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In Memoriam: David Bowie (1947-2016)

January 11, 2016 By Joe Marchese 9 Comments

Bowie PicZiggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, Aladdin Sane, The Goblin King - David Bowie was a man of many faces.  Yet ultimately his most haunting performance may have been as himself.  Late 2015 was a period of remarkable and ever-innovative artistry for a man who released his first single in 1964.  He revisited his film performance in The Man Who Fell to Earth by writing an off-Broadway musical, depicting its central character, the alien Newton (portrayed onstage by Michael C. Hall), as trapped in his life and hoping for the final escape of death.  Joining Lazarus was the announcement of his 25th solo album, Blackstar, which featured the musical's title song with its first line, "Look up here, I'm in Heaven..." and its concluding cry of release, "Oh, I'll be free/Just like that bluebird/Oh, I'll be free/Ain't that just like me..."

We just never thought we would be looking up there so soon.  David Bowie got his freedom from an eighteen-month cancer battle late last evening, January 10, having left his fans a series of remarkable, harrowing, beautifully chilling parting gifts.  (If you haven't seen the music video to "Lazarus," prepare for the tears to flow.)  David Bowie died the same way he lived: uncompromisingly, with style, intelligence, grace, grit and a remarkable gift of charisma and communication that allowed him to fearlessly break down barriers of sexuality, fashion, and art.

The music of David Bowie has long been a touchstone for The Second Disc, as it has for his fans around the world.  My very first published post here, on April 3, 2010, was a review of that year's Deluxe Edition of his quirky, formative 1967 Deram Records solo album.  That came in the midst of his retirement following 2004's album Reality and its subsequent tour which I count myself so very lucky to have seen.  On May 13, 2004 at the Star Pavilion at Hersheypark Stadium, Bowie seemed to be singing directly to my friend and I in our eighth-row seats over the course of a crackling setlist that opened with "Rebel Rebel" and ended with "Ziggy Stardust," along the way taking in "The Man Who Sold the World," "Let's Dance" and "Heroes," not to mention tributes to The Velvet Underground ("White Light/White Heat") and The Pixies ("Cactus") and reminders of his famous collaborations ("All the Young Dudes," "China Girl," "Under Pressure").  For a long while it seemed as if Reality marked the end of David Bowie, recording artist - but  who could have been truly disappointed when he had already given us so much by that point?

And then, The Next Day arrived in 2013 and Bowie was back.  But it wasn't as if he had never left.  The Next Day was of the moment, not the work of a veteran artist trying to revisit past glories.  "Where Are They Now" was, indeed, a gorgeously elegiac rumination of days gone by, but it was also the calm before the storm.  The album found Bowie as electrifying and thrillingly relevant as ever.  Even as he underscored the past as a conduit to understand the present, name-checking artists from Vladimir Nabokov to Joan Baez, he took on current themes of violence, war, even celebrity culture.  Time, and retirement, hadn't mellowed David Bowie.

Today, we mourn the loss of an influential artist who redefined what it meant to be a "rock star," and what one looked like.  The music of David Bowie represented freedom from convention, freedom to be oneself, and freedom to defy expectations - whether the song was passionately sensual, deliciously raunchy, or chillingly distant.  Though 69 years was far too little a time for him to walk this earth, David Bowie did it all.  His music and art will inspire and resonate the next day, and the next, and another day.

Categories: News Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: David Bowie

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  1. Bill Mason says

    January 11, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    Well said, Joe! We'll never see his like again. 💔

    Reply
  2. Bill Janowski says

    January 11, 2016 at 1:36 pm

    Yes, I heard the news on WXRT early this morning - really sorry to hear that he's died. He will be missed.

    Reply
  3. Jeffr Seckler says

    January 11, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    Another great one gone, he was a one of a kind of singer that never comes around anymore. RIP

    Reply
  4. Zubb says

    January 11, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    A true artist. This is such a loss. There was nobody like him before and there will never be anyone like him again.

    Reply
  5. Dan Yesindeedy says

    January 11, 2016 at 10:36 pm

    I haven't cried this much since Michael Jackson and Robin Williams died.
    All gone too soon!

    Farewell Starman.

    Reply
  6. Magnus Hägermyr says

    January 12, 2016 at 10:10 am

    A great trend setting artist with many faces and phases (Hunky Dory my favourite). It feels unreal and sad that he's gone.

    Reply
  7. John Ryan Horse says

    January 12, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    I was 13 when I bought 'Hunky Dory' (still my favorite), 'Ziggy' & 'Man Who Sold The World'...He helped Iggy Pop "come back", ditto Mott The Hoople, & even Lou Reed ('Transformer')...At his commercial peak he made three albums with Eno that were very uncommercial ("Heroes" only reached # 35!!)....Bowie & Ronson, now both gone. Today I feel quite old.

    Reply
  8. AC says

    January 13, 2016 at 11:58 am

    We all want to see our heroes go out on top, and with his modern-day renaissance (including the awesome "Blackstar"), I think David Bowie did just that. Rest easy now, David. You left an imprint on our hearts and minds that will NEVER be erased.

    Reply
  9. Jeremy Shatan says

    January 13, 2016 at 2:51 pm

    Nicely done. This loss will take time to process, helped by the amazing Blackstar. No one lived like Bowie - and no one died like him.

    Reply

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