David Bowie

Another overdue entry for a late, great rock star. First off, I admit that I am not as familiar with David Bowie's work as I am that of Scott Weiland. I started listening to Bowie much later, after I began delving deeper into the back catalog of rock music. The only album I own is his greatest hits, and I've only begun listening to his full albums over the past year, as many of them came up on the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die," which is a list I am gradually making my way through.

Even still, David Bowie holds a special place in my heart for several reasons, which I will discuss here.

My first exposure to David Bowie was not his musical works, but rather, as an actor in the movie "Labyrinth."

He played Jareth the goblin king in that movie, spending the entire film messing with a teenage Jennifer Connolly. The most memorable part for me was the song, "Magic Dance," particularly the first several lines, which became a long-standing inside joke between my cousin and me:

Jareth: "You remind me of the babe."
Goblin: "What babe?"
Jareth: "The babe with the power!"
Goblin: "What power?"
Jareth: "The power of voodoo."
Goblin: "Who do?"
Jareth: "You do. You remind me of the babe." (song commences)

If you haven't seen "Labyrinth," check it out, but be prepared for weirdness. It's full of Jim Henson puppets, with Connolly and Bowie being the only human actors (that I can recall).

Of course, David Bowie is most known for his music. The number of classic songs that he gifted us with during his long career is staggering. "Changes," "A Space Oddity", "Young Americans", "Modern Love," "Golden Years," "Fame", "Let's Dance", "Rebel Rebel" . . . the list goes on and on.

Being introduced to the music of an artist through a body of hits that already exists in its entirety is a much different experience from following the progression of an artist's career in real time (such as has been my experience with the band Incubus). It is easy to forget that the collection of songs are the result of years of progression, growth and change. This became apparent to me as I listened to several of Bowie's albums in chronological order this past year.

He started off as a teen-idol type of artist. Check this out:

Later on he became fascinated by the idea of performing as various characters, such as Ziggy Stardust and The Thin White Duke.

He would go on to experiment with various musical styles, including music inspired by German "krautrock" during his so-called "Berlin trilogy" of albums. He continued to release music for the rest of his life. "Blackstar," his final album, was released just two days before he died last month.

Bowie's music, even though I began listening to it relatively recently, still has much personal significance to me. I associate it strongly with my first (and so far, only) romantic relationship. My ex and I discovered our shared appreciation for Bowie on our second date, and on several occasions we would sing along to Bowie songs in the car together. "Changes" on the freeway, "A Space Oddity" on Mulholland Drive. In addition, "Under Pressure" was our go-to karaoke song, with me always singing the Bowie part. Now that more than three years have passed since we parted ways, the pain of losing that relationship has diminished (though not disappeared, but does it ever?), so I feel like I can appreciate these memories once again.

David Bowie was, hands down, one of the most creative and interesting rock musicians of all time. I definitely plan to delve into his material even more now.