Today we’re taking a trip down memory lane to celebrate one of the iconic artist and British music legend- David Bowie.
David Bowie, glam rock sensation, visionary and rock-star died peacefully on Sunday, surrounded by his family after an 18-month battle with cancer.
Many mourners laid flowers and lit candles in tribute to the legendary musician and many big names in the music industry have expressed their sadness at the monumental loss.
“The Rolling Stones are shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the death of our dear friend David Bowie,” the Stones said. “He was an extraordinary artist, and a true original.”
Madonna said on Twitter: “Talented. Unique. Genius. Game Changer. The Man who Fell to Earth. Your Spirit Lives on Forever!”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he had grown up with Bowie’s music and described his death as “a huge loss”.
David Bowie was blessed with a long and amazing career beginning in 1962, when he was 15, where he played guitar based rock and roll at local gatherings with the King Bees, during which he released his first single “Liza Jane” which unfortunately, did not gather any traction. Bowie hopped around from band to band making music but never quite fitting in; he released several more singles, which proved just as unpopular as his first single. David Bowie- whose stage name at that time was Davy Jones, changed his name after some confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees and released his debut album David Bowie- an amalgam of pop, psychedelic and music hall; this, unfortunately met the same fate as the rest of his music and would be the his last release for two years.
Bowie met with his first round of success in 1969 with the release of “Space Oddity” a song about the launch of Major Tom, a fictional astronaut. The song was released 5 days ahead of Apollo 11 and became a UK top five hit.
Bowie’s second album David Bowie (also released as Space Oddity) was also released in 1969. Bowie began his new band The Hype with John Cambridge (drummer), Tony Visconti (bass) and Mick Ronson (electric guitar); the band mates created characters for themselves and wore elaborate costumes the portended the glam style of Spider From Mars. The Hype had a rocky time in the studio; Bowie soon became dissatisfied with Cambridge’s drumming style, which resulted in Cambridge leaving the band. Although the studio time proved to be difficult, after finding a replacement for Cambridge (Mick Woodmansey) and replacing their manager, Bowie’s third album-The Man Who Sold The World- came to fruition.
Bowie’s eccentric music and garb got him some serious airtime; he was seen to wear dresses during interviews- much to the approval of critics, including Rolling Stone’s John Mendelsohn, who described his as “ravishing, almost disconcertingly reminiscent of Lauren Bacall.”
In 1971, Bowie released his fourth album Hunky Dory and although not a significant commercial success, it did chart at number 58 on the All Time Top 1000 Albums List.
Bowie’s androgynous and eccentric look helped him along when he launched his stage show – Ziggy Stardust- with the Spiders from Mars at the Toby Jug Pub in Tolworth in 1972. After the huge turn out, Bowie toured the UK and gathered up a sizeable ‘cult of Bowie’ fan-base. He released The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, which remained in the chart for two years, and continued his Ziggy Stardust tour in the United States.
Bowie released albums six (Aladdin Sane) and seven (Pin Ups) in 1973, and in 1974 he moved to the US and released Diamond Dogs, which was an opening into soul and funk. Bowie, then went on tour in the US, and recorded a new album Young Americans, in Philadelphia, before resuming his tour. Young Americans gave Bowie his first US number one “Fame”, co-written with John Lennon, former band mate of another legendary UK band- ‘The Beatles’.
Over the years, Bowie introduced many personas to the public and in 1976, a new one surfaced, ‘The Thin White Duke’ which was an extension on Thomas Jerome Newton, the extraterrestrial being from the film The Man Who Fell to Earth. This character was introduced via Station to Station, Bowie’s eighth album.
Bowie moved to Switzerland in 1976, where he was able to focus activities such as painting and photography; his time in Switzerland however, was short lived and his fascination for the German music scene grew- he moved to Berlin at the end on 1976 committed to revitalizing his career.
In 1977, he released Low, a musically minimalistic album, influenced by the Krautrock sound of Kraftwerk and Neu!; the album was met with reviews leaning towards the negative, as it focused on an experimental style of music as opposed to a more commercial one. Heroes , the second part of the German inspired music trilogy was also released in ’77 and expressed the symbolization of the divided city of Berlin. Bowie went on tour to promote his two new albums and during that time created the live album Stage. In 1979, Lodger, the third and final album of the “triptych” was released. Lodger reached number four in the UK and number 20 in the US.
In 1980, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) was released and from
it came- “Ashes to Ashes”, which was a number one hit. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) also jumped out of the minimalistic German inspired sound and into the new wave and pop era. While the album still kept some of its Berlin inspired vibes, it was a much more direct album and included a harder rock edge, thanks to contributions from Robert Fripp, Pete Townshend, and Chuck Hammer.
Bowie’s next album- Lets Dance- led him to a higher peak of popularity and success; the album went platinum in the UK and US and his three singles made it to the top twenties in both countries as well.
Moving in to the dance scene, Bowie created Tonight, which stars collaborations with Tina Turner and Iggy Pop. The album included many popular covers such as The Beach Boys’ hit “God Only Knows”
Reverting back to his ‘band times’ in the ‘70’s, Bowie joined a hard rock quartet called Tin Machine and together they created Tin Machine- released in 1989. The album was met with initial but short-lived success and after putting the making of Tin Machine’s second album on hold; Bowie went back to being a solo artist.
Tin machine released their second album Tin man II, but it was received with less lukewarm enthusiasm at best.
Stepping into the 90’s era, Bowie entered into the ‘Electronic period’; during this decade, he released Black Tie, White Noise (‘92), The Buddha of Suburbia (’93), Outside (’95), Earthling (’97) and Hours (’99).
Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
In 2001, Bowie opened the ‘Concert for New York City’ a charity event for the victims of the September 11 attacks and I 2002 he released Heathen and took six months to promote Heathen on tour in the UK and US. Reality was his next album; this was his last album for 10 years due to some medical issues he had while touring for the Reality album. After his recovery, he spent the next years doing small appearances such as singing a duet (“Changes”) with Butterfly Boucher for the 2004 animated film ‘Shrek’, recording vocals for “(She Can) Do That” and other smaller parts.
Bowie released his next album in 2013, much to the surprise and delight of his fans; The Next Day was met with great reviews left and right and The Guardian awarded the album with four stars and preceded to call it “thought-provoking, strange and filled with great songs”
Bowie’s final album Blackstar, was released last Friday on his 69th birthday, and was his parting gift to the music industry and his fans.
On this note I end my rather long article; the man is a legend and deserves to be remembered as such.
Rest well David Bowie, rest in peace.
Check out our David Bowie wave.cat playlist
