David Bowie – Blackstar

Not many other albums have made such a deep impression on me in the last ten years as this one. Of course, it wasn't necessarily just the album, but also the sentiment of one of my absolute musical heroes dying, that caused such a huge emotion in me. To be honest, I didn't even really notice that Bowie had released a new album until the news of his death reached me. I've never been as emotional about a celebrity dying as I was with Bowie. It was partly because it was so unexpected, but more importantly, it was because everyone seemed to care so deeply about this man. Especially, living in London made the event of his death extra special. There were people on the streets playing his songs, every single pub and restaurant was playing his albums, all of his albums were suddenly sold out from record shops and everyone seemed to talk about what this man had meant to them. Also, my social media was just full of Bowie.



I didn't yet live in Brixton when Bowie died. I sort of regret not going there at the evening when the news of his death broke out. There was an impromptu party there by a mural of him where people were playing his songs and singing in chorus. I only saw some video footage of the event and even with that video, I became very emotional. Instead of going there, me and my wife stayed at home listening through all of Bowie's music videos. I had always been a fan of his glam rock era, but what surprised me was the amount of amazing songs, especially in the 80's, that I hadn't really listened to before. Most importantly, I fell in love with his last two albums Next Day and Blackstar. For a few weeks, I couldn't really listen to Blackstar without crying. His swansong was such a great farewell and it made him even more out of this world person. Not many people can give such a calculated farewell. Of course he himself knew he was going to die of the liver cancer, but other people didn't know about this before his death was announced.

A few weeks later, I went to a cover gig by Absolute Bowie that was organised to his memory. the band played his songs really well and my most memorable moment there was when a thick-necked huge tough looking guy next to me started crying when the band started playing Starman. Seeing all of these different people of different ages caring about his music so much, was truly a great experience. As sad as his death was, the response from the public was one of the most beautiful things that happened in the otherwise crappy year 2016.

Having mentioned the music videos, I have to link one here as well. The clear choice is the amazingly emotional performance Bowie makes in the music video for Lazarus. This was one of the first things I saw after Bowie's death and it made me extremely emotional. It was like he was speaking from beyond the grave. Later on, I also went to see the musical based on this album at a theatre here in London. That was sort of the final therapy I needed to get over Bowie's death.

Blackstar is quite different from any other Bowie album. The sounds are very otherworldly and strange. Nothing else sounds quite like this album. Bowie had hired a New York-based jazz band to play with him on this album and the result is an artful and strange, yet hauntingly beautiful mixture of experimental rock and jazz. Even though I was impressed by this album from the very beginning, it took me quite some time to really fully realise what kind of masterpiece this album was. It was a kind of album that's difficult in the beginning but rewards greatly. In addition to obvious hit songs Blackstar and Lazarus, I really adore the song Dollar Days. It's one of the most beautiful songs I've heard from Bowie.

There are hundreds of other things I could be writing about related to this album and Bowie, but I have to leave this somewhere and I think the most important stuff is already here. David Bowie is one of the greatest musicians of all times and this last album of his was a perfect way for him to say goodbye to the world.

Listen to the album on Spotify.