Another pioneering genius bites the dust. Fortunately we still have, uh, lemme think...Kanye West?

David Robert Jones
amazing to the end
 
witness:
 
http://www.davidbowie.com/video/lazarus-2016-55501

 
May Gods love be with you.     

The sheer other worldliness and originality of his music meant, for me certainly, that the life memories around the times of his big hits are forever burned in the memory, and instantly recalled whenever they are heard again. I was twelve when Starman was released, I remember watching him perform it with TSFM on Top Of The Pops - and life was never the same again... RIP David Bowie

I'm so sad.  Sound And Vision in one man. 

sharke
Let's also not forget he was also one of the few 70's legends who managed to stay cool through the 80's.

Along those lines, I was thinking that one thing one's got to admire about Bowie is that he never became a parody of himself. 
 
Lots of musicians seem to spend a good deal of their career just operating like franchises - some of them actually spend the 3/4 of their career doing so. They're like some odd artefacts from a different age, catering our nostalgia. They'd often be deemed ridicule if not for the fact that they persevered for so long that we feel we owe them respect.
 
Not so with Bowie, who remained vital and sharp until the very end. 

craigb

 
Who else could get away with wearing this??? 

The only person I can think of is Bertie Bassett. 
 

Turns out he lived just up the road from me, I had no idea. I knew he had once lived in Essex House on Central Park South but he moved to Lafayette St at some point. Today I saw some photos of him out and about in the neighborhood and it's debatable whether you'd recognize him, he disguised his Bowieness pretty well! He was not keen on being stopped in the street by fans. Don't blame him, I'd find that an absolute nightmare. I'm in two minds whether to walk up there and pay my respects with the throng - on the one hand it's a piece of history right outside my front door, on the other I know his family have asked for privacy so I'm not sure how they feel about the candle-holding crowd on the street. 

Hi,
 
Hard to think of a lot to say about this ... except ... rest well my friend!
 
Of all his work, the stuff I like the most is the odd stuff that not many have seen, or have heard ... I loved the movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth", which was directed by Nicholas Roeg, who is one of my favorite directors and who was also a part of one of the best films ever made ... "Performance" ... where even Mick was great and made the film shine. Bowie does the same in this film, and I have always remembered it. The Ziggy album got me, and then the film, and then Bowie's experiments in music ... but his films were not that bad. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is excellent, as is the one about the vampires with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon.
 
It's kinda hard to mention those films, and music, since not many people like "oldies" and it already feels like the "classics" from the 30's and 40's in film, since mentioning this is like talking about martians and venusians ... no one knows any of them or met them!
 
Definitly an artist, and the best to his family in the future.

From Ziggy and Alladin Sane, all the way to Blackstar, always an inspiration and teacher to me.  Always, always, always.  I will miss him so.  

 

I just got his last dvd a few months ago. David Bowie was a true giant. Probably one of the top 10 artist of the 20th century. He's right up there with anyone I can think of.
His latest two videos are pretty disturbing, but also artistically excellent. I will own Black star.

Born in 1947 ... same year as me.  Oh-oh!!!  

Well I'm giving Blackstar a listen right now on Spotify and I'm blown away. The man was unique and original to the end. Excellent song writing, superb vocal performance, fantastic arrangements, great playing and top quality production. It sounds great. 

I didn't find it too bleak, but maybe that's because I have a high bleak tolerance to begin with