Never Let Me Down. It drove Bowie to reinvent himself again, putting his solo career on the shelf for the stripped down, hard sound of Tin Machine. The band put out two of my favorite albums of that time, challenging while politically naà¯ve and critically panned, I found the sound to be sonically soaring and honestly… you can hear a lot of this band influence through the 2000's and in current bands.
Bowie collaborations throughout his career were legendary, many hitting the top of the charts, many of them a little bizarre on the surface (think Bowie and Bing Crosby) but the fruits of these collaborations were indeed sweet… two of my favorites…
- Bowie paired up with legendary jazz guitarist Pat Metheny in 1985 for a musically gentle, but lyrically hard hitting This is Not America… a simple, understated piece as part of the soundtrack for the movie The Falcon and the Snowman.
- Pairing with Trent Reznor, I’m Afraid of Americans was the perfect paranoid combination of Nine Inch Nails and the Thin White Duke. A simply amazing composition.
Bowie continued to record new music, refusing to accept an “elder statesman… role in music, despite his well-deserved induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Bowie seemed to eschew the traditional trappings of the rock and roll lifestyle. Despite a few forays into “money-making… … for the most part, Bowie stayed true to his artistic vision and true to himself.
Funny thing that Friday I was listening to his new album, Blackstar had just dropped that day. There are only seven songs, but each one lyrically and sonically challenging exploring jazz, funk, electronic… all hallmarks of the impact of this incredible artist’s career. According to a few sources this morning, this album was recorded as almost a swan song. The producer of the album has confirmed that the lyrics were foretelling his death as he progressed in his battle with cancer. On listening this morning, you can hear the themes woven throughout the album… it completely changes the experience and the impact of listening to it. The first single, Lazarus, takes on much deeper meaning. He sings plaintively on Dollar Days "I'm trying to, I'm dying too..." it brings tears to the eyes and chill down the spine, and Bowie finishes the effort with a hopeful, almost upbeat tone on I Can't Give Everything Away.
Impact may be the best word to use to describe the life of Bowie. An ever changing, ever evolving artist who brought his unique vision and talent to music, theatre, movies and other visual and aural art forms, Bowie’s profound influence will be felt for decades to come.
Thoughts and prayers to his family… rest well David, and thank you.
Back tomorrow with a preview of Tuesday night’s game.
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