BOWIE: Let’s take our spaceship on a trip through the iconic and powerful impact left behind by David Bowie.
By Lily Mitchell, Staff Writer
On January 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday, we lost an icon to cancer. We lost a teacher, a man who showed us over the course of 50 years that it is perfectly alright to be different. We lost a man of many characters. We lost a rock ‘n’ roll shapeshifter. We lost a musical inventor. We lost David Bowie. What we didn’t lose: his music and his massive influence that will be celebrated for generations to come.
After his self-titled debut in 1967 flopped, Bowie came back two years later with “Space Oddity” and its namesake album, featuring a five-minute song about a man on the moon that went down in history with its folky, yet, orchestrated sound and narrative feel. Bowie then went on to explore glam rock, taking on the “Ziggy” image in 1972 by establishing his new rock star persona in an edgy concept album: “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.”
With a bold, androgynous alter ego set to shock the stage and inspire fans, he launched a new chapter of his career that would span across four albums. A little less than ten years later, in 1981, Bowie released his first collaboration, the song “Under Pressure,” with Queen. Little did they know, this would become one of the grooviest anthems in rock history. Freddie Mercury’s and David Bowie’s vocals made for a divine combination. Everything Bowie has created holds its own beautiful significance, but the common thread is that its musical and stylistic essence resurfaces in the world of modern music in ways not much different from how Bowie reinvented himself within his own career.
Just recently, on February 15, Lady Gaga rocked the stage of the 2016 Grammy Awards with an eight-minute-long tribute to Bowie, donning the full Ziggy attire. She is just one of many artists carrying on the David Bowie legacy in their own unique way (even if they are not consciously doing so). Lady Gaga’s own music features fully developed personas such as “Mother Monster” with extremely avant-garde clothing to match. British rock band Muse has successfully created four full-length and story-rich concept albums much like “Ziggy”—the latest being “Drones” (2015). Softer and folkier Canadian indie rock group Arcade Fire was even able to work with Bowie himself to incorporate his sound and feature some of his vocals on “Reflektor” (2013). Bowie is everywhere!
He fell to earth to grace us with his music, but he had to take his spaceship back to heaven. So, let’s go and enjoy the album “Blackstar” (2016), thought to be David Bowie’s parting gift, with ears open and ready for years to come of Bowie reflections in today’s music.