I struggled with the title of this article. The late David Bowie, singer and performer is a man worthy of a million words, of a million titles. He graced us with his voice. He gave us the wondrously imaginative movie Labyrinth. He performed with Freddy Mercury, of Queen and a legend himself. His life can not be lost on this world. I know it won’t be lost on my generation.

If you were to give me a band and tell me I could pick one person from music history as my lead I would say three names: Mick Jagger, of The Rolling Stones, the aforementioned Freddy Mercury and David Bowie. My appreciation for Bowie extends from my appreciation of the genre he dominated. He was more than a rocker though. His music, a wonderful blend of pop, rock and art within, redefined the confines of both genre and musical ability. What’s most incredible about Bowie though is he never changed. He dazzled us in the 70s with Space Oddity, an amazingly titled song and representative of the man who would perform it. He lead the charge of Glam Rock by becoming Ziggy Stardust, an alter ego of Bowie’s. In the 80’s, a collaborative effort with Queen left us feeling pressure. Together, they pushed century-old boundaries of music. He danced with us throughout the 80’s.

He left us recently, but not without leaving something behind…

I remember the first time I heard Space Oddity. I was riding in a car with my brothers, I must have been in middle school. I remember being angry about something, though I can’t remember what that something was. Due to Bob fm and some other local stations, Spokane always held a great variety of rock music, of which I grew up on. As I sat in the backseat, my brothers conversing in the front, I stared out the window trying to keep my solitude. Space Oddity’s solemn opening sounded over the radio. My brother turned it up to drown out their own conversation. They took turns singing, one of them Ground Control and the other Major Tom. A smile crept on my face as I listened to their not-so-sweet melody. When I got home, I set about researching David Bowie. I had heard of him but I hadn’t become sentient about music yet. I added his music from the family computer to my IPod and must have listened to Space Oddity a hundred times over the next few months. I learned the ins and outs of his music.

Some time later, I was in a car with just one of my brothers. I can’t remember where we were going but de ja vue hit me as I heard Bowie’s voice. My brother, sitting next to me, turned the volume up on the radio. He started singing, he was Ground Control. As his part finished, I perked up. I became Major Tom…

He left behind a sense that it is okay to be yourself. Being the weirdest person in a room was never cooler than when that person was David Bowie. He constantly changed his appearance and the genre he existed within. He was everchanging but always existed as a constant. He was always there, becoming better and better himself and challenging the world to become better around him. Since his passing on, a confrontation has surfaced between Bowie and MTV. He accused MTV of racism, with a severe lack of music videos made by black artists.

“Don’t say, ‘Well, it’s not me, it’s them.’ Is it not possible it should be a conviction of the station and of the radio stations to be fair … to make the media more integrated?” David Bowie would ask questions about life before an answer could possibly be given. Questions that people are only beginning to ask. He did amazing things for racial progression within our society.

Upon first listen of Bowie’s Blackstar, his beautiful album that dropped just days before his death, it’s easy to proclaim that he knew he was about to die. He did know he was bout to die, and this album is him coming to terms with his death. His last efforts were as a performer. Blackstar is heavy, so buyer beware, but it’s feel is that of a last breath of air. This is Bowie’s last expressive breath, not because he needs to do it, but because he wants to. Expression of Bowie’s art prolonged his life and I only hope that he was able to hear how this album was favorably received before his untimely passing.

I would like to draw attention to the third track on Blackstar, Lazarus, and a quote from it, “This way or no way, you know I’ll be free, just like that bluebird, now ain’t that just like me?” Again, a man accepting of his own death and I’ll take it a step further, he wasn’t just accepting of his death, he was in control of it. Bowie is a man who died on his own terms, a death worthy of a king. Yet even in his kingdom, he remained grounded, comparing himself to a bluebird. A symbol of freedom in popular culture, this expressed Bowie’s willingness to lend himself to death and away from the pains of life. While that is heartbreaking that someone would willingly leave earth behind, it is only heartbreaking because of the man that Bowie was.

To reiterate, Bowie was a constant in a chaotic world. I do see the irony in my saying that as Bowie was seemingly not of this earth, but he was consistently not of this earth. He was a man that always felt the need to reinvent himself to stand out from the rest of this world. A man that stood up for the rights of other people. A man that died the death of a king and a man that became a hero.