The death of David Bowie caused one of the biggest emotional reactions in the whole world. He was on the cover of all mainstream press, in the main news of almost every TV and radio station and the social networks were overflown with his music for weeks. Of course, the machinery of the music industry did its part, but there was something else in hand. Why did Bowie’s death attract so much attention? What was the reason for the stirring up of such a huge emotional reaction? Actually, the question I asked myself that day was: What makes David Bowie so big?
Growing up with hard rock and psychedelic rock, I wasn’t much fond of Bowie’s music as a teenager. Actually, I desperately wanted not to like him. He was always on MTV with “Fashion” and “China Girl” and he seemed so modish to me back then. I mean, come on - short hair, a suite and clean funky guitars, it was so out of my world. But I couldn’t help it - I really liked the songs. Plus we played some of his seventies material with my band (“ I remember the most), so I wasn’t blind to his existence, but I never went out to buy his records or talk about him with my fellow rockers.
The first time I really payed attention to his music was when I first saw the(part of “Bowie at the Beeb”, a compilation album) from 2000. Bowie grew his hair by then and I grew my fondness for all sorts of music. I was astounded by their performance! I have never seen a rock band sound that good before. I knew the studio versions of the songs, but the live ones sounded incredible.
Soon after that I decided to explore his music more thoroughly and started with another live performance, the 1997 in celebration of his 50th birthday and after that the from 1987 and then another one and another one… They didn’t sound better than Bowie at the Beeb, but they didn’t sound worse either. It was the same quality, the same passion, the same stylistic values and the same, but somehow always different David Bowie. He managed to shift from one persona to another (each embodying a different story and a different sound), always riding on the waves of what was considered modern at the time and often anticipating what will become the next trend in music and fashion. He was called a “rock’n’roll chameleon” because change was immanent to him. But, he wasn’t always changing to match the surroundings, as a chameleon does - sometimes he wanted to escape it, but then the surroundings would change to match him. Throughout the six decades in which he was active, Bowie was always the alternative that would become the next mainstream.
What fascinated me the most was his ability to constantly progress and mature. He always wrote and produced hits, but it seemed to me that his music in general refined through the years, finishing with the ultimate masterpiece - his swan song, his farewell and his most serious release. When “” was announced I was anxious to hear what Bowie had prepared next for the generations and generations of admirers. It was even more exciting for me, because not two years earlier he released “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)”, a single made together with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, that completely blew my mind. My love for jazz and my love for rock were absolutely satisfied with this true masterpiece of a mature artist, who gives the impression that he could do anything he wanted, anytime, any style and with anybody. I looked forward to “Blackstar”, hoping he would continue with this fusion of jazz and modern music, but the news about his death came to me before the album. It felt strange because somehow I thought he would always be here, surprising the audiences with his innovations and his outstanding sense for aesthetics. And, in a way, he probably will. In his long career of constant transformation and experimentation, David Bowie left behind a legacy matched by few.
The chameleon is dead - long live the king!
