To millions of music fans, the idea of waking up in a world without David Bowie is inconceivable, but it’s a sad reality this morning. According to The New York Times, the malleable pop icon known for his ever-shifting personae passed away Sunday following an 18-month struggle with cancer that only those within his inner circle knew about.
Bowie’s expansive catalog of hits — “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Fame,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Young Americans,” “‘Heroes’,” “Fashion,” “Under Pressure,” "Ashes to Ashes," “China Girl” and “Let’s Dance,” just to start with — is now part of the fundamental language of rock and roll, and can still be heard frequently on classic-rock radio, commercials and soundtracks. But besides the songs he recorded himself, Bowie also left his fingerprints on rock as producer of Lou Reed’s Transformer and Iggy Pop’s The Idiot, as well as songwriter of Mott the Hoople’s 1972 glam-pop smash “All the Young Dudes.”
Even as Bowie’s appearances at the top of the charts began to wane after blockbuster 1983 LP Let’s Dance — with late Texas blues-rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, then on the cusp of stardom himself, in a prominent featured role — his legacy was already permeating younger generations of musicians. One of UK goth forefathers Bauhaus’s highest-profile songs was their cover of “Ziggy Stardust.” Nirvana covered “The Man Who Sold the World” on their 1994 album Unplugged In New York. U2 recorded 1991’s Achtung Baby in Berlin as a conscious attempt to recreate the environment of Bowie's late-‘70s “Berlin trilogy” of Low, "Heroes" and Lodger, enlisting the producer Brian Eno to return to the then-divided German capital with them. A generation after those albums merged rock and experimental electronic-based music, Bowie toured with Nine Inch Nails to promote his industrial-laced album 1. Outside.
Born David Jones in 1947, Bowie was a child of the British Invasion years raised on the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, and The Who, among others, but his music has a degree of theatricality and innovation that rivals and often surpasses even those lofty names. Besides allowing him to perpetually set new benchmarks for makeup and costume design in concert, it served him well in his many film roles including The Hunger, Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Prestige, and even as himself in the hit 2001 Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander.
Bowie’s death has been at the top of the news worldwide this morning, and the flood of tributes on social media has been fitting for a star of his magnitude. Madonna, whose “Rebel Heart” tour stops in Houston Tuesday night, tweeted that he was her first concert as a girl in Detroit.
Im Devastated! This great Artist changed my life! First concert i ever saw in Detroit! R.IP. ?? #rebelheart pic.twitter.com/hGfxI967Bw
— Madonna (@Madonna) January 11, 2016
Paul on @DavidBowieReal https://t.co/KVxmjBdYT1 pic.twitter.com/aNJi3BjAuv
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) January 11, 2016
The Rolling Stones are shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the death of our dear friend David Bowie... 1/2
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) January 11, 2016
David Bowie: The cleverest and most interestingly brilliant man of our time. What a vacuum he leaves, and how he will be missed. Roger
— Queen Official (@QueenWillRock) January 11, 2016
David Bowie, my friend and colleague, left us Blackstar and 1000s of great memories. Not enough, really.
— Tony Visconti (@Tonuspomus) January 11, 2016
Peace to David Bowie and his family. Fly On https://t.co/dq8irM9aaw
— George Clinton (@george_clinton) January 11, 2016
R.I.P. David Bowie, you inspired me more than i can express
K.
— KMFDM (@kmfdmofficial) January 11, 2016
Gracias David Bowie <3 https://t.co/znBDOV8FR1
— Julieta Venegas (@julietav) January 11, 2016
We are deeply saddened by the loss of David Bowie. It was an honor and a privilege to release his music to the world.
— Columbia Records (@ColumbiaRecords) January 11, 2016
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Bowie’s final Houston-area performance came in April 2004 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, about three months before a heart attack onstage in Germany forced him to seriously curtail his concert appearances. He also played the Pavilion on 1990’s “Sound + Vision” tour; the Summit in 1978, 1983 and 1987; and a 1991 show with his band Tin Machine someplace called the Back Alley. A date on the “Ziggy Stardust” tour scheduled for November 1972 at Houston’s long-gone Music Hall was canceled; ticket prices were $3, $4 and $5.
At the time of his death, Bowie was already in the headlines because his latest album, Blackstar, was released last Friday — his 69th birthday. It’s hard not to interpret the opening lines of “Lazarus,” released as a single last month, as a knowing prophecy:
Look up here, I'm in heaven I've got scars that can't be seen
I've got drama, can't be stolen
Everybody knows me now
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