Rarely have I seen such an outpouring of grief and remembrance
go forth toward an artist and cultural icon as much as I’ve seen lately with
the recent passing of David Bowie, especially resonating from the ranks of us
snarky ‘Millennial’s’ who maintain an appreciation for his greatest works which
occurred largely ‘before our time’. Rarely do celebrity deaths have such an
impact on me personally as well. The deluge of mass media coverage we are
seeing is not a trivial ritual, because, in his heyday, Bowie was so far ahead
of his time in so many ways that he speaks to us directly even though he made
his mark on the world 40 some odd years ago.
David Bowie epitomized the essence of what it means to be an
artist. Constantly re-inventing himself and changing with the times, he dissolved
gender lines, generational lines, racial lines, and genre lines. Upcoming
artists and musicians need to take note and study Bowie like Beethoven studied
under Mozart and Sinatra studied under Crosby. Even in the throes of death, Bowie
managed to somehow encapsulate a dramatically artistic fugue with ‘Blackstar’
his final album that is as haunting as it is euphoric; with his swan song ‘Lazarus’
representing an unnerving portrayal about coping with cancer and keeping it
hidden away from the world. He was a class act right up until the very end of
his life. What strikes me most is how rare artists of his caliber are today,
and it would be fair to argue that he defied caliber and classification
altogether. Otherworldly and alien, creating alter-ego’s that were real rather
than gimmicky, Bowie shaped a cultural legacy that will always endure. What we
are now seeing is that the pool of talent reaching anywhere near Bowie’s
magnitude is fast dwindling. There is still great talent and unique sound in
the music world today, though not nearly in the same way as it once was: There
lacks a certain panache and musical finesse for real ingenuity in the vast majority
of the mainstream music scene.
The old Gods of Rock are dead and dying.
Because he was a musical polymath with an
uncanny ability to span so many echelons of talent, acting and performance art and
pull it off so authentically, the next generation desperately needs to understand
how unique Bowie was and realize just how much talent this planet lost this
past Sunday. The kind of seismic, musical witchcraft that Bowie produced will
never, ever come groomed from some record label executive whose sole purpose is
mass manufacturing a brand attached to a photo-shopped face. In the long term,
people will always see through the charade of the short lived one hit wonders
with obnoxiously perfect hairstyles and synthetically altered voices. Although Bowie was never above profiting from
his works, like any true artist, his music and performances came from a heart
of great inspiration and zealous artistic creativity; and although his music
and image can be promoted and marketed, talent of his nature can never be replicated. The Thin White Duke had a
great impact on my life as it did countless others. Let’s not forget Labyrinth,
either. How awesome was that movie?
David Bowie isn’t dead; he’s immortal and simply fell back
into outer space.
this is good
ReplyDeleteNo, he really isn't dead. Do you want to know the truth? This is a virtual reality we live in. It was created on quantum computers by virtual beings just like ourselves. Everything is virtual. Consciousness is all that exists (“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the Weather" - Bill Hicks (RIP) and entirely correct!). The movie The 13th Floor is a true depiction of our reality. Even know, elites are downloading their consciousness into virtual realities created behind the closed doors of military and private research labs. Who wouldn't want David Bowie in his simulation? He is back in his 20-year-old body living in multiple virtual realities. The price he paid was to fuck off is own fans in his final video for Blackstar and make his final accommodation with the elites.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this and the views you have. Bowie was truly an iconic idle that many look or looked up to. A true motzart of music, encapsulate the audience more then most artists of today could ever hope for.
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