The world awoke this morning to the tragic news of David Bowie's death. In his sixty-nine years on this planet, David Bowie influenced countless musician, artists, writers, and filmmakers. Inexplicably, he constantly seemed perfectly of his time and ahead of it.
For myself, I look back and see many pivotal points in my life where Bowie's music shines out: lying in bed listing to FM radio and Modern Love coming on to introduce me to his magic for the first time; long, energetic talks with my first, big crush about the genius of the man's music, conversations that are more clear in my memory now than any other part of that relationship; going to the Glass Spider tour the night before I started college. But then there are the other less distinct moments, numbering too high to count, where his music inspired me or put a smile on my face or a dance in my step. And there are all those times when I came across his influence in the works of others, sometimes blatantly, sometimes subtly. Each time calling to the part of my soul that his music and words helped shape.
David Bowie contributed to the soundtrack of not just my life but to our entire culture. His presence is intertwined with our collective dream, and even though he left us a parting gift with the new album Blackstar, the future is poorer knowing we won't have him to help shape it any longer.
I have read many tributes today and have seen many people quote his amazing lyrics. This was part of his magic: I could fill an entire blog with lyrics that would be appropriate to this moment, just as I could fill volumes with my favorite lines from his songs (or my favorite songs for that matter). But the most appropriate quote that came my way was: "Planet Earth is blue..."
David Robert Jones 1947-2016
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