David Bowie

Late last night I was thinking about how David Bowie might be my favourite artist out there. There was something about him that told you it was ok to be different, to be a creative, to be an outcast. Because as long as there was someone like Bowie in the world - you're not alone. RIP.

David Bowie dominated the 1970's more than Dylan or the Beatles dominated the 1960's. In 10 years Bowie delivered 11 studio albums, 7 or 8 of these were of the highest quality, not to mention his contribution to Lou Reed's Transformer, Raw Power by the Stooges and Iggy's solo albums The Idiot and Lust For Life.

To date, there is not a single musician annex artist, who meant more to me than David Bowie. As a young guy I was blown off my socks when I first heard “Fame”. This song totally changed my view on pop music. The song structure, that dark and eccentric glow and the fact that the song deviated in so many ways from the meaningless Glam rock made me very suspicious of the other pop music of that time, the feather-light nature of the entertainment from radio stations and directed my interest in a total other direction. In my opinion, Bowie's creativity and at times extremely intellectual approach to music were hardly matched. He always chose his own path and even when purchasing records that did not live up to the high expectations, there was always something that could not be ignored. Bowie effortlessly took you into genres that weren’t appealing. I admit that occasionally doubt arose. He did everything he could to become famous (among other things by wearing dresses and hinting at his bisexuality) and continued to fight hard against set social values, and when no one could get around him, with "Fame" he wrote a song about the hollow life of a superstar and the negative aspects of celebrity. But Bowie remained true to his need to constantly innovate. When the record company urged him to make a follow-up to "Young Americans", he came up with the totally different sounding and completely idiosyncratic "Station to Station". His work from the seventies is absolutely on a lonely height. Unlike other musicians, he never limited himself to a formula during the evolution of his career, but opened himself up to external influences and novelties. The Berlin trilogy (not really a successful definition because "Low" was not made in Berlin) show how Bowie mastered contemporary trends and innovations (Tangerine Dream, Ambient), without copying. I gladly admit that I could barely taste some periods (the terrible "Never Let me Down"), but I could very well appreciate how he suddenly started to figure in the hard rock-oriented band Tin Machine. Perhaps I am the only one here to say that "Crack City" and especially "Under The God" are among the best that Bowie ever made. In short: the influence of Bowie reaches immeasurably far. Some music (ranging from Gary Numan, Lady Gaga to Marilyn Manson and so many others) would never have been made without his driven example. His oeuvre is incredibly diversified and that, together with his particularly engaging personality, made him so loved and appreciated by so many. The fact that the man turned the end of his life into an example of – morbid - performance art makes it clear once again how his work transcended mere musical ambitions.

This man was listening to Death Grips at the age of 69.

From Ottokar 07/29/2014 15:31 | #118054

Probably the most influential musician of the 70s - and he managed to produce top level albums later on. Certainly a top 10 artist.