Like those of us under 40 (barely) my memories
of David Bowie start with MTV and the whole Let’s Dance era of his
career. I was just a kid in the 1st grade seeing him in the
endless sphere of awesomeness that was MTV in the mid
‘80’s. This is one of those cases where it was the good old days, but
that’s another story. So Bowie was a part of that stream of ‘80’s
consciousness. It wouldn’t be until the late 1980’s and the early 1990’s
and my desires switch from G.I. Joe’s to music
and girls that I could understand the value of Bowie’s entire catalog,
culminating in his performance at the Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert and
my discovery of Mott The Hoople and delving deeply into his catalog.
My first Bowie record (outside of the
compilation Changesbowie) would be 1995’s Outside. This was at a point
of reinvention for him as he accepted more of an industrial tone to his
music. Outside is a great concept album, cover to cover
as great albums should be. It was a shock to the system that remembered
the artist from MTV and compilation albums. What Outside did was
encourage me to explore his catalog and look at the many layers of David
Bowie. From pop star, to alien androgyny, the
Thin White Duke, MTV Bowie, Tin Machine, and the industrial music
godfather. David Bowie was always reinventing himself. I wonder if he
was getting bored or was it his natural progression as an artist. Who
knows, but it made him happy obviously.
My son discovered Bowie in an odd place- video
games, specifically Hideo Kojima, who worked his favorite musician into
his games to the point that this teenager became curious and we were
actually searching for Blackstar the days before
his death. We couldn’t find it locally, so he was still selling records
even before death. I look back on this week as not the death of David
Bowie, but the idea that his life will go on. Bowie will continue to
snowball as long as people pay homage to him
and it makes the next generation curious. We could call him and enigma
wrapped in a riddle, but he wasn’t. It was all out for the world to see.
That’s why his legacy will carry on way beyond his mortal life on
earth.
