A giant in music, a pioneer, pacesetter and inspiration.
David Bowie, 1947 - 2016.
I feel like the the air has been sucked out of the room.
I'm shocked.
As is the rest of the world...
Cancer.
He was a chain smoker for many years, and suffered a heart attack some years ago.
I have no words. Huge talent, huge loss.
I'm so sorry everyone, I started a thread on the main board before I saw this one..
Personally, he was such a music legend that I feel it should be on the main board, but I will leave that up to all of you if you feel it's better served here.
Not very often do I get worked up by the death of singers, celebrities, etc, but Bowie's death is making me feel queasy. I haven't felt so strongly since Princess Diana died. It's like a light in the world has been snuffed out.
I can only echo RW's feelings. I've been on the verge of tears on and off all morning over this.
For me, I always thought of Bowie as one of those personalities in the music industry that would always be there....constant in one of his forms or another......You never realize how wrong you can be until it is too late. There is a big hole in the world right now and I don't think it will ever be filled in my lifetime.
I think we didn't see it coming. If we knew he had been battling cancer, it might have been different but this is like *poof* and he's gone just like that.
It ain't right.
An important part of western culture has passed...there will be no more from him, and that is the worst part. Like it or not, you always looked forward to his next project.
He was the culmination of the efforts of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis, and Dylan to use music as sociological propulsion. He finally compelled society to accept modern rock/pop as an art form, from which other art forms can feed and in turn, nourish. He dared, and thus other musical performers felt greater confidence in daring along with him. He turned the musical stage into a broad expressionist canvas, so that Kiss, Poison, Kate Bush, Gary Numan, Madonna and hordes of others were free to tell their story in wild and wonderful ways. Some we adored, others we laughed at...but the musical landscape blossomed like wildflowers in the desert...a marquetry of shapes, sounds, tints and tones that mesmerised and delighted baby boomers and their descendants.
Bowie turned the abstract to wonder, and wonder to joy.