The David Bowie Memorial Thread
 

Bowie dead at 69 from 18 month long battle with cancer, confirmed by Hollywood Reporter by his publicist.

Absolutely crushed. The new album takes on a whole new meaning when you realise it was largely about his cancer and impending death. One of my biggest inspirations ever. What a hero.

http://www.verycoolphotoblog.com/wp-...uca-bianco.jpg

The David Bowie Memorial Thread
 

http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/site...?itok=r8-liZpm
"His death was no different from his life: a work of art" --- Tony Visconti

Maybe we need something like this, rather than RIP threads, which are fine and appropriate but a thread that allows us to share our fondest memories of the man with whose music we all grew up and who was a giant in the music world.

Talk about your favourite albums, gigs, songs, experiences. Review albums if you want. Share what his music meant to you, any who were lucky enough to meet him, whatever you want. I'll be back once I've got these tears under control. :(

One of my earliest ever memories is seeing Bowie and Mark Ronson on an old Top of the Pops episode performing Starman. Bowie was there in a one piece red and blue Lycra suit with his shock of ginger hair, talking about a space alien and "hazy cosmic jive". At 5 years old I didn't really know what I was seeing but I knew even then that is was very cool and very special, and I basically owe my first musical experience to Bowie.

I think my first memory was hearing "Life on Mars?" blasting from my elder sister's room (she was the only one with a record player) and arguing over whether he was called Bowie as in crossbow or Bowie as in take a bow. I of course then saw him on TOTP and he was certainly someone who stood out. Later when I started work my boss was a huge Bowie fan and tried to get me into him. Sad to say, he didn't really succeed (I was more into prog and metal at the time, and not ready to give an album a chance --- unlike now ;)) and since then I've caught up with him over the years when he released singles, bought some albums of his but sad to say never really got that much into his discography, something I will address now in my journal obviously.

Albums of his I've heard/owned:
Ziggy Stardust
Heroes
Low
The Next Day
Never Let Me Down (it did)
Let's Dance
Heathen
Diamond Dogs

I feel like I knew him, but never really got to know him. Like everyone here, this will become something of a priority now.

Get Station to Station listened to! And Scary Monsters. And Blackstar! The whole album is incredibly chilling in the wake of his death.

Edit: Weirdly I was making some custom album covers for a few of his albums yesterday. If anyone is interested lemme know, got alternatives for The Man Who Sold the World, Ziggy, Station to Station, Outside, Earthling, and Reality. Here's one for Earthling, which I think is a really good album with a sucky cover:

http://oi63.tinypic.com/2w3c8ev.jpg

My dad is a massive Bowie fan, he was the one who got me into him. He and my mom went on a date together to his Glass Spider tour in 1987 at Wembley I think it was. Still got the tickets somewhere.

I had heard the classic singles for years but in 2012 I remember I decided to delve into his discography and go through his albums one by one. I think for a year straight I didn't listen to anyone else. Had bought many of his albums on CD then one day I'm clearing out the loft with my dad and there's a box full of vinyls, all his studio albums from Space Oddity to the early 80s stuff. I just stared at them and was like "dad you didn't tell me you had these? WTF WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" :D Was like all my Christmases had come early. I got a record player and I absolutely hammered those vinyls.

I am not really arsed about celebrity deaths that much but I was genuinely gutted seeing the news this morning.

Legend.

I'm going to be doing his full discography now in my Great Discography Project. Oh and I think I forgot I heard Scary Monsters. Grief, ya know? But I will listen to Blackstar obviously. Just need a box of tissues handy. Shut up, Batty, you know what I mean.

Let's not forget he could also act, and act well...

You'll probably like Station to Station. The title track is positively proggy!

Aladdin Sane doesn't get as much attention as his other albums, but it's always been top 4 for me - I love the energy and theatrics. On that note, I might listen to Lady Grinning Soul and try to refrain from crying. Today is one shitty shitty day :(

TH check The Man Who Sold The World if you like metal. The intro (Width of a Circle) is a track you will definitely enjoy. Guaranteed.

If you don't like that track then I am a monkey's uncle.

I love the title track to that. It was I think the B-side (ask yer da) of "Life on Mars?" and I was very taken with it. I will check the album out, indeed, as I will all of his, very soon now.

(I always knew you had a thing about monkeys....) ;)

Whoa. Holy ****. I had no idea :(

I actually thought he was doing pretty well, considering he just released his new album. I had no idea he was struggling with cancer and that he wrote this album as an artistic goodbye.

Looks like I'll need to finally dig through his entire catalog since I never got around to it before.

It's not Bowie, but I feel somehow appropriate...

I can't believe this. Please tell me it's a publicity stunt… anything.

Never really listened to a Bowie album, loved individual songs but I had always put off listening to full albums. That's gonna change today though. Gonna knock out Low (right now actually), Ziggy Stardust, and Blackstar. Shame I had to have him pass to initiate me listening to them, but still needed to be done anyways.

Edit: Alright, Hunky Dory too then. Might make this an all-day thing and see how many I can get through.

RIP Mr. Bowie... Sad day.

I had never really been a Bowie fan growing up, since his music didn't fall into any of the categories I was pursuing. It wasn't until I went to Germany while in the service that I realized just how brilliant he was.

I had a roommate that didn't quite fit into the G.I. mold back then, and one of his favorite pastimes was to read two books at the same time, one in each hand, all while listening to either Young, Zappa, or Bowie. I had no choice in the matter as to whether or not I got to choose the music we would be listening to for the evening since it was his stereo, so I'd sit with my guitar and try to play along with whatever was on, unplugged of course since I didn't want to disrupt the 'sessions'. I found that I could follow a lot of Young, and Zappa was way over my skill level (I'd come to have an understanding about him later on in life), but when it came to Bowie, things started to sink in. I found myself starting to understand (or at least wanting to for that matter) the lyrics and meaning behind these masterpieces. In particular, the album "Low" was continually on rotation, and the soundscape that emanated from my roommates stereo crept into my consciousness very slowly, and very deliberately as Bowie crooned. After about a dozen or so listens, it was me that started suggesting that we put on some Bowie for the nights listening sessions, to which he'd smile and say "He's sinking in, huh?". Bowie was certainly a distinct personality, and he showed me how a person could stretch any idea into a musically driven theatrical masterpiece. I can only think of a few people with as much charisma, talent, showmanship, and something that the entertainment world could never have too much of... class.

R.I.P. Mr. B.

I saw the Glass Spiders tour in the late 1980's, my honest reaction was that, while his performance was good, the whole thing was so overblown that I was just LMAO. The most surprising aspect of the event was that I thoroughly enjoyed Duran Duran as the opening act.

I truly regret that I missed this show in Tacoma in 1983

:( Stunned.

Stardust: a Memorial to David Bowie.

My golden years began in 1984.
I became a future legend, going where no one's been before.

In the marketsquare, lightning struck my eye.
I followed that lightning as it traveled at the speed of life.

At that speed, my grinning soul and I felt like Supermen,
As we were watched by all the madmen.

We flew like the wind, straight into space, a real night flight.
We loved all we saw, including the lonely satellite.

We were oddities in space, and soon my fascination
Took me to inhabited worlds, space station to station.

I met, Warszawans, Neukölns, Subterraneans,
I gained fame across the universe as a young American.

I saw cat people ruling a criminal world.
I found Modern love with a strange looking girl.

A prisoner of love, I shouted "Heaven is here!"
I found myself traveling

I ran wild in the streets, they all thought I was deranged
My sanity was not ready to face this strange change.

I saw hallucinations that the world fell down
My grinning soul pulled me out from underground.

In the suburbs of Buddha, we were strangers when we met.
Here tin machine guard thought I was a neighborhood threat.

She said, "Hallo spaceboy." I said "Oh, you pretty thing!"
She took me to her father, the great disco king.

Iintroduced myself, and her name was Blue Jean Genie.
The wedding took place at the Palace of Athena.

The very next day, we took her ship Gemini
The honeymoon was filled with stars that night.

We saw rock stars, pop stars, new killer stars.
But the prettiest of all, was that strange black star.

Had never heard the original version of this song until today. A very youthful Bowie in 1969.

Damn straight.

This will be on all day today.

http://newnoisemagazine.com/wp-conte...Hits-cover.jpg

I copped the vinyl single for Ashes to Ashes off eBay a couple years back, purely cos I liked the artwork l0l.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...esToAshes3.jpg

Thin White Duke era was his best look imo. Cool as ****.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y95...ie_196082s.jpg

Bowie was cool whatever look he used. He was the epitome of effortless cool.
http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_f..._160/image.jpg

I think you may have found a better avatar for somebody.

Next to Freddie, best voice in 70s rock.

The impact of his death even brought Urban back for a second. That's true inspiration. I'm torn up over this.

What's your fave Bowie song?
It's difficult to choose but a few of mine:
Up the Hill Backwards
Ashes to Ashes
Station to Station
Word on a Wing
Strangers When We Meet
Always Crashing in the Same Car
V-2 Schneider
Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
Changes
I Can't Give Everything Away

Didn't mean to list all those but started and couldn't stop.

Scenes in Brixton.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYdcIrnW8AEMCXa.jpg

https://twitter.com/RadioX/status/686638212383649793

Pretty bitchen man.



"And when the sun is low
And the rays high
I can see it now
I can feel it die"

For those interested, I've started my David Bowie discography:
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1668734

https://twitter.com/EdSnowdon/status/686671678957555712

https://twitter.com/markbfc/status/686669553682788352

https://twitter.com/musicnews_shade/...58092667371522

^ This one :cool: Brixton paying tribute.

For me the passing of an artist is normally a remote sort of observation, a brief hint off loss and move on. Bowie's death has hit me like no other. Such an amazing legacy.

I think that's kind of how we all feel. Whether you knew his music back-to-front, saw him live multiple times, dipped in and out of his singles or just vaguely knew of him from radio and TV, everyone has been hit by this. I think, really, to a degree, nobody really expected Bowie to ever die, and it's hard to have that illusion blown away so cruelly and so relatively early in his life.

I hate cancer.:(