And the Stars Look Very Different Today…So Long David Bowie

And the Stars Look Very Different Today…So Long David Bowie

By: Erreh Svaia

“I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring.”

David Bowie

Musically speaking, we all were really close to Bowie these last days, perhaps, he wanted it that way, as his two last recordings brought him closer to us than he had been to us in years, again, I guess that's just what he wanted, to go away not only as an historically notable winner, but a relevat winner of today, not as an old obsolete character, but as one who dared and won in actuality.

After the recent deaths of Lou Reed and Lemmy Kilmister, we learned that death condones no one, not even our idols, showing them to us more vulnerable and mundane than we though, perhaps with the exception of Bob Dylan, Keith Richards or Iggy Pop.

Bowie left the building with a bang, Blackstar is without a doubt some of his best music in years, and his knowledge about the life left in him gave him the edge, the vision to make his best, even in his darkest hours.

When I was young, I had a small but ambitious musical project, I wanted to make a sort of conceptual recording that take the listener to the history of rock music, some folk rock, some psychedelia, some proto punk, some electronic, etc., but after listening to Changesbowie, one of Bowie's greatest hits records, I realized that in a way, it was already done, because Bowie, like a few others, for a long time in his career, anticipated the changes and evolution of pop and rock music, Bowie's musical instinct was beyond great, he learned from some of the best, Jacques Brel, Scott Walker, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, Robert Fripp, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Trent Reznor, and that helped him create a unique vision only surpassed, I guess by Reed and Walker.

It was Bowie who made me love even more bands like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Comus, Kraftwerk, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols, in a way, Bowie was a big catalyst of what was going on the avant garde, he took a lot from so many artist and bands, but at the same time he drove you back to those bands.

Bowie should be remembered, beyond music, as an innovator, as a man who could assimilate ideas from others, yes, but at the same time he was so worried about remaking them, about making them new, not just recycling, but use them as a platform for creativity and innovation, listening to Reed, Eno or Reznor was his way of getting inspired to go to the infinite and beyond, that, was the Bowie experience.