David Bowie (1947-2016)

[gorgeousnothings]

David Bowie

[Minkin]

Ah fuck.

My S/O is going to take a week to recover from this news.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Two days after the release of a really, really, really good album. Unbelievable. What a finish.

[colinr0380]

Shocking news. I guess he was one of those people that I never thought would die, just disappear off into the stars. Perhaps the best of the bunch of musician-turned-actors of that era too, despite Mick Jagger giving him a run for his money. Just The Man Who Fell To Earth would cement his place in the cinematic landscape ("Don't be suspicious"), but I also love his supporting role in The Hunger too.

And what about all those films over the years that his music has appeared on, either in the film itself or over the end credits (I still remember that period in the mid 90s to early 2000s when it seemed he was singing over the end credits of every significant film: Se7en, Lost Highway, even Memento and Dogville/Manderlay!). Though I mostly keep thinking of the use of Heroes that opens Radio On.

EDIT: I've just been reminded of my introduction to Bowie's music, and mortality. For some reason my teacher at primary school in Cornwall got our entire class to sit and listen to Space Oddity all the way through, whilst following the lyrics on the page! Imagine a class of 7 or 8 year olds in the mid 1980s listening to that and being asked to ponder the nature of existential death as Major Tom drifts away into the blackness of space, seemingly happily! It was a traumatic (I still remember choking back tears at the time) but an amazing experience, and one I've always treasured.

[AK]

RIP David.

I've spent a lot of time these two or three months listening to his discography in anticipation of Blackstar, and I've continually marvelled how one man could possibly have such genius to make the albums he's made. He went on, although it would have been easy to stop and enjoy the success he had, yet he was pushing forward. Until the very end. So much of Blackstar resonates more deeply because of this.

It was always a nice thought, knowing that whatever I was doing, somewhere in the world in that very moment David Bowie was going on about his life, doing whatever he was doing, probably using that amazing talent of his to make new music. It was fun thinking he might be in the studio that very moment and I just had no clue. Or enjoying a cup of coffee. But no more.

I've had The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence on Blu for a while. Somehow didn't get around to watch them, but I will now.

[Gregor Samsa]

RIP David.

I've spent a lot of time these two or three months listening to his discography in anticipation of Blackstar, and I've continually marvelled how one man could possibly have such genius to make the albums he's made. He went on, although it would have been easy to stop and enjoy the success he had, yet he was pushing forward. Until the very end. So much of Blackstar resonates more deeply because of this.

It was always a nice thought, knowing that whatever I was doing, somewhere in the world in that very moment David Bowie was going on about his life, doing whatever he was doing, probably using that amazing talent of his to make new music. It was fun thinking he might be in the studio that very moment and I just had no clue. Or enjoying a cup of coffee. But no more.

I've had The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence on Blu for a while. Somehow didn't get around to watch them, but I will now.

That's the remarkable thing, isn't it? With all the great work he did, he had every right to just rest on his laurels like almost every star of his generation ultimately, but he kept striving and pushing until the end. His loss is sad and shocking, but he's left us with a tremendous legacy and back catalogue. I'm too young to have been around when he first broke through, he had a seismic influence on his times, when what he represented was new and strange, though his best music still somehow sounds futuristic. I'm too young to have been in that particular early 1970s cultural moment, but Robert Forster of the Go-Betweens articulated it very eloquently around the time the David Bowie Is exhibition (which I was privileged enough to see, and had an amazing collection of costumes, handwritten lyrics, and other memorabilia, though the timing of it has a different feel now) came to Melbourne last year:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/dav ... ht986.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Beyond that, I think Bowie's own modest words (promoting Scary Monsters) nicely sum up what he was trying to do:

There are an awful lot of mistakes on that album that I went with, rather than cut them out. One tries as much as possible to put oneself on the line artistically. But after the Dadaists, who pronounced that art is dead…Once you’ve said art is dead, it’s very hard to get more radical than that. Since 1924 art’s been dead, so what the hell can we do with it from there on? One tries to at least keep readdressing the thing…

[FrauBlucher]

This is shocking. I had no idea he had cancer. Very sad. One of the true greats of his generation. I hope his music lives on and is appreciated for generations to come.

BTW...Just several weeks ago I saw the doc, David Bowie: Five Years.

Long live Ziggy Stardust.

[flyonthewall2983]

This speaks volumes.

[flyonthewall2983]

To colinr0380's point about his music in movies, my favorite would probably be in The Life Aquatic, when Steve Zissou's smoking a joint on the Belafonte while "Life on Mars?", a song I wasn't really familiar with came blasting out. It's become my favorite of his since.

[knives]

Shocking news. I guess he was one of those people that I never thought would die, just disappear off into the stars.

Given the album was just released it at least feels that way which may be for the best. Generally I don't like posting in this thread, but Bowie is basically second only to The Beatles in terms of far reaching figures whose career I could set my life to.

[mfunk9786]

From "Girl Loves Me" on the new album:

Where the fuck did Monday go?
I'm cold to this pig and pug show
Where the fuck did Monday go?

RIP to someone to whom there was no comparison and no equal.

[Roger Ryan]

This video makes for a stunning exit for an artist whose influence on performance and visual communication was as strong as his musical influence.

[Zot!]

To colinr0380's point about his music in movies, my favorite would probably be in The Life Aquatic, when Steve Zissou's smoking a joint on the Belafonte while "Life on Mars?", a song I wasn't really familiar with came blasting out. It's become my favorite of his since.

. Breaking the Waves got there first.
I think my favorite has to be Carax's Bad Blood.

[Newsnayr]

I remember when I saw the news of Bowie's return and thought it looked really weird and something I was not at all interested in (I was still 15 and relatively artistically illiterate). 3 years and 23 albums later (still haven't listened to Tin Machine II and Buddha) and I'm almost crying. Rest in peace you beautiful rebel.

[colinr0380]

I think my favorite has to be Carax's Bad Blood.

Here's a link to that scene

[RossyG]

Very sad and unexpected news.

[colinr0380]

By the way I'd also highly recommend listening to the commentary track on The Man Who Fell To Earth. Buck Henry is recorded separately but Nicolas Roeg and Bowie are recorded together and have a fascinating in depth conversation on the themes of the film. My favourite part has to be at the 40 minute mark when the multiple televisions start showing up in Mary-Lou's apartment (before we get to the wall of them later on), which leads to this amused reminiscence by Bowie, something that I always enjoy remembering especially for pointing up the danger of getting too obsessed over something like Criterion spine numbers than the actual content of the films themselves!:

I remember that I came to the set the first time with between three and four hundred books because I didn't have a permanent place because I was on the road such a lot, so I used to take my, at that time, entire library with me! And I remember sitting in a very stoned state in the living room in the hotel and Nic and Candy came in to talk to me. And I was rushing from one book to another - from the complete works of Francis Bacon (the section on I think it was the New Atlantis, the description of the recording studio), to some tome on Israel Regardie or something like that. [Laughs] I was just reading paragraph after paragraph and Nic said at the end, he said "Your problem is David, you don't read enough!"

I was so insulted! I didn't know it was a joke! That pretty much shows where I was at! [Laughs] I had absolutely no idea that he was taking the rise! Somebody else pointed it out later: (whispers) "It's a joke, David!"

"What did he mean that I don't read enough?! Look, I've got three hundred books! Some of them first editions!"

[swo17]

And what about all those films over the years that his music has appeared on, either in the film itself or over the end credits (I still remember that period in the mid 90s to early 2000s when it seemed he was singing over the end credits of every significant film: Se7en, Lost Highway, even Memento and Dogville/Manderlay!).

This. Also, I sort of wish that Lost Highway was just the opening credits playing on a loop for 2 hours.

[Randall Maysin]

My, Randall Maysin's, acquaintance with David Bowie, is pretty slight. I liked some of what little of his music I've heard over the years, but a lot of it was just a pleasant whatever experience for me. But he was just...so cool. I love that hilarious music video he did with Mick Jagger, Dancing in the Streets, that Family Guy called the 'gayest thing anyones ever seen'. Yes I'm the idiot who's referencing that in this thread. He seems bemused by Jagger's usual repulsive antics, and his dance moves and the little hand movements he makes...so casually dazzling. First Vilmy Zsigmond, who _was_ my favorite living cinematographer, and now this elegant and not very old gentleman. Sad week for me.

[beamish13]

Bowie dancing atop that giant typewriter in Absolute Beginners will always be one of my favorite cinematic images

[j99]

By the way I'd also highly recommend listening to the commentary track on The Man Who Fell To Earth. Buck Henry is recorded separately but Nicolas Roeg and Bowie are recorded together and have a fascinating in depth conversation on the themes of the film. My favourite part has to be at the 40 minute mark when the multiple televisions start showing up in Mary-Lou's apartment (before we get to the wall of them later on), which leads to this amused reminiscence by Bowie, something that I always enjoy remembering especially for pointing up the danger of getting too obsessed over something like Criterion spine numbers than the actual content of the films themselves!:

I remember that I came to the set the first time with between three and four hundred books because I didn't have a permanent place because I was on the road such a lot, so I used to take my, at that time, entire library with me! And I remember sitting in a very stoned state in the living room in the hotel and Nic and Candy came in to talk to me. And I was rushing from one book to another - from the complete works of Francis Bacon (the section on I think it was the New Atlantis, the description of the recording studio), to some tome on Israel Regardie or something like that. [Laughs] I was just reading paragraph after paragraph and Nic said at the end, he said "Your problem is David, you don't read enough!"

I was so insulted! I didn't know it was a joke! That pretty much shows where I was at! [Laughs] I had absolutely no idea that he was taking the rise! Somebody else pointed it out later: (whispers) "It's a joke, David!"

"What did he mean that I don't read enough?! Look, I've got three hundred books! Some of them first editions!"

I always thought The Man Who Fell To Earth was a match for his albums. A terrific film, and one I watched countless times on video. His film career petered out really, but Baal, the Brecht play he did for the BBC, and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence are fine pieces. Obviously the music was immense; I still think the run from Space Oddity to Scary Monsters (plus the two Iggy albums, The Idiot and Lust For Life) is without equal in rock music. An amazing talent.

[Lars Von Truffaut]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Not to mention his production on Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes, The Stooges' Raw Power, & Lou Reed's Transformer. The man wore many hats...and he wore them well.

[Drucker]

Not trying to hate, and I love the record, but I wouldn't consider the production of Raw Power a feather in anyone's cap!

[Lars Von Truffaut]

That's fair, though - as I understand it - Bowie did that in one day as a salvage job, with Iggy having bungled his first attempt and the record company threatening not to release the album.

[Drucker]

I have never read that Bowie had only one day to work on it, but yes, cleaning up Iggy's supposed mess was certainly a tall order!