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Kana -> RE: David Bowie RIP (1/13/2016 2:29:26 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: padrepedro
Has GOD died? Why the worldwide moaning on a par with Princess Diana occurring? He was a talented musician amongst so many other talented musicians. Is his soul any more important? Not even Elvis Presley got so much moaning adoration and accolades. He came from humble working class origins in a Ghetto of a mostly black populated district of a London Borough called Lambeth.
Let's see.
Bowie is considered by many to be the greatest and most important rocker of all time. Which would make him one of the most important cultural figures of the last 65 or so years
He started with folk, slid to the Velvets, hung out with and influenced Warhol. Helped bring Iggy Pop to the world. Produced Lou Reed. Went from instrumental singer songwriter to helping bring punk to the world. Blew the Seventies away with Ziggy. Made it acceptable for men to dye their hair. Was openly gay and cross-dressing when it wasn't even considered kinda cool. Inspired generations of gay men to accept themselves.
Went black in the mid seventies. Introduced Luther Vandross and helped popularized the Philadelphia sound, brought disco to the masses.
Hopped into Germany as kraftwerk was starting to do their thing and in doing helped lead into the industrial and heavy syth sounds that dominated the eighties
(Seriously, listen to Simple Minds. Its fucking Bowie w/o his twisted magic touch). Worked with Fripp and Eno leading into electronica, techno, dance, house.
His Berlin trilogy is quite possibly the best three record run ever.
Was one of the first people to start doing music videos. (I remember seeing Bowie vids in the mid 70's.) As such, helped pioneer the genre. A genre which has had a large influence on the way movies are made, from tying in soundtracks (See any 80's rom-com where they have the musical interlude) to quick edits, jagged cuts, and hand cams. Not to mention the directors which graduated from video to film, Spike Jonz and Fincher just to name two...
Jumped on board the net uber early. saw the massive potential. Was the first person to release an album online. One of the first to have a website. AFAIK, the first and one of few to interact with fans on his forum.
Changed finance too. Created Bowie Bonds based on the future earnings of his music catalog (Smart Bowie, he saw that the net would change everything and got as much money as he could up front before the whole record biz shithouse collapsed), the first star to do so.
Fuck, now athletes are doing the same thing
If you watch movies. Bowie changed what you watch. If you listen to music, unless its strictly classical or jazz, he altered and influenced that.
And I haven't even gotten going on fashion where designers thought he was a God.
Bowie was like a real life Forrest Gump. Wherever the change was, the next big thing, there he was, always two steps ahead of the curve.
But he was a Gump that spoke for the alienated, the alone, the ones questioning themselves and their place. He made it alright for so many people to be fucked up, to be broken, to learn to accept themselves a bit.
Poet, mime, singer, actor, and always, always artiste.
Look at the tributes. Look at how wide a range he received. They run the entire gamut, from all over the world. Rappers, Madonna, Punk Rockers, Classic Rockers, artists, fashion icons, astronauts, Front page New York Times, Washington Post, lead on BBC. Prime ministers paid him tribute. The fucking Vatican played Space Oddity for him.
How many 'rock stars' does that happen for?
I don't buy into the cult of celebrity and put no one on a pedestal and most certainly don't worship rock stars,* but Bowie was different. He broke the mold. His reach was too large and his influence too far spread to delegate to merely a rocker
As for Diana, what did she do to compare except marry and divorce a prince and look like a wren?
I'll take Bowie over her anyday, TYVM
*I used to work concerts. I've seen and met and witnessed up close some real big stars and I ain't impressed. They just peeps like you and Me, trying to figure their way through life without an instruction manual.
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