HME 11: Goodbye David Bowie

Summary: <br> Like many of you, I awoke this morning to the news that David Bowie passed away after an 18 month battle with cancer. It came as quite a shock and honestly, I wanted it to be a hoax. I wanted the news media to be wrong, as they had been about Bowie in the past.<br> Alas it was not to be.<br> For me, and many of my generation, David Bowie is, and always will be, an iconic figure. His music, his style, his politics, his spirituality, his sexuality…all the things about him were what made him larger than life. I cannot remember a time where I didn’t hear his music on the radio.<br> Songs that have had huge impacts on me over the years are ones like Mott the Hoople’s “All the young dudes”, “Changes”, “<a class="zem_slink" title="Space Oddity (song)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Oddity_%28song%29" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">Space Oddity</a>“, “<a class="zem_slink" title="China Girl (song)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Girl_%28song%29" target="_blank" rel="wikipedia">China Girl</a>“, “Under Pressure”, “Golden Years”, and my favorite, “Heroes”.<br> Bowie was a Sinatra like figure. He was cool, suave, debonair, and one helluva dresser…especially once he started wearing suits in the 80’s. He was unabashedly himself, calling out <a class="zem_slink" title="MTV" href="http://www.mtv.com/" target="_blank" rel="homepage">MTV</a> for not playing enough black artists all the way back in 1983…when the M in MTV still stood for music.<br> He collaborated with artists like Bing Crosby, <a class="zem_slink" title="Stevie Ray Vaughan" href="http://www.srvofficial.com" target="_blank" rel="homepage">Stevie Ray Vaughn</a>, <a class="zem_slink" title="Mick Jagger" href="http://www.mickjagger.com/" target="_blank" rel="homepage">Mick Jagger</a>, <a class="zem_slink" title="Tina Turner" href="http://www.bestoftinaturner.com/" target="_blank" rel="homepage">Tina Turner</a>, <a class="zem_slink" title="David Gilmour" href="http://www.davidgilmour.com/" target="_blank" rel="homepage">David Gilmour</a>. He’s influenced countless musicians, was a role model for kids who struggled with their sexuality, and a larger than life social justice warrior.<br> His death, for many, is on par with the day <a class="zem_slink" title="John Lennon" href="http://www.johnlennon.com" target="_blank" rel="homepage">John Lennon</a> was killed. His passing leaves a large hole in the fabric of the world that nobody will ever be able to fill.<br> He will be missed.<br> You may not know where you’re going….but I guarantee it’ll never be boring.<br> Farewell, starman.<br> <br>