RIP David Bowie

I have woken this morning to the devastating news of the death of David Bowie and I don't recall a time that I have been as affected by the death of someone I never met, since I woke to news of the murder of John Lennon 35 years ago.

So, in this state of shock and disbelief, I sit here recording my own personal thoughts about the man born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947. 

I first became aware of him I suppose, when 'Space Oddity' became a massive hit in 1969, but it wasn't until I turned 21 in the summer of 1972 that I went out and purchased my very first David Bowie album, the seminal 'Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars'. Like so many others, I was blown away by it and it was probably played more often by me than any other album during that year. I quickly added his earlier albums 'Hunky Dory' and 'The Man Who Sold The World' to my collection and discovered that they were equally as good. They were followed by the different but equally brilliant, 'Aladdin Sane'.

I continued to hear albums by Bowie throughout the remainder of the 1970's but without actually purchasing any. The trio of albums 'Station to Station', 'Low' and 'Heroes' intrigued me but were just a little too electronic for my more rock-orientated tastes. I then pretty much tuned out to his music, yet I recall referring to him during the 1980's as one of the most influential musicians of all time. And I stand by that opinion as besides having the rare ability to continually reinvent himself, Bowie also influenced a host of other acts that flourished during the 1980's and beyond. True, not all of them were necessarily good but there can be no doubting the impact that Bowie had on the music of those times.

From a personal point of view, whilst continuing to enjoy my very favourite Bowie albums, I ceased listening to the rest of his recorded output. That is until the release of his 2013 album, 'The Next Day' which I described at the time as 'a great return to form' after ten years of silence.

Over the past week or so I have been hearing and reading great things about Bowie's new album 'Blackstar' which was released three days ago on his 69th birthday. It sounded intriguing and it was only yesterday that I seriously thought about ordering the album. My decision has now been made. I somehow feel that it is the right thing to do. And I suspect that I will not be alone and that within days the album will be riding high at the top of the album charts.

I also suspect that people of my generation will today be digging out those 1970's albums and playing them, perhaps with a tear in their eye. Younger folk may be playing their own favourites, be it 'Let's Dance', 'Tin Machine' or 'Earthling'. We all will all have our personal favourite and that surely is the measure of his legendary status, that he has continued to push boundaries and win new fans in the five decades since 'Space Oddity'.

The words 'great' and 'legend' are vastly overused these days but Bowie was truly one of the absolute great musical icons - a true legend.  He will be sadly missed.

RIP David.